Mediagazer: Magazine Launches Up 23.8 Percent in 2011 (Ioanna Opidee/Folio)

8:30 AM ET, December 15, 2011

Top News:

Brian Stelter / The Caucus:

MSNBC Apologizes to Romney Campaign for Klan Report — Blaming its own staff for an “appalling lack of judgment,” MSNBC apologized on Wednesday for reporting that a phrase used by Mitt Romney on the campaign stump was used in the past by the Ku Klux Klan. — The brief report during the 11 …

Discussion: New York Magazine and US Politics

John Aravosis / Americablog:

MSNBC apologizes to Romney campaign for mentioning our post about Romney using old KKK slogan — “Keep America American.” Here's where Romney said it a few days ago on the campaign trail (and note how Romney, between the lines, calls President Obama a “socialist” in the same quote - but that's okay apparently):

Discussion: Mediaite, theGrio and US Politics

Lucy Carne / Herald Sun:

Guardian accused of running ‘false accusations’ about Milly Dowler's voicemails to sink News of the World — LEFT-leaning UK broadsheet The Guardian has been accused of deliberately running “false accusations” about murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's voicemails to sink rival News of the World.

Alex Peake / The Sun:

Guardian dodges TV clash with The Sun — THE BBC last night allowed The Guardian to duck a TV showdown with The Sun over phone hacking. — The Beeb said Guardian reporter Nick Davies had refused to appear on Newsnight alongside Sun managing editor Richard Caseby.

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Nick Davies: Dowler story had ‘very significant’ error

Discussion: Guardian

Dan Frommer / SplatF:

My new job at ReadWriteWeb, and what it means for SplatF — If you follow me on Twitter, or follow tech news in general, you may have seen the announcement this morning that I'll be joining ReadWriteWeb as Editor At Large starting in January. — SAY Media, my business-side partner for SplatF, just acquired RWW.

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Future of Journalism and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

The Price For ReadWriteWeb Was Around $5 Million — Tech blog ReadWriteWeb was acquired today by SAY Media, as was previously reported. I've found out a few more details. The price SAY paid out was under $5 million, after the assumption of ReadWriteWeb's liabilities, according to a source privy to the details.

Discussion: the Econsultancy blog, The Wrap, VatorNews, paidContent and Daring Fireball, more at Techmeme »

Adrianne Jeffries / Betabeat:
ReadWriteWeb's Acquisition, as Seen By a Former Employee [UPDATED]

Discussion: TechCrunch, Afterthoughts and WebProNews

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
Say Media Eyes IPO, Buys ReadWriteWeb

Discussion: CNET News, Forbes and TechCrunch

BBC:

Leveson Inquiry: Myler accepted ‘rogue reporter’ view — Mr Myler was News of the World editor from 2007 until its closure earlier this year — Ex-News of the World editor Colin Myler has said he feared “bombs under the newsroom floor” in the form of possible widespread wrongdoing in the past.

Discussion: @journalismnews

Guardian:
Myler: ‘bombs under NoW newsroom floor’

Discussion: msnbc.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Former NoW journalist arrested over alleged payments to police

Discussion: Press Gazette

Aaron Gell / The New York Observer:

Peter Braunstein, WWD Writer Turned Tabloid Monster, Still Has Issues — One day in October 2010, Peter Braunstein's monthly subscription copy of W magazine arrived right on time. It was one of the first under the direction of a new editor, Stefano Tonchi, and the cover featured Ryan Gosling …

Discussion: Spiersblr

Jennifer Preston / New York Times:

Occupy Movement Shows Potential of Live Online Video — Brad Hunstable started Ustream, an online video platform, with a fellow West Point graduate back in 2007 to help American troops overseas communicate with multiple friends and family members at the same time.

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

Live Nation Buys BigChampagne, Analyzer of Consumer Data — In a bid to expand its ability to analyze large amounts of consumer data, Live Nation Entertainment, the music giant that includes Ticketmaster, is buying BigChampagne, a small but influential company that monitors online media consumption.

Discussion: Company Town and hypebot, more at Techmeme »

Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:

The Top Political Stories On Facebook In 2011 Were Sensationalized, Polarized And Mostly Mainstream — Facebook has released a list of the most popular US political news stories among its users over the past year. It's a pretty depressing read if you're idealistic like me …

Discussion: L.A. Times Tech Blog, Facebook and VentureBeat

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter: Huffington Post dominates Facebook's most-shared politics stories of 2011

Roi Carthy / TechCrunch:

Smart Magazine Is my6sense's Flipboard With Digital Intuition — Back in May, my6sense raised another $1.1 million to continue pushing its digital intuition technology to market. — Today, the company is releasing a brand new product called ‘Smart Magazine’ which can be best described …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

What Louis CK knows that most media companies don't — Until recently, comedian Louis CK was known mostly for a hilarious clip about how “everything is amazing but no one is happy,” which lampooned our inability to recognize our own good fortune and led to a TV show.

Discussion: Crikey, Techdirt, paidContent, Rolling Stone, Forbes, TechCrunch, /Film, GalleyCat, AdAge and CNET News

Rebecca J. Rosen / The Atlantic:

Why We Should Stop Asking Whether Bloggers Are Journalists — In the rush to defend blogs as a medium of journalism, we ask the wrong questions about what press freedom seeks to protect — Last week, a federal judge ruled that Crystal Cox, a blogger in Montana, owed $2.5 million …

Discussion: Journalism.org and Electronic Frontier Foundation, Thanks:nslayton

Felix Salmon:

The value of finding content to link to — I'm convinced there's real value in driving readers to great content — and clearly I'm not alone: Outbrain has just raised another $35 million. — What's Outbrain? Well, if you look at the All Things D story announcing the new round …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Outbrain Raises $35M In Series D Funding For Content Discovery Platform

Discussion: Online Video News, AllThingsD, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Fast Company and paidContent

Simon Owens / Nieman Journalism Lab:

NPR's StateImpact project explores regional topics through focused, data-driven journalism — Scott Detrow heard a rumor, and like any good reporter, he set out to determine whether it was true. Detrow, who has spent several years covering state politics and government …

Discussion: StateImpact Pennsylvania