Mediagazer: Former AOL Media Boss Bill Wilson Rounds Up the Old Gang (Peter Kafka/MediaMemo)

12:10 PM ET, December 13, 2010

Top News:

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Exclusive: ‘Gnosis’ Explains The Method And Reasoning Behind Gawker Media Hack — Over the last 24 hours Gawker Media's network of sites have been under attack from a group who have identified themselves “Gnosis,” a seemingly mysterious collective of hackers who has been falsely considered part …

Discussion: Lifehacker, Urlesque, Reuters, New York Observer, The Next Web, On Media's Blog, The Not-So Private Parts, ReadWriteWeb, BlogPost, Wonkette, Techland and The Atlantic Online, more at Techmeme »

Gawker:

Commenting Accounts Compromised — Change Your Passwords — Our user databases appear to have been compromised. The passwords were encrypted. But simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack. You should change your Gawker password and on any other sites on which you've used the same passwords.

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Far Worse Than Previously Thought: Gawker Content Management System Hacked

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Gawker, Runnin' Scared, Gothamist and The Wire, more at Techmeme »

David Carr / New York Times:

WikiLeaks Taps Power of the Press — Has WikiLeaks changed journalism forever? — Perhaps. Or maybe it was the other way around. — Think back to 2008, when WikiLeaks simply released documents that suggested the government of Kenya had looted its country. The follow-up in the mainstream media was decidedly muted.

Gautham Nagesh / Hillicon Valley:
Judiciary panel to take up Espionage Act, legal options against WikiLeaks

Thanks:gnagesh

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Web Focus Helps Revitalize The Atlantic — WASHINGTON — How did a 153-year-old magazine — one that first published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements — reinvent itself for the 21st century?

Discussion: On Media's Blog, New York Observer, Screenwerk, NetNewsCheck Latest, Fast Company, The Wire, Magazines Online and The Daily Dish

Tim Arango / New York Times:

Time Warner Views Netflix as a Fading Star — For the past year, executives at big media companies have watched Netflix with growing resentment — for its success in delivering movies and television shows via the Internet, for its stock price nearly quadrupling, for its chief executive …

Discussion: Company Town, Fast Company, GMSV, Techland, Engadget and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Clay Shirky / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What will 2011 bring for journalism? Clay Shirky predicts widespread disruptions for syndication — Editor's Note: To mark the end of the year, we at the Lab decided to ask some of the smartest people we know what they thought 2011 would bring for journalism.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Rivals Say Google Plays Favorites — Search Giant Displays Its Own Health, Shopping, Local Content Ahead of Links to Competing Sites — Google Inc. increasingly is promoting some of its own content over that of rival websites when users perform an online search, prompting competing sites to cry foul.

Discussion: Google Public Policy Blog, Search Engine Land, Screenwerk, Between the Lines Blog, SAI, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and broadstuff, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. Crams for Classes — Media Giant Faces Task of Honing Education Strategy — With two moves over two weeks, News Corp. has become one of the biggest players in the increasingly crowded field of corporate investors chasing the next technology to transform American education.

Discussion: New York Observer

Sean Macaulay / The Daily Beast:

The Man Behind Piers Morgan — A year ago, agent John Ferriter was almost dead (his heart stopped for three minutes) and figuratively dead (he was fired). Getting Morgan into King's seat was Ferriter's road back. — This January, Piers Morgan will take over from Larry King as CNN's prime …

Discussion: TVNewser

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Former AOL Media Boss Bill Wilson Rounds Up the Old Gang — Former AOL content boss Bill Wilson, who left the company early this year and landed in September at radio-station owner Townsquare Media, has been a busy guy. — High up on his to-do list, apparently: Hire a whole lot of people who worked at his old company.

Discussion: MediaFile, paidContent and TechCrunch

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Condé Nast Gets Ready to Go Shopping, Adds $500 Million and an Ex-Yahoo — Anyone have anything they want to sell to Conde Nast? The publisher is officially in shopping mode: It has hired an M&A guy, and raised $500 million in cash to get him started.

Discussion: PR Newswire, New York Observer and New York Magazine

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Washington Examiner Helps Capture Fugitives — The Washington Examiner is known around the nation's capital for its conservative bent, bite-size news reports and price that cannot be beat: it is given away on the Metro. — But in law enforcement circles, The Examiner has also become …

Adam Sternbergh / New York Magazine:

The Stunt Man — Can CollegeHumor's Ricky Van Veen turn viral funny into the future of TV? — unny is not enough," says Ricky Van Veen, the 29-year-old CEO of CollegeHumor, a website devoted to being funny. He's sitting in his corner office in the Gehry-designed IAC building …

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

Marketers Test Ads in E-Books — The marketing world is drawing up plans to invade one of the last bastions of media that is largely advertising-free: books. — As e-books proliferate, advertisers are experimenting with ways to pitch to consumers while they read, a trend that could change …

Discussion: TeleRead