Making a buck from Meagher case? The CCTV of missing Melbourne woman Jill Meagher captured before her disappearance has been an important tool for police in gathering clues on the case. So some Crikey readers thought it was strange, if not insensitive, that some news websites — including The Age and the Herald Sun in Melbourne — chose to continue running ads before the footage on their websites …

Clearly that message was communicated to editors at The Age: video reports on the case are now running ad-free. At the Herald Sun — despite telling readers to watch “THE CCTV IN FULL” on its homepage — you still have to watch a 16-second ad for bananas before seeing it. At least the story isn’t behind the paywall.

Front page of the day. The New York Post — who else — takes criticising the ref to new heights (NFL referees have gone on strike, and the replacements have made some costly calls) …

BSkyB distances itself from Murdoch clan

“BSkyB has announced that two of its independent directors are to leave by the end of year as it embarks on a further overhaul of its board, shifting the balance away from the Murdoch family, and its largest shareholder News Corp.” — Financial Times

Times to Google: take us back

“Rupert Murdoch’s News International is to make headlines and limited content from Times and Sunday Times articles available on Google search, two years after the newspapers were put behind a strict digital paywall.” — The Guardian

US papers team up to create election database

“Senior developers from The New York Times and The Washington Post are looking for volunteers to help collect more than 10 years of federal elections data from each state. With their help — and $200,000 in Knight News Challenge funding — Serdar Tumgoren and Derek Willis are working on creating a free, comprehensive source of official US election results.” — Nieman Journalism Lab

BBC staff ‘sleep together’, become arrogant

“BBC executives eat together, drink together, marry each other and have affairs with each other, according to a senior figure at the corporation who criticised its London-based culture. Caroline Thomson, the BBC’s departing chief operating officer, suggested the broadcaster could become ‘arrogant’ and ‘above itself’ if it was not careful.” — The Telegraph