Mediagazer: WikiLeaks: Julian Assange has Rupert Murdoch ‘insurance files’ (Josh Halliday/Guardian)

3:35 PM ET, January 12, 2011

Top News:

Ryan Singel / Threat Level:

Twitter's Response to WikiLeaks Subpoena Should Be the Industry Standard — ANALYSIS: Twitter introduced a new feature last month without telling anyone about it, and the rest of the tech world should take note and come up with its own version of it — Twitter beta-tested a spine.

Discussion: Fast Company, Crikey, Reuters, New York Magazine, broadstuff and TwitLonger

Vadim Lavrusik / Mashable!:

Social Media and Subpoenas: A Broken System That Puts Journalistic Sources at Risk — The Department of Justice issued Twitter a subpoena for access to the accounts of Julian Assange and several others in relation to its investigation of the whistle-blower organization, which released roughly 2,000 classified cables.

Discussion: Gawker and Poynter

Paul Colford / ap.org:

AP and Shepard Fairey announce agreement in Obama poster case — The Associated Press, Shepard Fairey and Mr. Fairey's companies Obey Giant Art, Inc., Obey Giant LLC, and Studio Number One, Inc., have agreed in principle to settle their pending copyright infringement lawsuit over rights in the Obama Hope poster and related merchandise.

Discussion: Associated Press, paidContent, MediaMemo, LA Observed, New York Observer, The Wrap, Nieman Journalism Lab, SAI, Threat Level, On Media's Blog, Runnin' Scared, TBD All News, Copyrights & Campaigns and NPR Topics

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Why Did Howard Kurtz Sit on an Embarrassing Correction for Six Weeks? — Howard Kurtz has quite a correction today! It seems that Howie mistakenly believed he was interviewing a Congressman directly, when in fact he was speaking to the Congressman's spokesperson. Weirder: Kurtz waited more than a month to correct the story.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Chickaboomer and FishbowlDC

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Correction on My Darrell Issa Story — I'd like to set the record straight on one of my stories. — In late November, I asked Rep. Darrell Issa's spokesman, Kurt Bardella, for an interview with the congressman. He said he would see what he could do. — That afternoon my phone rang …

Discussion: On Media's Blog, Poynter and The Huffington Post

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Demand Media Clears SEC and Prices IPO — Demand Media is set to go public, according to an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with shares priced from $14 to $16 each. — The online publisher could sell up to 8.625 million shares and, if it prices at the top of the range …

Discussion: paidContent, WebNewser, Beet.TV, SAI and DealBook, more at Techmeme »

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

6 ways journalists can use Quora as a tool for reporting, sharing ideas — Quora, the fast-growing question and answer site, has become increasingly popular among journalists. — In a phone interview, Quora co-founder Adam D'Angelo attributed the site's recent growth to an increase …

Discussion: Editors Weblog, American Journalism Review and TBD All News

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

WikiLeaks: Julian Assange has Rupert Murdoch ‘insurance files’ — Founder claims WikiLeaks has more than 500 US diplomatic cables on one broadcasting organisation — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, claimed today he was in possession of “insurance” files on Rupert Murdoch and his global media company, News Corporation.

Discussion: The Wire, Press Gazette, News: News blog, The Huffington Post, CNET News and Media News International

Brian Steinberg / AdAge:

Piers Morgan Taking Over for Larry King, but His Ads Cost the Same — CNN Has High Hopes for Show; Buyers Take Wait-and-See Approach — One thing new CNN host Piers Morgan (left) has in common with his predecessor Larry King: ad prices. — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — By taping interviews …

Discussion: Mediaite, B&C, TVNewser, AdScam/The Horror! and Chickaboomer

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media: How CNN's Piers Morgan Cut Bill O'Reilly Down to Size

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

The Price of Unwanted Ad Clicks — Some advertisers on Google Inc.'s search engine say a little-known feature of the company's AdWords ad system is causing them to overpay. — The advertisers, including high-end medical professionals, said their ads for services such as cosmetic dentistry …

Discussion: Search Engine Land and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

New York Post:

Meow! Fashion news catfight planned on Web — It's a return to battle for two veterans of the catty and combative fashion news wars. — Former Fairchild boss Michael Coady and ex-InStyle editor Charla Lawhon are joining forces — with a chance to twist the tails of their respective former employers …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Richard Sandomir / New York Times:

Yahoo Sports Adds an Online Magazine — Yahoo Sports has built an audience of more than 50 million visitors on news, commentary and fantasy games. Now it is shifting gears with a product extension: an online magazine. — Starting Tuesday night, Yahoo's sports division and SportsFanLive.com …

Discussion: Poynter, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and eMedia Vitals

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:

Comcast Said to Face Online-Video, Web Conditions to Seal Purchase of NBC — Comcast Corp. may have to provide television programs to online competitors and wouldn't be allowed to interfere with subscribers' Web traffic to satisfy regulators vetting its planned purchase of NBC Universal, people familiar with the deal said.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Online Video News and Electronista

Stuart Elliott / Media Decoder:

Bond, Ad Agency Stalwart, Will Lead Social Media Agency — In another sign of the growing role that social media is playing on Madison Avenue, Jonathan Bond, long a leading executive in the realm of traditional agencies, is becoming the head of an agency specializing in social media.

Discussion: MediaPost, AdAge, New York Observer, AdFreak and AdScam/The Horror!

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

Comcast's Gilford Jumps To ABC As SVP, Digital Media — Digital entertainment vet Karin Gilford is switching from Comcast Interactive Media (NSDQ: CMCSA) to Disney/ABC (NYSE: DIS) Television Group. As SVP-digital media for ABC, Gilford will be responsible for the network's initiatives across platforms …

Discussion: GigaOM, Broadcasting & Cable and MediaPost

Robin Wauters / TechCrunch:

Hold The Phone - Adknowledge Raises $200 Million, Plans Acquisitions — Did I say online advertising company Adknowledge raised $45 million in venture capital? I did, and they did, but Adknowledge actually secured more than four times as much in total consideration, in a combination of debt and equity financing.

Discussion: Market Wire and paidContent

Choire Sicha / The Awl:

A Documentary about the “New York Times” Media Desk! — This “coming attraction” video for Page One, a documentary about the media desk at the New York Times, makes it sound pretty boring. Seeing Sundance pitch it as “if you love newspapers, then you'll love this!” is a terrible idea.

Discussion: Gawker

David Kaplan / paidContent:

With Plans To Double Revenues, Atlantic Switches Gears On Premium iPad App — On the heels of last week's news that the high brow culture and news publication The Atlantic posted its first profit “in decades”—and that ad revenues rose 37 percent, with print and online up a respective 27- and 70 percent …

Discussion: Folio, Poynter, WebNewser and rbr.com

Amy Wicks / WWD:

The King of Hearst — NEW YORK — It was a few minutes before 10 p.m. on Monday night and Hearst Magazines top executive David Carey had something to say about his company, a comment his rivals would try to deny but probably fear is true. — “The current environment favors the Hearst way of doing things,” he said.

Discussion: New York Observer