Open Graph is possibly one of Facebook's most interesting elements, as far as news organisations are concerned. It has allowed the social network to permeate the lives of its users like never before, creating opportunities to share more and more of what they do with friends. It has also allowed media organisations to benefit hugely from this social commerce. The 'frictionless sharing experience' provided by Open Graph, which essentially means sharing without having to click a button, has been enormously beneficial to the media.

If you consume media that is integrated with Open Graph, then it makes it easier for your friends to see what you have been listening to/watching/reading, in the case of news articles. This means that the potential for extra page views through social media referrals soars.

The latest version of Open Graph has now been in use since September of this year, when it was unveiled at the F8 developers conference. Since then, news organisations have been reaping great benefits from social reading apps; for example, Yahoo has drawn 10 million people to its new social integration and increased traffic form Facebook by 600%.

Journalism these days... what's it coming to? It's a question that everybody wants an answer to. Disregarding the painful question of how the press will survive financially in the digital age, the debate surrounding what constitutes journalism is in constant motion.

As Dan Rather outlined when he collected the Committee to Protect Journalists Burton Benjamin Memorial Award 2011 on November 22, many people feel that journalism has lost its way somewhat. With the ongoing revelations at the Leveson Inquiry relating to bad practice in the British press, it seems that journalism may be undergoing something of an identity crisis. What is it? What do journalists do? What's the point of it all?!

Of course, there is a commonly discussed divide between 'good' journalism and 'bad' journalism. In fact, author JK Rowling suggested in her testimony to the Leveson Inquiry that a separate term should exist to distinguish one type of journalism from another. "Good" journalism abides by an ethical code and chases stories that are meaningful to the public; investigative journalism would fall into this category. 'Bad' journalism would be the opposite of this practice, something that is often identified within the tabloid press.

The New Haven Register announced a reorganization of its newsroom yesterday. The move includes the formation of three new teams: one dedicated to investigative journalism, one to promote user engagement, and one to handle breaking news.

The new investigative and in-depth reporting division will be the first team officially dedicated to investigative reporting at The Register in 20 years. It will feature articles in an "explainer" format, to look deeper at issues that affect the paper's readership, as well as fact-checking statements by public figures to hold them to account.

The move perhaps contradicts ideas from commentators like Dean Starkman (in this article at least) that the move towards digital journalism puts the media in danger of leaving serious reporting by the wayside: "Public-interest reporting isn't just another tab on the home page," writes Starkman.

Once upon a time, people may have stereotyped of The Economist as a dry, formal publication, which aged company executives would leaf through in their dusty studies. But if those days ever existed, they are certainly confined to the past now.

The international magazine currently has over 100,000 digital-only subscribers and more than a million monthly mobile readers. Economist readers have downloaded more than 3 million apps since their launch and online traffic has grown by 45% since September of last year. The publication now has 7 million online users.

These figures were reported in the interim financial report released by The Economist Group today, which shows a run of spectacular success for the publication. The report announces a 6% year-on-year rise in operating profits, totaling £26.2 million, and a revenue increase of 4%, to £164.3 million.

In the report, Economist Chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea remarks on the positive uptake of The Economist on new media, saying that "the demand for digital editions have exceeded our expectations". But the success story also translates to print: circulation of the print edition increased 3% in the first half of 2011, compared to the same period last year (maybe some of those executives are still leafing?).

Today the Leveson Inquiry has heard more revelations regarding the behaviour of the British tabloid press.

To summarise, witnesses today included Christopher Jefferies, who was falsely accused and vilified by the media as the killer of Joanna Yates; Ian Hurst, a former British army intelligence officer whose computers was allegedly hacked by the News of the World in order to obtain details of an IRA informer; Jane Winter, a peace and human rights campaigner in Ireland; Anne Diamond, a former television presenter; and Charlotte Church, a singer who was thrust into the limelight at a very young age. You can read coverage of the whole thing here.

Jeffries related that he felt as if he were under "house arrest" after his arrest by police and that he had to stay with numerous friends to avoid media scrutiny, feeling "rather as if I was a recusant priest at the time of the Reformation, going from safe house to safe house".

