Mediagazer: AP opens North Korea news bureau, but celebration will wait (Curtis Tate/McClatchy Washington Bureau)

9:15 AM ET, December 23, 2011

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TechCrunch Writer, Blogging on TechCrunch: 'I'm Beginning to Feel Stupid for Still Being Here' — Ms. Tsotsis, Freedom Fighter (or something like it). — Alexia Tsotsis was a well-liked and popular tech blogger before she was at TechCrunch, back when she was at SF Weekly.

Discussion: Globe and Mail

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Aol Shareholders Freak Out Over Exec Departures — As They Should — More than a fair amount of business success hinges on telling stories about the future. The reason Yahoo's market cap is down to $19.83 billion from a high of $55 billion is because shareholders don't believe that it has a future.

Discussion: Street Fight, Future of Journalism and paidContent:UK

Ginger Thompson / New York Times:

Hearing in Soldier's WikiLeaks Case Ends — FORT MEADE, Md. — The military hearing against Pfc. Bradley Manning closed on Thursday, with lawyers and onlookers alternately portraying him as a premeditated traitor or an accidental hero with emotional troubles.

Discussion: Threat Level, Guardian and Future of Journalism

Rainey Reitman / The Nation: Government Blocks Access to Bradley Manning's Hearing

David Dishneau / Associated Press: Defense says Manning victim of military overreach

Bill Adair / PolitiFact:

Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation — At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news. — “I listen to Rush and read NewsMax,” he said. “And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox.” — My liberal friends …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Pressthink, The Huffington Post and Washington Post

Curtis Tate / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

AP opens North Korea news bureau, but celebration will wait — AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service — WASHINGTON — The Associated Press was ready to formally dedicate a new bureau in North Korea's capital this week, giving AP the first permanent bureau operated …

Michael Warren / Associated Press:

Argentine government wins control of newsprint — BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The paper used to produce newspapers came under government control in Argentina on Thursday, in a long-sought victory for President Cristina Fernandez in her dispute with the country's opposition media.

Dylan Stableford / Associated Press:

Why the media insists on publishing year-end lists before the year's end — Barbara Walters' choice of the Kardashian clan as one of her “10 Most Fascinating People of 2011” drew extended ridicule when her annual primetime television special aired on ABC on Dec. 14.

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Meet Circa, The Stealthy ‘News Experience’ Startup From Ben Huh And SimpleGeo Founder Matt Galligan — As we heard in August, SimpleGeo founder Matt Galligan left the company to pursue other interests. SimpleGeo was then bought by UrbanAirship in November, and fellow co-founder Joe Stump left …

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

More Picture-Takers Are Phoning It In — No big surprises here. The single-purpose camera is in decline, the smartphone camera on the rise. — New research from NPD finds that smartphones are now responsible for more than a quarter of the photos and videos people take in the U.S …

Discussion: MediaPost, SlashGear, CNET News and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. in Talks to Hire Gerson Zweifach as General Counsel — News Corp. is expected to name veteran Washington attorney Gerson Zweifach as its next general counsel, filling what is likely to be a sensitive role as the media conglomerate deals with the fallout of the phone-hacking scandal that erupted this summer.

Discussion: Law Blog

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Fox News zings CNN and MSNBC on holiday card, just like last year — In what's becoming an annual media tradition, Fox News used its holiday card to wish friends and family well this holiday season—and take a swipe at CNN and MSNBC. — The front of Fox News' 2011 card …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Bill Cooke / Random Pixels:

Is Huffington Post Miami guilty of theft? — Arianna Huffington is most famous for launching a website that posts thousands of stories a week, most of them written by people who don't get a dime for their work. — Much of what appears on HuffPost is written by bloggers who write for no pay.

Discussion: Random Pixels and Loose Talk, Future of Journalism and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Critics of HuffPo news “theft” are missing the point

Discussion: Future of Journalism, Riptide 2.0 and The Huffington Post

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Louis CK's digital distribution experiment clears $1M in 12 days — Comedian Louis CK's recent digital distribution experiment to sell his latest standup performance independently has generated over $1 million, he announced in a statement on his website yesterday.

Discussion: Medacity, Techdirt, TeleRead and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Victor Fiorillo / The Philly Post:

Bill Conlin Is Innocent — And so is Jerry Sandusky for that matter — Yesterday at 1:40 p.m., a colleague rushed into my office to share the awful news: The Inquirer was about to print child molestation allegations against Daily News sportswriter Bill Conlin. Deadspin had the scoop.

Discussion: Deadspin