Today's media stories from the papers

Top stories on MediaGuardian.co.uk BBC constrained by need to avoid political bias, admits Lord Patten Society of Editors conference: On the eve of Leveson inquiry, former Tory chairman says there are areas where corporation needs to be particularly careful ITV forecasts a tough Christmas ITV sees revenues rise in autumn but predicts a tough ad market for Christmas and into 2012 Wright: BBC's Inside Out cuts are 'a joke' Presenter says he may quit London edition of current affairs show if 40% cost savings go ahead This week's featured media jobs PharmaVentures - Director of Marketing Oxford/permanent/full time Guardian News & Media - Multimedia Business Development Manager London/permanent/full time ITN Source - Cataloguing Manager London/contract/full time For more jobs, career advice and workplace news visit guardianjobs.co.uk Today's headlines The Guardian BBC unable to investigate hacking, says chairman Patten. P6 Interview with new PCC chief Lord Hunt. P29 Dan Sabbagh on media power. P28 The responsibility toward freelance staff in conflict zones. P28 The Independent Fears over curbs on witnesses at Leveson inquiry. P5 ITV pulls viewers but ads looking down. P52 i Leveson begins inquiry into the press. P2 Julian Assange hires Swedish PR firm. P7 Northern & Shell to move to Luton. P41 Daily Telegraph BBC chairman backs self-regulation of the press. P14 The Times PCC chief says newspapers must pay for regulator. P14, 24 Financial Times Vivendi says it has no plans to sell Universal. P23 Wall Street Journal Europe Universal and Sony split up EMI group. P23 Activision's Call of Duty has record debut. P22 Eastern Europe is tough market for Apple's iTunes. P23 Daily Mail I'm A Celebrity coverage. P11 Lord PAtten warns why free press is crucial to democracy. P12 Competition authorities to assess EMI takeover. P56 Daily Express X Factor coverage. P3 The Sun X Factor coverage. P4 I'm A Celebrity coverage. P11 Daily Mirror X Factor coverage. P6 Daily Star X Factor coverage. P1 I'm A Celebrity coverage. P8 And finally ... And so to the annual national debate about who will nail down the Christmas number 1 single spot. In recent years the odds-on favourite has been to back whoever happens to win X Factor - the successful efforts of a Facebook campaign to displace 2009 winner Joe McElderry's single with 1992's hit Killing In The Name aside. This year Simon Cowell, who was pretty grumpy about the whole anti-X Factor campaign, will have to mind his p's and q's if he is unhappy with his main rival for the top spot. Enter national treasures The Wombles and a re-release of 1974's Wombling Merry Christmas. The tip is on for the Wombles to take it by a nose. The song is being re-released after the Wombles played Glastonbury and received a great reception. Sun, P3 Also on MediaGuardian.co.uk today NoW lawyer Crone expected to face censure Parliamentary committee likely to characterise James Murdoch as ill-informed rather than mendacious Universal and Sony reach deal to buy EMI for £2.5bn Famous British music business could be split into two in agreement that hands control to biggest rivals Life and death in Rio's drug wars Gelson Domingos's death came on the eve of what may prove one of the biggest military operations in Rio's recent history I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here takes a more mature approach Decision to cast six contestants over 50 in latest series of the ITV programme hailed as an 'incredible breakthrough' Egyptian pyramid closes briefly over 11/11/11 rumour mill Giza's Great Pyramid, according to reports, target of new age or masonic events to mark not so rare calendrical moment Al-Jazeera launches Balkans broadcast Qatar-based network hopes venture will provide objective news in a region where media is heavily influenced by politics Lord Justice Leveson visits newsrooms on fact-finding mission Head of the forthcoming media inquiry prompted by the phone-hacking affair has been brushing up on how newspapers operate Modern Warfare 3 smashes entertainment launch records Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sells more than 6.5m copies within 24 hours of its launch, earning an estimated $400m in sales – and beating Harry Potter's box office Channel 4's Ralph Lee promoted to head of factual Previous chief of the department behind shows such as Inside Nature's Giants moves into a newly created role Tindle increases shares in rival Johnston Press Sir Ray Tindle, head of Farnham-based Tindle Newspapers, ups his stake in regional rival Johnston Press from 6.36% to 7.17%