Mediagazer: The Mystery Team That Recruited Ben Smith to Buzzfeed (Adam Clark Estes/The Atlantic Wire)

3:00 AM ET, December 13, 2011

Top News:

Ailes on Ailes: Fox News Chief Is Writing an Autobiography — Roger Ailes. — Several GOP candidates have treated this primary season as a book tour, just as much as a presidential campaign. Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin have all hustled around the country selling books …

Discussion: The New York Observer, The Huffington Post and The Wrap

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:
Is Roger Ailes Penning an Autobiography? Fox News Responds

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Inside Cable News, Deadline.com and Gawker

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: BBC, New York Times, Digital Spy, Business Insider, newsfeed.time.com, Press Gazette, The Huffington Post, The Independent, Deadline.com, Guardian, Journalism.co.uk and Daily Mail

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

Discussion: Press Gazette

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Universal: Artists didn't consent to Megaupload video — The brouhaha around Megaupload's viral music video continues this week, with Universal Music (UMG) now claiming that several of its artists didn't consent to being used in the video. Megaupload is disputing these claims in a lawsuit it filed in federal court today.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, Rolling Stone, ReadWriteWeb and TeleRead

Jolie O'Dell / VentureBeat:

Megaupload is suing Universal for unjustly yanking its commercial off YouTube — In an interesting reversal on usual Internet copyright disputes, file-sharing site Megaupload is taking Universal Music Group to court. — UPDATE: The filing is now official; you can read the whole thing online as a PDF.

Discussion: Guardian, TorrentFreak, WebProNews and TeleRead

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Wikipedia Mulls Total Blackout to Oppose SOPA — Later this week, the Senate's House Judiciary Committee will vote on the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA). — Supporters of the bill say it's needed to safeguard the interests of rightsholders who claim their businesses are threatened by online piracy.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Techdirt, Gawker, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, VentureBeat and The Register, more at Techmeme »

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

In video, confrontation between a ‘Times’ photographer and the NYPD at Occupy Wall Street protest downtown — It still seems like not all New York Police Department officers got that memo from their boss a few weeks ago warning them not to interfere with members of the media during police actions …

Discussion: New York Magazine, City Room, Runnin' Scared, The New York Observer and Fast Company

Jim Romenesko:

Michael Duffy promoted to Time executive editor — Time editor-in-chief John Huey and managing editor Rick Stengel tell their employees: It's hard to describe what Michael Duffy does at TIME because he does so much and he does it so discreetly. He presides over Washington and our political coverage …

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

The Mystery Team That Recruited Ben Smith to Buzzfeed — Buzzfeed co-founder Jonah Peretti played it pretty coy when we tracked him down to ask about how he lured veteran blogger Ben Smith startled to lead a new team of scoop-hungry journalists at fun-machine BuzzFeed.

Discussion: The New York Observer, Capital New York, Nieman Journalism Lab, Adweek, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and The Awl

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

Discussion: CJR, Washington Post, Big Journalism, Adweek, FishbowlDC and Media Decoder

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.

Discussion: WebProNews, The Wrap, Techland and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Mark Cuban Wants To Get You Laid, Invests In Men's Advice Site Brotips — Being a man in the modern world is no easy task. Should I friend her on Facebook? When is it alright to ignore a text message? Men's advice site Brotips can help, and Mark Cuban wants to make sure you've heard of it.

Discussion: Fast Company, VatorNews, The Jane Dough and Business Insider

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: VentureBeat, GalleyCat, CNET News, L.A. Times Tech Blog, GeekWire and Amazon.com

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: Future of Journalism and TVNewser

Steve Myers / Poynter:

Judge allows journalists to tweet, live-blog from Sandusky preliminary hearing — Senior Judge John M. Cleland has loosened his rules for Tuesday's preliminary hearing for Jerry Sandusky. The amendment states that portions of the order “are amended to permit reporters credentialed under …

Discussion: PennLive.com, Future of Journalism and The Penn Stater Magazine

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: Erik Wemple, The New York Observer, Slate, Mediaite, NY Daily News, The Caucus and New York Times

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

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: MarketWatch, PC Magazine, CNET News, TechCrunch and Pocket-lint

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

Discussion: AllThingsD, CNET News and The Week

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.