Mediagazer: What if the Secrets Stayed Secret? (Arthur S. Brisbane/New York Times)

1:30 AM ET, December 6, 2010

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Like It or Not, WikiLeaks is a Media Entity — The past week has seen plenty of ink spilled — virtual and otherwise — about WikiLeaks and its mercurial front-man, Julian Assange, and the pressure they have come under from the U.S. government and companies such as Amazon and PayPal …

Discussion: Jay Rosen, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, mathewingram.com/work, The Wire, broadstuff, FP Passport, Scripting News and Gothamist, Thanks:hblodget

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

What if the Secrets Stayed Secret? — I READ the Monday New York Times with what can only be described as a sinking feeling. — Here on display, based on yet another WikiLeaks release, was the breathtaking disclosure of American diplomats' highly sensitive internal communications about friends and enemies.

Discussion: Mediaite

Misha Glenny / T Magazine:

The Gift of Information — Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have been jettisoned to fame or notoriety (choose your noun, please) not because of a passing political battle but for reasons much deeper: the desire to possess, distribute and devour information. Ever since the release in July …

Nadia Damouni / Reuters:

Exclusive: AOL mulls breakup, then merger with Yahoo — (Reuters) - AOL Inc, undergoing a radical transformation into the king of content on the Internet, is actively exploring a breakup involving a complicated series of transactions that may lead to a merger with Yahoo Inc, sources close to the plans told Reuters.

Discussion: Techland, VentureBeat, The Next Web, AfterDawn.com and SAI

Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times:

Sidney Harman: Man of all trades — The businessman who recently bought Newsweek and merged it with the Daily Beast founded an audio company, was a federal appointee and served as a college president. He's now putting the finishing touches on a new academy at USC.

Peter Preston / Guardian:

Richard Branson's Project app launched without a lifeboat — The Virgin boss says his iPad magazine will have to sink or swim on its own merits - at a time when some venerable web publications are sinking — Richard Branson is a master of publicity (including self-publicity).

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Measuring the Nomads — The more diverse and ubiquitous the internet gets, the harder it becomes to measure. Especially with the mobile version's rapid growth. A few weeks ago, my friends from the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) asked for a presentation discussing …

Richard Rogers / Guardian:

Virgin claims to cross final frontier with TV that taps the internet — Richard Branson unveils set-top box that puts him a terabyte ahead in online television race — Every few years comes a development in the technology that brings moving pictures into our homes invariably accompanied …

Terry Heaton / Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog:

Warning to local TV: unbundled distribution is upon you — My friend Holly hasn't had a TV in years. She was also the first friend of mine to give up a land line telephone, and I can't even remember how long ago that was. So she's “one of those.” She's been without TV or cable for many years …

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

British Newspaper Finds Readers Flocking Online — PARIS — For daily, or even hourly, updates on the life of Cheryl Cole, a British television talent-show judge and sometime pop singer who used to be married to a soccer star, there may be no better resource than the Web site of The Daily Mail.

Will Richmond / VideoNuze:

With Widevine Acquisition, Google is Poised to Go Hollywood — Just as the week is wrapping up, Google has announced its acquisition of Widevine, a provider of digital content protection and video optimization technologies. Widevine was a private company that had raised over $50 million to date.

Discussion: MediaPost

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Is Perez Hilton's conversion for real? — Only time will tell if the snarky blogger, who built a career by being mean-spirited, is a changed man. — There he was on national television, the self-styled “Queen of Mean.” Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton sat bolt upright in an almost-conservative jacket and tie.