Mediagazer: Reality TV for the Rest of Us (Matt Kelly/Facebook Blog)

2:35 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, The Wire, FP Passport, 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: News: News blog, CJR, Sunlight Foundation Blog, New York Times, Salon, New York Observer, Daily Kos, Yahoo! News and American Journalism Review

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.

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 and The Daily Beast

Nick Summers / New York Observer:
Turning Gawker On Itself

Discussion: Gothamist, New York Post and Poynter

Daniel Kennedy / The Firewall:
Discussing Gawker's Breach With Founder Nick Denton

Discussion: Gawker, Mixed Media, Computerworld, TechCrunch and New York Post

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, The Wire, On Media's Blog, New York Observer and Yahoo! News

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, Twitter Blog, Mashable!, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, TechCrunch, Search Engine Land and MediaPost Raw, more at Techmeme »

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: The Wire, IAB SmartBrief, SAI, MediaMemo, MediaPost, The Next Web, TechCrunch, paidContent, TUAW, MacRumors, eMedia Vitals, Digital Media Wire and Geekosystem

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: The Wire and GigaOM

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.

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 »

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

Lucia Moses / Adweek:
More Signs Pointing Towards Hearst Buying Hachette

Discussion: FishbowlNY and mediabistro.com

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 …

Jonathan Cooper / Journal Register Company:

Journal Register Company's Open Newsroom Launches New Era In Community Journalism — Yardley, PA - Marking a new era in community journalism, Journal Register Company, a leading local news and information company, opened the doors of The Register Citizen's new, community-focused newsroom.

Matt Kelly / Facebook Blog:

Reality TV for the Rest of Us — We've all been there—spending hours in front of the TV, getting lost clicking through hundreds of channels, just to realize that you haven't really watched anything at all. The best way to stay out of the TV weeds is to get recommendations from your friends …

Discussion: MediaFile, Bits, The Next Web, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch and NetworkEffect, more at Techmeme »

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.

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

AP staffers hold ‘byline boycott’ to protest proposed cuts — Romenesko Misc. — The AP union says members are also demonstrating unity by wearing red shirts and signing a petition asking management to reconsider a pension plan freeze and increases in medical payments by more than 40 percent.

Discussion: New York Observer

Thomas Pardee / AdAge:

Finding the Sweet Spot for Journalism and Social Media — Times Dissolves Social Media Editor Post While USA Today Adds One — and Journal Plugs Ahead — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The country's biggest newspapers are taking different tacks on social media.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Jennifer Weil / WWD Media Headlines:

Memo Pad: ‘Exhibition’ Magazine Puckers Up... Tina Brown's Big Catch... SIMPLY RED: New luxury magazine Exhibition has a singular intent. That's to cover one particular object or product — often considered commonplace — in-depth in its single issue out yearly.

Madhu Rajaraman / American Journalism Review:

The Comment Police — NPR says it's pleased with the results of its decision to outsource the battle against offensive online comments. Posted: Wed, Dec. 15 2010 — Madhu Rajaraman (mrajaraman@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant. — It was a victim of its own success.