Mediagazer: Journalists complain the White House press office has become overly combative (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

9:55 AM ET, December 23, 2011

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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

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Journalists complain the White House press office has become overly combative — The White House's relationship with the reporters who cover it has blown hot and cold throughout history. And this year, some reporters say, things have taken a decidedly frosty turn.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and @poynter

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.

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: Media Decoder, Bloomberg and Law Blog

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 »

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

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 »