Mediagazer: Goodbye, Heather — Heather Harde, the business brains behind … (Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch)

5:40 PM 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: Forbes, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Speakeasy, New York Magazine, Macleans.ca, On the Media, AAN, Slate, Business Insider, The Corsair, entertainment.time.com, Guardian, The Wrap, FishbowlDC, LA Observed and FleetStreetBlues

Julie Moos / Poynter:

New York Times did not need to stop the presses for Hitchens obit — New York Times Communications Director Danielle Rhoades Ha reports the paper did not need to stop the presses to include a story about Christopher Hitchens' death of cancer Thursday; “The story broke and was confirmed …

Discussion: Forbes, J-School Buzz, The Huffington Post, Slate, FishbowlDC, The Atlantic Online, ArtsBeat, @joepompeo, @palafo, The New York Observer, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer and Poynter

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Posthumous Hitchens: As readers remember the writer by combing his back-catalog, publishers prepare …

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, Slate and Adweek

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Lawmakers Table SOPA and Say ‘Bring in the Nerds’ — Update (4:30 p.m.): Members of the House Judiciary Committee decided on Friday to table the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) citing the need for more research into the issue and the potential effects of a law with such radical as this one.

Discussion: Guardian, Adweek, Forbes, CNET News, Techdirt and WebProNews

David Kravets / Threat Level:

Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed — Rep. Jason Chaffetz. Photo J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press — The House Judiciary Committee considering whether to send the Stop Online Piracy Act to the House floor abruptly adjourned Friday with no new vote date set — a surprise given …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Hillicon Valley, The Verge, Bloomberg, WebProNews, The Firewall, Computerworld, Betabeat, Medacity, Computerworld and MediaFile, more at Techmeme »

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
SOPA Markup Day 1: We Don't Understand This Bill, It Might Do Terrible Things, But Dammit, We're Passing It Now

Discussion: MOTHERBOARD, Deadline.com, CNET News, The Daily What, GigaOM, CNET News and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

Goodbye, Heather — Heather Harde, the business brains behind TechCrunch, will be stepping down at the end of the year as general manager of AOL's technology properties (including TechCrunch, Engadget, Joystiq, and TUAW). AOL GM Jay Kirsch, who oversees Autos, Finance, and Industry on the business side …

Discussion: Business Insider, Adweek, VentureBeat, MediaPost, @arrington and WebProNews, more at Techmeme »

Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:

Why Heather Matters — TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde announced her departure today. — I'm so angry. — Drift back to the end of 2006. TechCrunch was a year and a half old. My hobby had turned into a business. Federated Media was selling our standard ads and sent a small check every month.

Discussion: Business Insider

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

E-Book Readers Face Sticker Shock — Cheap new e-readers are expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season. But new owners of Kindles and Nooks may be in for sticker shock on Christmas morning: The price gap between the print and e-versions of some top sellers has now narrowed …

Discussion: GigaOM, Digital Book World, paidContent, msnbc.com and The Consumerist

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

EXCLUSIVE: Now We Know AOL's Patch Revenue - And It's Tiny — AOL's local business, Patch, will lose at least $100 million this year and generate paltry revenues, according to documents we've obtained from a source. — During 2011, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong invested ~$140 million into Patch, a network of 850 or local news blogs.

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Bradley Manning hearing - updates — Continuing coverage from Fort Meade, Maryland, where a pre-trial hearing is taking place for the Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning — At Forte Meade: Ed Pilkington (EP) and Matt Williams (MW) — At the Guardian in New York: Matt Wells

Discussion: Guardian and Guardian

Scott Shane / New York Times:
Manning Hearing Halted as Investigator Considers Recusal Request

Discussion: Fox News, Online NewsHour, CNN, Associated Press and Threat Level

Somini Sengupta / New York Times:

Judge Dismisses Twitter Stalking Case — SAN FRANCISCO — In a case with potentially far-reaching consequences for freedom of expression on the Internet, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed a criminal case against a man accused of stalking a religious leader on Twitter …

Discussion: Gawker, Forbes, WebProNews, Techdirt, Digits, PC Magazine, Mashable!, Hillicon Valley, Electronic Frontier Foundation and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

Jim Romenesko:

Newspaper Guild of New York blasts Robinson's $4.5M consulting fee — The Times contract expired on March 30, “and we have not had serious negotiations for months now. Our last official bargaining session was in June.” — The union chief adds that subcommittees have been meeting with the Times …

Discussion: Thomson IR, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Gawker, The Jane Dough, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, paidContent, Business Insider and Business Insider

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Next New York Times CEO could come from the tech sector

Discussion: GalleyCat, AllThingsD, Capital New York, AdAge, Media Decoder and Business Insider

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:

UMG claims “right to block or remove” YouTube videos it doesn't own — Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload's request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its “Mega Song.” UMG insists that it had a right …

Discussion: Techdirt, Policy Blog, Plagiarism Today, Techland, Electronista, Fast Company, CNET News, Boing Boing and TeleRead, more at Techmeme »

Jack Shafer:

Are you reading the best magazine in America? — My original commitment to Bloomberg BusinessWeek was so small it was almost negative. — About this time last year, US Airways, Delta, or some other crappy airline notified me that my soon-to-expire frequent flyer miles could be exchanged …

Discussion: Media Nation and CJR

Tom Parfitt / Guardian:

Newspaper chief's murder in Dagestan adds to toll of Russian journalists — Hundreds attend funeral of Khadzhimurad Kamalov, who was shot dead outside Chernovik's offices in the North Caucasus — The prominent founder of an independent newspaper in the volatile Dagestan republic has been shot dead …

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, BBC and VOA

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

More Digital-First Downsizing: The Guardian's Print Edition Shrinks Again — We've been covering already how the Guardian's digital-first strategy has resulted in some sections of the printed newspaper shrinking. Today brings a fresh wave of downsizing moves, with the sports and film …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, Telegraph, Guardian and Editors Weblog

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

No debate: Fox gets glowing reviews — Given that some of those dastardly “mainstream media” reporters within the Beltway have been known to rib Fox News' journalism from time to time, it's been notable to see a clear trend emerge from the Republican debates in 2011: The faceoffs hosted …

Discussion: EW.com, Erik Wemple and Fox News Insider

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 …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Karl Rove: ‘Debates transfer power to the media, draining it from the campaigns’ — Former George W. Bush staffer and current Fox News contributor Karl Rove has written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today focusing on Donald Trump and televised debates. Rove has mixed opinions on debates.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Karl Rove, Big Journalism, FishbowlDC, GalleyCat and eBookNewser

Andrew Phelps / Nieman Journalism Lab:

NPR stations see big growth for Argo blogs as the pilot winds down — How much of an impact can one blogger make? — A little more than a year ago, 12 public radio stations set a goal: Hire a reporter, teach him or her how to blog, and create the most authoritative local source of news on a single topic — a vertical.

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

‘Time’ to Resurrect ‘Style & Design’ — Time magazine is resurrecting Time Style & Design, but this time with a less fashion-y focus and bigger online complement. — Time published the fashion spinoff from 2003 until it pulled the plug in 2009, blaming the ad recession.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Associated Press:

The ‘Great Channel Squeeze’ Coming? — NEW YORK — Call it the Great Channel Squeeze. — Congress is considering letting cellphone companies pay television stations to give up their frequencies so they can be put to better use for wireless broadband. — The idea is to squeeze …