Mediagazer: After Losing Its Star Writers, Engadget's Traffic Has Gone Up (Jay Yarow/Business Insider)

7:05 AM ET, December 29, 2011

Top News:

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

The Times E-Mails Millions by Mistake to Say Subscriptions Were Canceled — Home-delivery subscribers to The New York Times and others received a mass e-mail notice on Wednesday erroneously saying that their delivery had been cancelled. — The e-mail, which the Times's spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha …

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

We Got the New York Times Email Spam. Feeling Special — Holiday Mischief? — UPDATE: The email was from the NYT, but went to the wrong list, according to Times staffers. — We just got the email which the New York Times PR is saying “looks like spam.” It arrived from the succinct address: nytimes@email.newyorktimes.com

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Conferences raise unanswered questions about fact checking — The Great Fact Checking Explosion continues to ripple as we approach 2012. — Following a November event co-hosted by Jeff Jarvis and Craig Newmark at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, I recently headed to Washington …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Alana / Nielsen Wire:

Nielsen's Tops of 2011: Digital — As 2011 comes to a close, Nielsen reviewed the top online destinations, social media sites, and smartphone devices. Google was the most-visited U.S. Web brand, while Facebook held its lead among social networks and blogs.

Discussion: Fast Company, Softpedia News, VentureBeat, CNET, PC Magazine, WebProNews, The Next Web and MediaPost

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

After Losing Its Star Writers, Engadget's Traffic Has Gone Up — When AOL's Engadget lost its roster of star editors and reporters, the natural assumption for many people in the tech-media world was that it was in big trouble. — Well, guess what? Engadget is doing just fine without those writers.

Wall Street Journal:

Fuse Is a Flash Point in Cable Fight — Millions of New Yorkers might miss Knicks basketball games if the MSG Network went dark on Time Warner Cable's systems in the new year, amid a bitter dispute over fees. But how many viewers are missing the other network caught up in the fight, the Fuse music channel?

Andrew Longstreth / Reuters:

Analysis: Manning's legal strategy could lead to plea deal — (Reuters) - While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations.

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

L.A. Times Adds More Games to Website, Hoping to Boost Revenue — In a bid to boost its digital revenue, the Los Angeles Times has struck a deal with Arkadium, a major online game developer, to add more than two dozen games to that section of its website. — Related Articles:

Thanks:steverubel

Elana Zak / 10,000 Words:

Confused by SOPA? Five Multimedia Explainers — Unless you live under a rock, it's pretty hard to ignore the buzz that the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) has generated in the last few months. The controversial bill, along with its companion bill, Protect-IP Act (PIPA) …

Discussion: Prison Planet.com and Politico, Thanks:elanazak

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Why writers tweet about death, illness, rape — When Rocky Mountain News reporter Berny Morson tweeted from a child's funeral in 2008, journalists called the incident “repulsive” and “tasteless.” Now, it seems, nothing is off-limits when it comes to Twitter.

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

GoodReads' Recommendation Engine Acquisition Gooses The Publishing Game — While bookstores are reporting increased sales this month, I foresee a time when “Staff Picks” at the local booke shoppe will soon be replaced by recommendation engines that tell you what ebook to pick up next.

Julian Sanchez:

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: Hit & Run, PolitickerNY, New York Times and The Huffington Post

Dylan Byers / Politico:
NY Times challenges ‘lazy rewrite’ accusation

Discussion: New York Times and The New Yorker Blog

Michael Zhang / PetaPixel:

A Glimpse Inside the Camera Bag of a War Photographer — What would you pack if you were assigned to cover a war from the inside? The photo above shows what photographer Umit Bektas decided to pack in his camera bag for his embed with a US military unit in Afghanistan.