The Guardian | politics.co.uk | The New York Times
Bloggers and online publishers aren't clear on how a proposed press-regulation scheme in Great Britain will affect them, Lisa O'Carroll reports. The proposed law -- which could lead to high libel fines for bloggers -- defines "a website containing news-related material (whether or not related to a newspaper or magazine)" as a "relevant publisher" subject to regulation and orders of damages.

Cabinet member Maria Miller told Parliament "the new rules were designed to protect 'small-scale bloggers,'" O'Carroll writes.

"[I]t is hard to envisage a workable definition of a news site, whether it be by staff numbers, content or location of servers," Ian Dunt writes in politics.co.uk. He also reports that several publishers are considering boycotting the scheme. (more...)

Ipsos MORI | International Herald Tribune | The Drum | Associated Press
Good news for British journalists: At least you're not politicians. Those public servants were the only group trusted less by Britons than members of the press, according to an Ipsos MORI poll published Friday. Only 21 percent of adults in Britain trust journalists to tell the truth; 72 percent do not trust them. Even members of parliament in general did better than journos (23 percent trust them to tell the truth) despite their proven ability to put together scandals like a recent one involving a speeding ticket, a spurned wife and ... oh yeah, a journalist. (more...)

Todd Larsen has resigned as president of Dow Jones & Co., says a company press release. Larsen was touted as a potential replacement for Les Hinton, who resigned as CEO of Dow Jones last July, saying he wasn't aware of the phone-hacking that went on when he was executive chairman of News International, which like Dow Jones is owned by News Corp. "That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World," Hinton wrote in his resignation letter. Hinton resigned the same day Rebekah Brooks resigned the top spot at News International.

Larsen enjoyed a special status within the company's upper reaches at the time: He'd been there more than a decade, so he wasn't an outsider, nor was he a Murdoch crony. "Larsen came to News Corp. under its previous ownership from Booz Allen Hamilton, and his distance from the scandal could make him a safe bet," Lucia Moses wrote in an article about who might replace Hinton.

Dow Jones appointed Lex Fenwick to the role in February. Fenwick used to run Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Ventures, both entities arguably an even safer corporate distance from the phone-hacking scandal.