Mediagazer: What's Coming In 2012: Book Publishing (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

After Sale, New York Times Regional Employees Brace for Layoffs — ‘Layoff’ is an understandably dirty word around The New York Times newsroom(s) these days. As the company prepares to finalize the sale of its Regional Media Group to Halifax Media Holdings this week, both The New York Times Company …

Thanks:adamclarkestes

Tanzina Vega / Media Decoder:

Times Co. Agrees to Sell Regional Newspaper Group — Updated The New York Times Company announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to sell the company's Regional Media Group to Halifax Media Holdings, of Daytona Beach, Fla., for $143 million in cash.

Discussion: Folio, rbr.com, Guardian, NetNewsCheck Latest, mnilive.com, MediaPost, Forbes, The New York Observer, The New York Times Company, Reuters, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Beyond Search

Jim Romenesko:
FAQ for NYT Regional Media Group employees

Discussion: FishbowlNY and The Snitch

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Was WaPo's Flock Forced on Vacation? — Like some reporters, WaPo's Elizabeth Flock was off last week — conceivably for the holidays. — But FishbowlDC sources are insisting that Flock was suspended last week for writing that post on GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's using a KKK slogan in his speeches.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

NY Times challenges ‘lazy rewrite’ accusation — Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times offers his reaction to the charges made by Julian Sanchez, a journalist and research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, that a recent Times article about Ron Paul is a “lazy rewrite” of Sanchez's own work.

Discussion: PolitickerNY and CBS News

The New York Times on Ron Paul's Newsletters — With Ron Paul's now-infamous newsletters once again making headlines, I mulled whether I ought to revisit the issue, but ultimately decided that there wasn't much to add to the long piece Dave Weigel and I wrote for Reason back in 2008 …

Discussion: Forbes and The Huffington Post

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Research: Internet Is UK's No. 2 News Source, But Only 3.8 Percent Pay — Online may be challenging TV to be UK consumers' primary news source - but only 3.8 percent pay for it, new research says. — In an annual media habits survey by the Oliver & Ohlbaum consultancy …

Rebecca Shapiro / The Huffington Post:

CNN Under Fire After Uncut Version Of Ron Paul Interview Surfaces — An uncut version of Ron Paul's seemingly testy interview with CNN surfaced on Sunday, and has raised questions about whether or not the network may have unfairly edited the interview. — Paul was interviewed by CNN's Gloria Borger last week.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Yahoo! News:

Yahoo News hires Steve Chaggaris as executive producer, elections — In the latest move to bolster Yahoo's original coverage of the 2012 presidential election, Yahoo News has hired Steve Chaggaris, the former Political Director of CBS News, as Executive Producer, Elections. Chaggaris will start on January 3, 2012.

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider:

After Hiring Gawker Founding Editor Elizabeth Spiers, The New York Observer Is Finally Profitable — Observer Media Group President Christopher Barnes says that the New York Observer and its associated products, after many years in the red, will finally turn a small profit in 2011, the New York Post reports.

Discussion: New York Post and FishbowlNY

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

How Hulu's ‘Steamboat’ ads recommend new shows to users — Hulu, like all video services, has long been focused on growing its viewership, but also on keeping those viewers watching more and more shows. While it's mostly been building that audience by featuring popular new programming …

NPR:

Bahrain To Host Saudi Prince's News Network — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain has been picked to host the headquarters for Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's new international Arabic news network despite months of unrest, according to the tiny Gulf kingdom's media oversight authority.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Jeremiah Owyang / Web Strategy:

End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over — That's right. We're at the end of an important period. The tech blogosphere as we know it, is over. — Four Trends Show the End of this Era: — Like the film industry, the Golden Era is the emergence period, when fresh innovation in a new medium is born.

Discussion: Brian Solis, Joho the Blog and SarahLacy.com

Alex Kantrowitz / Kantrowitz:

What BuzzFeed Is Trying To Do — Earlier this month, BuzzFeed shocked the media world by hiring Politico's Ben Smith as its editor in chief. Smith, recruited hard by BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti, was a star Politico columnist and figured to have an important role in Politico's 2012 election coverage.

Discussion: Forbes

Tim Mak / Politico:

SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers — The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress's Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers aruging their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes.

Discussion: 10,000 Words, The Daily Caller, Ars Technica, Wonkette and Boing Boing