The role and rights of the press involved in Occupy Wall Street coverage have once again become the cause of controversy. This time, it's not the nature of the coverage and whether it may or may not be biased for/against the Occupy movement, but rather, whether the press have the right to even cover the evictions from Zuccotti Park at all.

The New York Mayor's office attempted to justify keeping journalists away from the action in Zuccotti Park, a ban that came into place on November 15 on the basis that reporters needed to be kept away from ongoing arrests and evictions for their own protection.

This raises certain questions about where reporters can go and when. Usually journalists who have been issued a press pass by the NYPD can cross police lines in the event of a breaking news story.

However, as the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel, explained to The Observer, "There is a provision to deny press access, but the order must come from a supervising officer or DCPI, not just any officer on the street, he explained."

As part of its English-language Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH) initiative, Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta has created an iPad app called TOUCH RUSSIA to help bring news from across Russia to the rest of the world. Rossiyskaya Gazeta is the "Russian government's paper of record and provides the official publication of all laws, decrees and official statements of state bodies", according to the RBTH website.

Russia Beyond the Headlines already has partnerships with various publications in several countries, including, Italy, India, France, Germany, Belgium, Serbia, Bulgaria and the US. The goal of the publication is to disseminate a more accurate portrayal of diversity and developments in Russian culture and the political and economic state of the nation.

According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta: "We believe that Russia is a diverse and complex country in a state of major transformation, still coming to terms with its long - sometimes painful, sometimes curious - history, that cannot be understood in the context of stereotypes. We would like to present significant facts and ideas that fall under the 'radar screen' of major international news outlets."

Today is the final day of hearings for this week. The line-up brought before the inquiry today continued to feature high profile celbrity figures and legal experts. The witnesses were: "HJK", an anonymous member of the public who had a relationship with an unnamed celebrity; Sienna Miller, a British actress; Mark Thomson, a solicitor who has represented Naomi Campbell, Sienna Miller and others in landmark privacy cases; Max Mosley, former head of the FIA, a role which included running Formula One motor racing; and JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

"HJK"

Sienna Miller

When it comes to press freedom, Latin America's reputation is less than stellar. Over the course of last week the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) reported an arson attack against a radio station in Argentina, two newspaper employees going missing in Mexico, a journalist being beaten and stabbed eight times in Bolivia, and an editor going on hunger strike in Venezuela to protest his imprisonment. And that's not even a complete list.

But despite the challenges, there are reporters who won't be deterred from chasing serious stories. Their work is independent, investigative, online - and thriving.

Plaza Pública

The Leveson Inquiry in phone-hacking has now heard evidence from core participants for the third consecutive day.

The witnesses who gave testimony today were: Mark Lewis, solicitor for the Dowler family, Sheryl Gascoine, the former wife of Paul Gascoine, a former Daily Telegraph journalist named Tom Rowland, whose phone was hacked to gain information about his wealthy and famous contacts, along with Gerry and Kate McCann, who have already won libel a case against Express Newspapers for the way in which the press falsely implied the family were involved in death of their daughter.

Mark Lewis

Lewis submitted an addition to his witness statement today, although it has been removed from the Inquiry website.

Lewis is the second core participant to criticize Daily Mail writer Amanda Platell, who accused him of being a "greedy lawyer" and seeking a larger settlement sum, which was not true. Lewis contacted the lawyers at The Daily Mail and the article was removed from the website.

He also spoke in support of the importance of no win, no fee arrangements in bringing libel actions.

Does the US government have the right to read you Twitter messages? Of course not, would be most people's reaction. Unfortunately, thanks to a US district court ruling made on November 10, the US government can now compel Twitter to release information that most people would deem private, such as your IP address, the content of your direct messages and your session times and activities, according to OWNI.

Why is this acceptable? The reason, the judge explained, was because in agreeing with the terms of service, Twitter users "voluntarily relinquished any reasonable expectation of privacy".

Twitter attempted to fight the ruling over a protracted year-long appeal process. However, losing the case has created a potentially dangerous precedent: the ruling could mean that any website with servers in the US could be asked to hand the data held on those servers to the government, without the need to obtain a warrant.