Mediagazer: WSJ's secret project to launch end of next month (Chris Roush/Talking Biz News)

4:50 PM ET, December 15, 2010

Top News:

Lev Grossman / Time:

Mark Zuckerberg — On the afternoon of Nov. 16, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg was leading a meeting in the Aquarium, one of Facebook's conference rooms, so named because it's in the middle of a huge work space and has glass walls on three sides so everybody can see in.

Keach Hagey / On Media's Blog:

Zuckerberg named Time's Person of the Year — Time magazine has named Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year, Rick Stengel announced on “Today.” — He overtook runners-up The Tea Party, Julian Assange, Hamid Karzai and The Chilean Miners.

Discussion: Mediaite, Time, NetNewsCheck Latest, FP Passport, The Wire, Geekosystem and Media News International

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Columbia j-school staff: WikiLeaks prosecution ‘will set a dangerous precedent’ — Romenesko Misc. — Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty and officers tell President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that “while we hold varying opinions of Wikileaks' methods and decisions …

Discussion: CJR, News: News blog, Sunlight Foundation Blog, Salon, New York Observer, Daily Kos, New York Times, Yahoo! News and American Journalism Review

Barton Gellman / Time:

Julian Assange — On Dec. 9, 2006, an unsolicited e-mail arrived for Daniel Ellsberg, the whistle-blower of Vietnam War renown. The return address said only “WikiLeaks,” and the signature at bottom, “WL.” In the orotund prose of a manifesto, the message invited Ellsberg to become …

Discussion: The Social, Computerworld and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:
Air Force Blocks Sites With Leaked Cables

New York Times:

YouTube May Buy Video Production Company — By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and BRIAN STELTER — SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube, the video site owned by Google, is in talks to buy Next New Networks, a Web video production company, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Discussion: paidContent, The Wire, Fast Company, Media Maverick, ReadWriteWeb, Fortune Favors The Bold, NYConvergence.com and GigaOM

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Twitter Raises $200 Million at $3.7 Billion Valuation; Adds McCue and Rosenblatt to Board — Twitter has completed its latest round of funding-$200 million at a $3.7 billion valuation-with Kleiner Perkins as the lead investor, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Discussion: Twitter Blog, paidContent, New York Observer, SAI, ReadWriteWeb, The Next Web, Bits and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Bloomberg Hires 2 to Lead Opinion Venture — 12:13 p.m. | Updated Bloomberg L.P. is making a foray into opinion writing, a move intended to further broaden the company's reach beyond its bread-and-butter financial news service. — The company has hired two big names — James P. Rubin …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, American Journalism Review, The Wire, On Media's Blog, New York Observer and Yahoo! News

Larry Yang / The Official Google TV Blog:

What's new with Google TV? — It's been two months since the first Google TV device went on sale. Since then, we have been hard at work thinking about how we can make the platform even better for our users. In fact, one of the greatest things about Google TV is that it comes with free …

Discussion: WebNewser, Lost Remote, SiliconANGLE, Between the Lines Blog, Fortune, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Engadget, GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb, mobiputing and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Brian Ries / The Daily Beast:

The Hackers Who Broke Gawker — As Gawker Media users scramble to change their passwords in the wake of a massive security breach, members of Gnosis say they're not planning any more big hacks—but their power has increased exponentially, says Brian Ries. — Members of the hacking group Gnosis …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Beast and The Firewall

Nick Summers / New York Observer:
Turning Gawker On Itself

Discussion: AdAge, New York Post, Gothamist and Poynter

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:

Twitter Launches Online Form to Buy Ads, Trending Topics & More — The business end of Twitter has revamped its website tonight and it now includes a form that companies can use to express interest in purchasing Promoted Accounts, Promoted Tweets or Promoted Trends.

Discussion: The Next Web, ClickZ, Bits, Twitter Blog, TechCrunch, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Land and MediaPost Raw

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

E-Readers With Color Open Door for Pictures — Millions of consumers have embraced black-and-white e-readers like the Kindle for reading simple novels or nonfiction — but books with color illustrations have generally remained better read in print. — Now publishers are making headway …

Discussion: GigaOM and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

Jonathan Stray:

Does journalism work? — How do we know that the work that journalists do accomplishes anything at all? And what does journalism do, exactly, beyond vague statements like “supports democracy” and trivial ones like “gives me movie reviews”? — I made this image a couple months ago to introduce the question at a conference.

Kunur Patel / AdAge:

Apple Launches First IAd for IPad, for Disney's ‘Tron Legacy’ — Initial IAd for Apple's Tablet Is a Preview of What's Coming Next Year — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The first iAd for iPad will launch this afternoon for the upcoming Disney blockbuster “Tron Legacy.”

Discussion: SAI, The Wire, Most Recent Home Page Posts …, MediaMemo, The Next Web, MediaPost, TechCrunch, paidContent, TUAW, MacRumors, eMedia Vitals, Digital Media Wire and Geekosystem

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Look how many newspapers are still sold every day in the UK... How many people in Britain buy a newspaper every day? It's a question often asked and rarely answered with any authority. — I found myself floundering for an exact answer during a US radio broadcast at the weekend, guessing at about 12m.

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

WSJ's secret project to launch end of next month — TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE — Wall Street Journal's secret project will launch in six weeks, with a formal announcement of its launch detailing what it will be expected early next year, sources within Dow Jones & Co. said Tuesday.

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Taxi TV Screens Gain Ad Business in New York — Take a taxi through the East Village this week, and there is a good chance that a commercial for the Blue Man Group — playing nearby on Astor Place — will pop up on the miniature television facing the back seat.

Discussion: New York Observer, B&C and NYConvergence.com

Lucia Moses / Mediaweek:

Deborah Burns Out at Hachette — As Elle and Woman's Day publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. continues sale talks, it has lost another senior executive, Deborah Burns. — Burns, a 26-year Hachette vet, had been svp for Metropolitan Home and Elle Decor until Met Home folded in 2009.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, mediabistro.com and Adweek

Matt Thompson / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Coming soon to journalism: Matt Thompson sees the “Speakularity” and universal instant transcription — Editor's Note: We're wrapping up 2010 by asking some of the smartest people in journalism what the new year will bring. — We also want to hear your predictions: Take our Lab reader poll …