Mediagazer: Helen Thomas returns to journalism (Michael Calderone/Yahoo! News)

7:15 AM ET, January 7, 2011

Top News:

Mark Memmott / NPR:

Review Of Juan Williams' Firing Done; NPR News Exec Resigns — NPR just released two statements — one on the completion of an independent review of the dismissal of news analyst Juan Williams and another on the resignation of Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss:

Discussion: Media Decoder, The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, Poynter, Chickaboomer, Politics Daily, The Wrap, CBS News, PJNet, The Hill, Mixed Media, NewsBusters.org blogs, Gawker, LA Observed, www.wnyc.org, AOL News, TVWeek.com and On Media's Blog

Jim Rainey / The Big Picture:

Ellen Weiss' first comments on her NPR resignation — Ellen Weiss called her decision to step down Thursday as the top news executive at National Public Radio “extremely hard” but declined to criticize NPR or back away from her decision to fire Juan Williams, the action that led to her downfall.

Discussion: NPR, Media Matters for America, Speakeasy, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Paul Ford / Ftrain.com:

The Web Is a Customer Service Medium — I look forward to your feedback. — I sometimes chat with people in the book- and magazine-publishing industries. They complain to me about the web. They worry about what is being lost. They can sound like this bookseller in Buffalo, New York:

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Breaking: Bill O'Reilly To Sit Down With Barack Obama In Pre-Super Bowl Interview — Sources tell Mediaite that Bill O'Reilly has landed an exclusive pre-game interview with President Barack Obama scheduled to air on the Fox Broadcasting Channel before the Super Bowl.

Discussion: The Politico, The Huffington Post, Gawker, On Media's Blog, Inside Cable News, Yahoo! News, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, The Wire, Media Decoder and Politics Daily

Paul Carr / TechCrunch:

Tumblr's Bold Strategy: User Generated Content, After A Fashion — Depending on how you look at it, it's either a classic example of fiddling while Rome burns, or a masterstoke in brand positioning. In fact, come to think of it, maybe Tumblr's decision to hire a “fashion director” …

Lauren Sherman / Fashionista:
Tumblr is Sending 20+ Bloggers to New York Fashion Week

Discussion: Styleite, NYConvergence.com, New York Observer and Gawker

Meg James / Company Town:

Top Fox TV executive Tony Vinciquerra out in shake-up — Tony Vinciquerra, chief executive of Fox Networks Group, is leaving the company, prompting a major reorganization of Rupert Murdoch's television empire. — He departs after a long year that involved several brutal retransmission battles with cable operators.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline.com, Los Angeles Times, B&C, Multichannel, MediaPost, AdAge, Media Decoder, rbr.com, paidContent, The Wrap and TVWeek.com

Alex Weprin / mediabistro.com:

Piers Morgan's First CNN Guest: Oprah Winfrey — The first guest on CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight” will be legendary daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey. — Morgan will announce the news at the Television Critics Association Winter press tour in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon.

Discussion: Speakeasy, Media Decoder, The Wrap, Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable, Moraes on TV, Mediaite, USA Today and Inside TV

Andrew Golis:

Six month anniversary. — Since everyone in the world is either publishing or intentionally leaking their end of the year internal memos, I figured I'd do the same. To my own blog. — In fact, it's not just the end of one year and beginning of another.

Greg Sandoval / CNET News:

Will Hollywood's ‘UltraViolet’ plan replace the DVD? — A group of stakeholders in the entertainment industry are poised to make a important sales pitch to consumers concerning the way they buy and watch movies and TV shows. — Warner Bros. Entertainment, Netflix, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard …

Discussion: paidContent, PR Newswire, WebNewser, Online Video News and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:

Helen Thomas returns to journalism — After a seven-month retirement, Helen Thomas has a new journalism gig: columnist for the Falls Church News-Press in Virginia, as the ARLnow blog in Arlington, Va., reports. — The 90-year-old retired from Hearst newspapers in June after a media uproar …

Discussion: Poynter, FCNP, Arlington, Va. and The Wrap

James Poniewozik / Tuned In:

The Case Against Chasing Scoops — William M. Daley is reportedly going to become the next White House chief of staff. I know that because I just read the report in the New York Times, and have seen “BREAKING” announcements from various outlets on Twitter, and have seen numerous reports to that effect for the last few days.

Discussion: The Caucus, Vanity Fair, TVNewser and Online NewsHour

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

First look at Ridley Scott's YouTube movie — Remember the video Ridley Scott was producing for YouTube? Today we get a first look at the results. — Last summer, YouTube announced that legendary Hollywood figure Ridley Scott would be producing ‘Life In A Day’, a movie consisting entirely …

Discussion: The Official Google Blog, Underwire, WatchingTV Online and The Wrap

Don Tapscott / The Huffington Post:

Macrowikinomics: Journalism in the Age of Collaboration — This article is the sixth installment in series written by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, authors of the newly released book Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike calls it “A masterpiece.

Brian Stelter / Gadgetwise:

In Its First Deal With a Network, Boxee to Sell CBS Content — LAS VEGAS — In a step forward for television episode sales, Boxee said Thursday that CBS would allow it to begin selling episodes through its software platform later in the year. — The arrangement, announced …

Discussion: MediaPost and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:

Many Huffington Post Readers Hate Site's New Facebook-Powered Recommendation Engine — The giant online publisher and aggregator Huffington Post began experimenting with a new content recommendation engine today, powered by Facebook and built by AdaptiveSemantics, the startup the company acquired last June.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

/ Jennifer 8. Lee:

Primary Source Journalism and the Rise of “Little Brother” — Nieman Lab posted some insights I gave them from last year, and I recently did an interview on journalism around the world with the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. The stuff on primary source journalism and “Little Brother” …

Jim Romenesko / Poynter:

Ex-CIA officer charged with leaking information to NYT's Risen — The Justice Department doesn't say specifically what was leaked by Jeffrey Sterling, but the AP's Adam Goldman says it's clear that case against him centers on leaks to New York Times reporter James Risen for his book …

Discussion: Associated Press, The United States Department … and Boing Boing

Matt Kinsman / Folio:

The Atlantic Posts Profit for First Time In Years — Claims double digit increases in digital, events and print. — The Atlantic says it turned its first profit in decades in the fourth quarter of 2010, driven by double-digit revenue increases year-over-year in digital (up 70 percent) …

Discussion: New York Observer and The Wrap

Dave Levinthal / OpenSecrets.org:

Major Influence Peddlers Fill Capitol Hill Newspapers With Advertisements on Congress' Inauguration Day — Nothing says lobbying like splashing your company's name in bright colors across the pages of Capitol Hill's three must-read specialty publications on the first day of a new congressional session.

Discussion: Poynter

Dawn C. Chmielewski / Los Angeles Times:

Pay TV industry moves to adapt to Internet age — Cisco and Comcast unveil new technology meant to keep subscribers in the fold. — Reporting from Las Vegas — The pay television industry, under growing threat from the Internet, disclosed plans to prevent technology companies from luring away its customers.

Discussion: Company Town