Mediagazer: House committee appears headed toward approving SOPA (Grant Gross/Computerworld)

8:45 AM ET, December 16, 2011

Top News:

Juli Weiner / Vanity Fair:

In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 — Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir …

Christopher Buckley / The New Yorker Blog:

Postscript: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 — We were friends for more than thirty years, which is a long time but, now that he is gone, seems not nearly long enough. I was rather nervous when I first met him, one night in London in 1977, along with his great friend Martin Amis.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Slate, Guardian, FishbowlDC, LA Observed and FleetStreetBlues

Nicholas Jackson / The Atlantic Online:

Chris Hitchens Dead at 62; New York Times Redraws A1 for Obit — He's the only writer that I've ever written a fan letter to. It was a year and a half ago, give or take a couple of months, and I was on the train heading deep into the suburbs of Chicago to visit my parents when I was moved …

Discussion: Poynter, The Huffington Post and Guardian

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Janet Robinson, Chief Executive of Times Co., to Step Down — Janet L. Robinson, who served as chief executive of the New York Times Company during a time of rapid change and uncertainty in the newspaper industry, will step down at the end of the month, the company announced Thursday.

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Next New York Times CEO could come from the tech sector — After seven years as CEO, Janet Robinson will become a highly-compensated consultant for the company in 2012 as publisher Arthur Sulzberger becomes acting CEO while the Times searches for her successor. Peter Kafka reports Robinson will earn $4.5 million next year.

Discussion: AllThingsD and AdAge

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

NYT NEWSROOM CHATTER: Andrew Ross Sorkin In Running To Become CEO — No sooner had the news crossed that New York Times Company CEO Janet Robinson is out than the newsroom chatter began about who will replace her. — Two names have surfaced so far. — The first, NYTCo President Scott Heekin-Canedy, is a natural choice.

Declan McCullagh / CNET News:

SOPA votes derailed by politician's ‘offensive’ tweet — A marathon debate today in the House of Representatives on the Stop Online Piracy Act wasn't derailed by procedural questions, even though not one hearing had been held on how the law would actually work.

Discussion: Betabeat, Deadline.com, @stevekingia, WatchingTV Online and House Judiciary Committee, more at Techmeme »

Grant Gross / Computerworld:

House committee appears headed toward approving SOPA — The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee slowly moved toward approval of the controversial copyright enforcement bill Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), although the panel was able to debate only a handful of amendments Thursday.

Declan McCullagh / CNET News:
Meet SOPA author Lamar Smith, Hollywood's favorite Republican

Discussion: Technology Liberation Front, paidContent, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fortune and Naked Security

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Tons Of Amendments Proposed For SOPA

Discussion: Multichannel, NetNewsCheck Latest, Wired.com, Policy Blog, The Wrap, Hillicon Valley, Media Matters for America, Washington Post, Lamar Smith, Business Insider and TechCrunch

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Knight funds collaborative reporting center in Georgia — The Knight Foundation is launching a new program at Mercer University designed to prepare journalists, both aspiring and employed, how to perform their craft in an increasingly interdependent industry.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, NetNewsCheck Latest, Knight Foundation, NYConvergence.com, Macon Telegraph and Poynter

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

ProPublica.org goes responsive to better serve mobile readers — In what some like to think of an age of apps — smartphone, tablet, or otherwise — it might seem hard to get worked up over a mobile redesign. But last week ProPublica rolled out a new look for small screens that's pliable …

Alex Pham / Company Town:

Viewers watching more streaming video on game consoles — Video game consoles aren't just for gaming anymore. — Increasingly, people are using their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii devices to stream movies and TV shows, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Nielsen Co.

Discussion: Engadget, CNET News, Softpedia News, Forbes, Online Video News, The Verge, ZDNet and the Econsultancy blog

Maurice Chammah / The Huffington Post:

The Springborg Affair: A Censorship Debacle Reflects Egypt's Future — It began on Monday, December 5th, when English newspaper readers in Cairo learned that a new paper, the Egypt Independent, had disappeared from newsstands. They learned about the disappearance from the British press …

Discussion: Guardian and The New Yorker Blog

Politico:

Newt Gingrich and Arianna Huffington: A '90s story — Arianna Huffington and the liberal online juggernaut bearing her name have been tough on a lot of Republican presidential candidates, but when it comes to Newt Gingrich, the knife has cut a little deeper.

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

New BreakingNews.com adds stream of user tips for crowd ranking — News as a public process, rather than the polished output of a magic journalism box, is one of the big ideas in journalism innovation. But what exactly does that look like? — The people at BreakingNews.com are taking …

Discussion: Lost Remote and Inside

Dorothy Pomerantz / Forbes:

Why Howard Stern is a Terrible Choice for NBC — Click for full photo gallery: Howard Stern - The Celebrity 100 — NBC announced today that Howard Stern is taking over from Piers Morgan as a judge on the show America's Got Talent. To accommodate Stern (who will continue to do his Sirius/XM radio show) …

Discussion: TVbytheNumbers

Jon Slattery:

How Lord Hunt wants to tame bloggers and online — Online publications and blogs would be regulated under radical proposals by the new chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, according to the Exaro website — Lord Hunt, PCC chairman since October, told Exaro in an interview with David Hencke …

Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:

Amazon Shares Some Kindle Sales Numbers — Sort Of — Amazon has been oh-so-reluctant to talk about how many Kindle e-readers the company has sold. — But today it shed some light on the subject. — It said that its Kindle lineup of devices have continued to sell more than one million a week for the third straight week.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Bits, ZDNet, Marco.org, MediaPost, Techland, TechCrunch, Business Insider, GigaOM, paidContent and GeekWire

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Ellen’ Producer Says Fans Targeted In Facebook Scam (Exclusive) — An anonymous individual is said to be phishing personal info by pretending to be DeGeneres' manager Eric Gold. — Pretty much everyone with an e-mail account is familiar with the type of scam wherein a person with connections …

Discussion: Softpedia News, Naked Security and TVWeek.com

Nat Ives / AdAge:

What a Hotlink Costs Advertisers in Magazine iPad Editions — Conde Nast Charges $5,000 to Activate Each Web Address From Print Ads — How much is a hotlink worth? — It seems like a small thing, but it's one of many new questions facing magazine publishers as they try to figure out best practices …

Discussion: The New York Observer, Gawker and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:delrey

Mike Reynolds / Multichannel:

ESPN Scores $500 Million, Multimedia Rights Pact For NCAA Championships — Long-Term Deal Covers Women's Basketball Tourney, NIT Tournaments, College World Series, Lacrosse — ESPN has reached a new multiyear agreement with the NCAA under which it has secured, expanded multimedia rights …

Discussion: The Wrap and tv.broadwayworld.com

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Milly Dowler hacking was tip of the iceberg — The Guardian's story was the most dramatic element of a torrent of evidence faced by the News of the World — Did a mistake in the Guardian's Milly Dowler story cause the closure of the News of the World? — The last 72 hours has seen …

Discussion: Jon Slattery

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

Casey Anthony Teams With TV Producer to Shop $750,000 Interview Special (Exclusive) … A Los Angeles-based TV producer is shopping the first interview with Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in July of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. — The Hollywood Reporter has learned …