Mediagazer: Getting Detained and Gassed (Nicholas D. Kristof/New York Times)

3:00 PM ET, December 17, 2011

Top News:

Digital Strategy Undid New York Times CEO — For Janet Robinson, Growing Impatience Over Company's Future Course; Controlling Sulzberger Family Looked for a Change — This week's resignation of New York Times Co. chief executive Janet Robinson caught even senior executives by surprise.

John Cook / Gawker:

Christopher Hitchens' Unforgivable Mistake — The outpouring of grief, goodwill, and teary encomia that has attended news of Christopher Hitchens' passing would—if he was anything like the persona he presented in print—have turned his stomach. He loathed sentiment, welcomed combat, and delighted in inflicting hard truths.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, New York Times, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post, ArtsBeat, Washington Post, Slate and The New Yorker Blog

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

ARRINGTON: Arianna Destroyed TechCrunch Because She Was Jealous Of All The Attention It Was Getting — Here's why TechCrunch imploded earlier this year, according to founder Michael Arrington, who has suddenly gone public with his side of the story. — Basically, Arrington …

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

Discussion: Business Insider, Future of Journalism, VentureBeat, parislemon, MediaPost, @arrington, Adweek and WebProNews

Brendan Nyhan / CJR:

When Newt Isn't Newsworthy — The problems with news pegs in campaign coverage — NEW HAMPSHIRE — Yesterday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich returned to New Hampshire for a foreign policy debate with former Utah governor Jon Huntsman. The trip marked Gingrich's first visit …

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Defining journalism is a lot easier said than done — The ripples continue to spread from a recent Oregon court ruling involving a blogger who was sued for defamation, and argued she should be covered by the state's “media shield” law. The judge decided that she didn't qualify as a journalist …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and Free Press

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

Getting Detained and Gassed — Nothing like getting pulled into a police car to glimpse, through a haze of tear gas, hints of a police state. — The royal family in this American ally of Bahrain deserves immense credit for turning a desert island in the Persian Gulf into a modern banking center.

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: MOTHERBOARD, Guardian, CNET News, TechCrunch, Techdirt and Adweek

David Kravets / Threat Level:
Stop Online Piracy Act Vote Delayed

Discussion: Bloomberg, Lifehacker, Betabeat, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronista, VentureBeat, Deadline.com, The Verge, WatchingTV Online, Computerworld, WebProNews, The Firewall, Medacity, Hillicon Valley, Techdirt, The Daily What and CNET News

Foster Kamer / Betabeat:

10 Questions for Drew Magary, the Most Actually-Read Writer on The Internet* — Drew Magary, The Most Actually-Read* Writer On The Internet. It's true. … Congratulations Drew. You're the most actually-read “Read Later” author on the internet. How does this feel? — I FEEL SO PRETTY.

Michael S. Schmidt / At War:

Secret Military Documents, Straight From an Iraqi Junkyard — BAGHDAD — Several weeks ago, we heard that a local businessman had purchased some trailers from a closing American base. — We were told the trailers were parked at a nearby junkyard, so one afternoon I headed out with our security team to find them.

Discussion: New York Times

Jolie O'Dell / VentureBeat:

Why did Universal get this video yanked off YouTube if it doesn't have a copyright claim? — Universal Music Group recently had a video removed from YouTube because... Well, that's a good question, actually. The video was removed without notice and without any copyright violations …

Discussion: Media Decoder and Threat Level

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Cablevision COO Rutledge's Resignation Spurs Privatization Talk — Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Cablevision Systems Corp. may try to go private or seek a buyer following the resignation of Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge, analysts said. — Rutledge announced his exit yesterday, effective later this month.

Discussion: B&C

New York Times:

News Analysis: For Cable TV Clients, a Steady Diet of Sports — Are you ready for some football? — You are paying for it regardless. — Although “sports” never shows up as a line item on a cable or satellite bill, American television subscribers pay, on average, about $100 a year …

Discussion: Media Decoder

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Al Jazeera English Launches ‘Inside Story Americas’ — Al Jazeera has launched a new TV show designed to both get people talking about the headlines in a different way and examine the news that has slipped through the cracks. Titled “Inside Story Americas,” the 30-minute debate show features interviews …

Discussion: eBookNewser

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

As ‘Joy Behar Show’ Ends, Its Host Speaks With Candor — When the cable channel HLN announced in November that it was going to end the comedian Joy Behar's 10 p.m. talk show, she played along, releasing a simple statement about how proud she was of the two-year-old program.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Mediaite, TVNewser, TVWeek.com and The Huffington Post