Mediagazer: Larry King Prepares to Sign Off, and Everybody's Talking (New York Times)

6:20 PM ET, December 14, 2010

Top News:

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Daniel Kennedy / The Firewall:
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Matt Brian / The Next Web:
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David Kaplan / paidContent:

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Ken Doctor / Newsonomics: Reuters America Claims New Territory; First Stop, Chicago & Tribune

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Wall Street Journal:

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Joe Pompeo / Yahoo! News:

The Awl to start paying its writers in January — The Awl, Choire Sicha and Alex Balk's irreverent and idiosyncratic 2-year-old journalism start-up, will as of Jan. 1 start paying the writers who have helped turn the site into a culture and media must-read with half a million monthly visitors.

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The Atlantic Online:

The Unknown Blogger Who Changed WikiLeaks Coverage — When historians look back at WikiLeaks and how the world's pundits tried to make sense of what was happening, they'll see a familiar list of sources: Foreign Policy's Evgeny Morozov, The Guardian's John Noughton, The New York Times' David Carr …

Discussion: The Independent

Andrew Wallenstein / paidContent:

Exclusive: Ex-NBC Chief Resurfaces With Digital Venture — Fred Silverman, who ran each of the three broadcast networks over the course of the 1970s, is trying his hand at programming on the internet. His production company will launch Blip City, which is billed as “the world's biggest live-video get together,” next month.

New York Times:

Larry King Prepares to Sign Off, and Everybody's Talking — Famous people liked talking to Larry King, and for many of them, there was one reason: His program was the place to go for unhurried, agendaless conversation. — “I consider Larry one of a kind, absolutely one of a kind,” …

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Ari Samsky / splicetoday.com:

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Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

By securing Howard Stern, Sirius XM Radio avoids static — The satellite radio company's new five-year deal with the talk show host gives Wall Street a strong signal that it will remain competitive with over-the-air stations. — Talk radio host Howard Stern agreed to a new five-year contract with Sirius XM Radio last week.

Discussion: Company Town, Media Buyer Planner and MediaFreak

Wall Street Journal:

Air Force Blocks Sites With Leaked Cables — The U.S. Air Force is blocking its personnel from using work computers to view the websites of the New York Times and other major publications that have posted secret material obtained by Wikileaks, people familiar with the matter say.

Alex Weprin / WebNewser:

CNBC Goes ‘Pro’ With Pay Digital, Mobile Service — CNBC is launching a premium digital and mobile service, CNBC Pro, with a suite of features meant to appeal to Wall Street professionals. At launch, the service will be available on PCs and Blackberry devices, with support for most other smartphones …

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Gillian Reagan / Bookish:

The Making of the Times' 10 Best Books of 2010 — Sam Tanenhaus, editor of The New York Times Book Review, insists that getting on the Times' 10 Best Books of 2010 list is not a prize. There's no ribbon. No ceremony. No giant check handed to a weeping recipient.

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

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Discussion: Market Wire and Gawker

John Eggerton / Multichannel News:

Viacom Raises Red Flags On Comcast/NBCU — Viacom, according to an ex parte filing, expressed concerns that the proposed merger of Comcast with NBC Universal would impact independent programming during meetings with Democratic Federal Communications Commission commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn.

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Robert Andrews / paidContent:UK:

France Says Google Is Main Cause Of News Publishers' Woes — French authorities have finally got some kind of ruling against Google (NSDQ: GOOG) - but it turns out to be rather toothless. — The competition watchdog, L'Autorité de la Concurrence, in an opinion expressed to the finance minister …

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

Cohen Upped To EVP At Bravo — Exec will continue to host ‘WWHL’ in elevated role — Andy Cohen has been promoted to executive vice president, original programming and development at Bravo, the network announced Tuesday. He will continue to be based in New York, reporting to Frances Berwick, president of Bravo Media.

Discussion: MediaPost