Mediagazer: Leveson launches spin-off inquiry into hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemail (David Leigh/Guardian)

2:00 PM ET, December 12, 2011

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

BuzzFeed Adds Politico Writer — BuzzFeed, a site where the editors and algorithms sift the Web in search of viral articles elsewhere, has decided that it needs articles of its own. — In a move that is sure to surprise the political and journalistic classes, the site is hiring Ben Smith …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Nieman Journalism Lab, Mediaite, The Atlantic Wire, The New York Observer, Gawker, @benpolitico, The Corsair, @peretti, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Awl, New York Magazine and Editors Weblog

Steve Myers / Poynter:
Politico's Ben Smith becomes BuzzFeed editor

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Nick Davies / Guardian:

What the police now know about Milly Dowler hacking — Operation Weeting investigation confirms most of original phone hacking story, but it is no longer clear what prompted initial deletion that gave Dowler family false hope Milly was still alive — A week ago, I discovered that the police …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Guardian, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, The Independent, Deadline.com and Daily Mail

David Leigh / Guardian:
Leveson launches spin-off inquiry into hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemail

Discussion: Press Gazette

John Bingham / Telegraph:
Phone hacking: Guardian's Nick Davies accuses bosses of ‘pecking’ at climb-down story

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, FleetStreetBlues and Journalism.co.uk

David Carr / New York Times:

When Truth Survives Free Speech — Last week, a story came across my desk that seemed to suggest that a blogger had been unfairly nailed with a $2.5 million defamation award after a judge refused to give her standing as a journalist. A businessman who was the target of the blogger's inquiries brought the suit.

Discussion: Poynter, Media Nation and Future of Journalism

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Huffington Post to launch a version in Spain, to be called El Huffington Post — The Huffington Post has just signed a deal with Spanish newspaper El Pais to produce a new version of the caffeinated news brand Arianna Huffington has made famous in the United States.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Awl, paidContent, MediaPost, mediabistro.com and Editors Weblog

Chris Velazco / TechCrunch:

Steve Jobs Biography Is Amazon's Best-Selling Book Of The Year — Move over, Tina Fey — Amazon has just released the list of their ten best-selling books of the year, and Walter Isaacson's thoughtful biography of Steve Jobs has come out on top. — The biography's appearance at the top …

Discussion: CNET News, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Amazon.com and GeekWire, more at Techmeme »

Allegra Stratton / Guardian:

NI pays Tessa Jowell £200,000 — Ex-Labour cabinet minister gets settlement after police said her phone had been hacked by News of the World — The former Labour cabinet minister Tessa Jowell has accepted a £200,000 settlement from Rupert Murdoch's News International over the hacking of her phone.

Telegraph: Phone Hacking: confirmed victims ‘total about 800’, says police inquiry chief

Guardian:
Met police chief's rediscovered diaries reveal meals with NoW executives

Discussion: Guardian

David Lieberman / Deadline.com:

Netflix Shares Soaring On Report Of Sale Talks With Verizon — The video rental company's shares have spiked 6.8% in midday trading — an eye-popping standout on a day when the market's down about 2%. The reason: website DealReporter says that Verizon is considering buying Netflix to get into the video streaming business.

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Ratings: ABC/Yahoo News Republican debate drew biggest audience of 2012 race so far — The ABC News/Yahoo News Republican presidential debate drew 7.58 million total viewers on Saturday night, making it the most-watched GOP debate of the 2012 campaign season so far.

Alicia Shepard / Poynter:

‘60 Minutes’ story on homeless children in Florida spurs $1 million in donations — “60 Minutes” doesn't often do updates unless it re-airs an old story. But it will this weekend because of the overwhelming response to its story on homeless kids living in vehicles in Florida.

Discussion: TVNewser

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

With Netflix For Nook Color, Barnes & Noble Fights Against Kindle Fire — Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) is blurring the lines between the $199 Nook Color and $249 Nook Tablet with a major update for the Color, adding access to streaming video through Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX).

Discussion: TechCrunch, PC Magazine, CNET News and Pocket-lint, more at Techmeme »

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:
Under Fire, Amazon Says Kindle Fire Is Getting An Update Within Two Weeks

Discussion: TechCrunch, PC Magazine and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Newt Gingrich Spokesman Outs Candidate As Anonymous Source — The New Hampshire Union Leader recently quoted “a senior aide in the [Newt] Gingrich campaign” pushing hard, and at length, against criticism from former Governor John H. Sununu, an outspoken surrogate for Mitt Romney's campaign.

Discussion: New York Times, The Caucus and ABCNEWS

Dylan Byers / Politico: On ‘Gingrich aide,’ a heated no comment from McQuaid

Richard Mullins / Tampa Bay Online:

165 layoffs under way at Tampa Tribune, sister papers — TAMPA — Layoffs that will total 165 people began today at The Tampa Tribune and its community and weekly publications — a reduction of 16 percent in the total workforce. — The layoffs also affect TBO.com but not News Channel 8 …

Discussion: Poynter

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Geraldo Rivera Gets Talk Deal on WABC Radio — Geraldo Rivera's been called a lot of names in his life. Here's a new one: radio talk show host. — In a deal to be announced Monday, Mr. Rivera will host the 10 and 11 a.m. hours on WABC in Manhattan, one of the nation's biggest stations.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, rbr.com, TVNewser, Chickaboomer and Inside Cable News

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Pearson to sell FTSE stake for £450m — Financial Times and Penguin owner Pearson to sell 50% stake in FTSE International group in shift from financial data — Pearson is to sell its 50% stake in the FTSE International group to the London Stock Exchange for £450m in cash.

Discussion: Media Week

Voice of San Diego:

Changes at VOSD — Today was a difficult day of change for voiceofsandiego.org. — Last year, we raised more than $1.1 million and drew up a budget for 2011 at $1.2 million. We're projecting lower revenue for the coming year and set the budget at $1 million. — There's no one cause for the change.