Mediagazer: He Sold a Vision at Fox, and Marketers Bought It (Stuart Elliott/New York Times)

6:35 AM ET, December 16, 2010

Top News:

YouTube Said to Seek a Producer of Web Video — 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: GigaOM, Media Maverick, Fast Company, paidContent, ReadWriteWeb, Fortune Favors The Bold, The Wire, Shelly Palmer Digital Living, New York Observer and NYConvergence.com, more at Techmeme »

Next New Networks:
How We Had YouTube's Top 2 videos, and 1 Billion Views, in 2010

Discussion: Company Town

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Exclusive: Twitter Raises $200 Million at a $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.

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: ReadWriteWeb, The Digital Home, PR Newswire, Ars Technica, SiliconANGLE, WebNewser, GigaOM, VentureBeat, Fortune, Lost Remote, Engadget, mobiputing, TechCrunch and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Nate Freeman / New York Observer:

Exclusive: Two More Top Editors Out at GQ — Having had a fairly stable masthead for years, Conde Nast men's title GQ is hemorrhaging top-level editorial talent. — In late October style editor Adam Rapoport was named editor of Bon Appetit, and now sources say two more top editors are set to exit.

Discussion: New York Magazine

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: Computerworld, The Wrap and The Social

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:
Columbia j-school staff: WikiLeaks prosecution ‘will set a dangerous precedent’

Discussion: CJR, Techdirt and Wall Street Journal

Paige Albiniak / Broadcasting & Cable:

Exclusive: Multiple Syndicators Pitching Katie Couric on Daytime Talker — While many expect her to stay with CBS News, daytime option emerges — As Katie Couric's contract with CBS News nears its end, multiple syndicators are approaching her about daytime possibilities, confirm several sources.

Discussion: Mediaite and TVNewser

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

Discussion: Media News, Mediaite, Time, The Daily Beast, Speakeasy, Geekosystem, The Wire and Media News International

Eric Pfanner / New York Times:

Le Monde Ousts Top Manager — PARIS — Only weeks after a group of French businessmen completed their takeover of Le Monde, the newspaper on Wednesday replaced its top manager, who had complained of “moral harassment” by the new owners. — Le Monde said the official, Eric Fottorino …

Discussion: Shaping the Future …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Controversial Times sports editor bumped upstairs — Tweet — New York Times Sports Editor Tom Jolly will see his controversial eight-year reign come to an end next month when he moves upstairs to a new job. — His tenure was marked by the Times' widely criticized coverage …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Elizabeth Woyke / Mobilized:

When Reddit Attacks — I have a message for reddit and its millions of users: I'm sorry. — A little over a month ago, I wrote a story about a marketing firm that emailed me out of the blue with a novel proposition. For a few hundred dollars, it would do its best to get my stories great exposure …

Thanks:taylorbuley

Jesse Walker / Reason:

Our Leaky World — WikiLeaks is only the beginning. — We've read so much in the last few weeks about Julian Assange, it's easy to forget the WikiLeaks story isn't ultimately about Julian Assange. It isn't even really about WikiLeaks, any more than Watergate was a story about a hotel.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Politics Daily, Hillicon Valley and The Wire

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

HBO Hopes There's an Audience for Hockey — Emboldened by the success of its “Hard Knocks” NFL training camp show and Emmy Award-winning “24/7” franchise, HBO is set to premiere its latest reality series with a new sport as its focus: hockey. — The four-episode “24/7 Penguins/Capitals …

Discussion: Multichannel

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

TV Couch wants to bring Home Theater to your browser — With the battle for Internet-connected home media players heating up between Boxee, Apple, Google, Roku and game consoles you might think there isn't room for another contender. — TV Couch hopes that isn't the case as it prepares …

Thanks:cbmyers

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 …

Stuart Elliott / New York Times:

He Sold a Vision at Fox, and Marketers Bought It — Four decades later, Jon Nesvig, the dean of network sales executives, can still recall details of his first job. — “It was buying spot television time for General Foods in the Milwaukee and Minneapolis districts,” said Mr. Nesvig …

Juanita León / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Juanita León on independent journalism and La Silla Vacía, one of Colombia's first political blogs — Editor's Note: Our sister publication Nieman Reports is out with its winter issue, which focuses on changes in beat reporting. We're highlighting a few entries that connect …

Discussion: Nieman Reports and Poynter

Terry Heaton / Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog:

The studios will lose the “war” with Netflix — The first rule of Media 2.0 is that you ignore consumers at your own peril. The people formerly known as the audience are now fully in charge, as Rishad Tobbaccowala noted in 2004: … This strikes at the heart of all that is disrupting media …

Discussion: GigaOM