Mediagazer: ‘The New York Observer,’ in a bid to go national, will expand its editorial department (Joe Pompeo/Capital New York)

3:45 PM ET, December 21, 2011

Top News:

BBC:

Phone hacking ‘bog-standard tool’ says former Mirror journalist — Phone hacking appeared to be a “bog-standard journalistic tool” for gathering information, a former Daily Mirror financial reporter has said. — James Hipwell, who was jailed in 2006 for writing about firms whose shares he owned …

Discussion: @patrickfoster2, @tom_watson and @joelmgunter

Guardian:

First police officer arrested over alleged payments for journalists — 52-year-old woman held at Essex police station after being arrested under Operation Elveden — The Metropolitan police have arrested a 52-year-old female serving police officer over payments from journalists, Scotland Yard has said.

The Huffington Post - UK:

Heather Mills: ‘I Never Played Piers Morgan Voicemail Tapes’ — Heather Mills, the former wife of pop star Sir Paul McCartney, said that she never disclosed private voicemail messages from her ex-husband to former tabloid editor Piers Morgan. Mills said that Morgan, who yesterday told …

Jason Deans / Guardian: Met aims to give Leveson more detail on deletion of Milly Dowler's voicemails

Guardian: Leveson inquiry cost £855,300 for first three months

NPR:

WikiLeaks Military Hearing Faces Closing Arguments — FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — Lawyers for the Army intelligence analyst blamed for the biggest national security leak in American history rested their case Wednesday, with closing arguments ahead before Pfc. Bradley Manning learns whether he will face a court-martial.

Larry Shaughnessy / CNN: Bradley Manning defenses calls only 2 witnesses

Fox Sports:

Report: NBC reporter charged with DUI — NBC News correspondent Jay Gray charged with drunken driving after he attended a party at the house of the attorney for accused child molester Jerry Sandusky, TMZ reported Tuesday. — According to the report, Gray was pulled over after drinking …

Discussion: TMZ.com, @sganim, The Hollywood Gossip and TVSpy

David Brauer / MinnPost:

Is ex-reporter Christine Clayburg paying TV journalists to help clients tell their good news stories? — In October, MinnPost ran a John Reinan column headlined, “Former TV reporter Christine Clayburg tells news of corporate clients.” — “As traditional media wither and new communication channels …

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Times ‘terminates’ blogging pressman Ed Padgett — Ed Padgett, a Los Angeles Times employee for 39 years, has been in trouble with the bosses before for his blog posts. This time, he says today, Human Resources called from out of nowhere to tell him he had been fired.

Discussion: Gannett Blog, edpadgett.blogspot.com and mediabistro.com

Julie Moos / Poynter:

PEJ: Economy is the most-covered story of the year — In its annual “Year in News” release, PEJ says the economy was 2011′s big story, with 20 percent of news time and space dedicated to it in print, online, TV news and radio. That's up from 14 percent in 2010.

Discussion: Pew Research Center, The Huffington Post, Journalism.org, The Wrap, Capital New York and Forbes

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Al Jazeera English wins first duPont as 14 news orgs awarded with broadcast, digital honors — Al Jazeera English has won its first Alfred I. duPont award for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism, one of 14 the Columbia School of Journalism announced this morning …

Discussion: National Review, Columbia University …, Editors Weblog, TVSpy and TVNewser

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:
The New York Times Honored with First Ever Digital Reporting duPont Award

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Broadcasting & Cable

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘The New York Observer,’ in a bid to go national, will expand its editorial department — The New York Observer is gearing up to go national. — The 25-year-old weekly newspaper is considering spinning off a nationally focused website, and will increase the size of the full-time editorial staff …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Larry Platt / Philly.com:

How do we report about our own? — I have been a journalist for more than a quarter century, and I have never had a professional experience that was sadder - or more shocking - than reading the allegations leveled against Bill Conlin today. — As detailed by the Inquirer's Nancy Phillips …

Will Bunch / Boston Herald: Philly papers share outrage over Bill Conlin case

Nancy Phillips / Philly.com:
Four say Philly Daily News writer Bill Conlin sexually abused them as children

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadspin, New York Magazine, Speak Easy, Bleacher Report, @kevinoncfb, CBS Philly, Associated Press, Poynter, The 20 and Deadspin

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

AOL's Activist Investors Say Armstrong's Content Play Isn't Working — Starboard Value LP, who's 4.5 percent stake in AOL makes it one of the company's largest shareholders, is taking aim at Tim Armstrong and his attempt to reinvent AOL as a media powerhouse.

Discussion: MediaPost, Media & Entertainment, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Digits and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Street Fight / @streetfightmag:
AOL shareholder sends Tim Armstrong letter complaining that Patch, will “lose as much as $150 million in 2011.” http://t.co/5AECpiM3

Discussion: Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Kindle for iOS update brings magazines, newspapers, textbooks to iPad — Amazon has just pushed a new revision of its Kindle app to the iTunes App Store, and iPad owners will definitely want to hit that update button. That's because they now have access to the same full-color magazines …

Discussion: SiliconFilter and TUAW, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:
Kindle Adds Periodicals to iOS Apps: But Will Consumers Read Them?

Discussion: VentureBeat and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Nancy Messieh / The Next Web:

On Twitter, people want to follow personal versus official accounts of journalists — The International Journal of Communication has released a report, looking back on how Twitter was used this year to disseminate information during the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

Discussion: GigaOM and Global Voices

Richard Adams / Guardian:

What does CNN do with Piers Morgan now? | Richard Adams — The host's bumbling testimony about his part in the phone hacking scandal surely has CNN wondering what it got itself into — If CNN wants an incisive big-name interviewer, it should consider hiring Robert Jay QC …

Discussion: Guardian, Press Gazette, TVWeek.com, Associated Press, Jon Slattery, Digital Spy, Media Decoder, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Telegraph and Mediaite

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Glenn Mulcaire wins legal fees battle with News of the World publisher — News Group Newspapers had no right to cancel private eye's legal fees over alleged phone hacking, high court rules — Glenn Mulcaire has won his high court bid to force News Group Newspapers to continue to fund his legal fees in cases of alleged phone hacking.

Discussion: Press Gazette