Mediagazer: From North Korea, an Altered Procession (Lens)

5:35 PM ET, December 29, 2011

Top News:

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

ID's ‘On the Case’ Hires Letterman Extortionist, Former CBS News Producer Joe Halderman — TVNewser has learned that Investigation Discovery's “On the Case with Paula Zahn” has hired Joe Halderman, the CBS News producer who attempted to blackmail David Letterman in 2009.

Discussion: The Wrap, Gawker, Media Decoder, Mediaite, NY Daily News and The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post:

CNN's New Morning Show Gets Name And Debut Date — Update: CNN announced the names of its new morning shows. The 5-7 a.m. show will be called “Early Start.” Soledad O'Brien's 7-9 a.m. program will be titled “Starting Point.” — CNN will debut its new morning show led by host Soledad O'Brien on January 2, 2012.

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

New CNN Morning Show to Launch Jan. 2 — Soledad O'Brien will anchor first days from Iowa Caucuses — CNN will debut its new morning show team of Soledad O'Brien, Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin on Jan. 2, the day before the Iowa Caucuses, the network said Wednesday

Discussion: Inside Cable News and TVNewser

Lens:

From North Korea, an Altered Procession — The funeral of Kim Jong-il on Wednesday called to mind the best stage-managed Communist state productions: the falling snow, the wailing mourners, the perfectly spaced limousines and rows of chest-beating men. — So perhaps it was because the scene …

Discussion: Gawker, PetaPixel, iMediaEthics, Mediaite, Poynter, PhotoBlog and msnbc.com

Arthur Bright / Christian Science Monitor: North Korea not the only offender: 6 official photo fudgings

Charles Apple: North Korean news operation engages in second Photoshopping incident of the year

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPM:

Romney: I'm Going To Fix The Budget By Bringing Ads To Sesame Street — Here's a tangible, fundamental change to the American cultural landscape that will come with a Mitt Romney presidency. Under President Romney, Sesame Street will be brought to you by more than “The Letter Q.”

Discussion: Wonkette

The Independent:

Murdoch's £100m plan to settle hacking cases before they get to court — Rupert Murdoch's News International is thought to have prepared a legal fund of £100m to settle civil litigation actions brought by victims of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal ahead of a High Court showdown in the new year.

Alexandra Topping / Guardian: Leveson inquiry should address media sexism, women's groups demand

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

At Least a Few Local Journalists Just Experienced an End of Year Miracle — News emerged Tuesday night that the new owners of the New York Times Regional Media Group would mostly likely be laying off a number of employees on Thursday. This Atlantic Wire tipster made the cut.

Discussion: Poynter

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:
Some Regional Media Group Staffers Already Getting Employment Offers

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Times' grumbles grow

Discussion: Forbes and Erik Wemple

Dylan Byers / The Politico:

MSNBC now disclosing Bain Capital connection — Starting on last night's Ed Show with Ed Schultz, MSNBC anchors are now disclosing their parent company's ties to Bain Capital, the buyout firm co-founded by Mitt Romney. — In July 2008, NBC Universal, Bain Capital and Blackstone Group bought …

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Lamar Smith, Against Regulating The Internet... Until Hollywood Became His Biggest Campaign Funder — Well, well. Via Julian Sanchez, we learn that SOPA's official “sponsor” and chief supporter, Lamar Smith, spoke out in 2006 about how Congress shouldn't regulate the internet:

Derrick Harris / GigaOM:
Could SOPA fly if big media put skin in the game?

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Elana Zak / 10,000 Words:
Confused by SOPA? Five Multimedia Explainers

Discussion: Prison Planet.com, Thanks:elanazak

Storify:

Storify Story Of The Year: A detailed inventory of reporter arrests at Occupy protests — The Free Press' Josh Stearns combines the craftsmanship of traditional journalism with the latest tools of new media to contribute an important and lasting piece of enterprise journalism.

Discussion: Capital New York

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Amazon: We Sold Over 4 Million Kindle Devices This Month; Gifting Of E-Books Up 175 Percent — Amazon has just released new data regarding its Kindle sales for the holiday season. According to the e-commerce giant, Amazon customers purchased millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle e-readers.

Discussion: Softpedia News, paidContent, CNET, VentureBeat, Liliputing, ReadWriteWeb, VatorNews, mediabistro.com and Pocket-lint, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Cable Channels Set to Begin Election Year Coverage — America's trifecta of cable news channels, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, are just about ready to show off their election year staffs. — Each channel plans to cover the one-night Iowa caucus for a stretch of several days …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and The Huffington Post

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Linear TV Consumption Is Growing, But Is Ad Spend? — When you consider the internet, on-demand services, games consoles, mobiles, apps and [fill in your personal favorite here], we have more ways than ever before to watch TV content whenever and however we want.

Nate Hoffelder / eBookNewser:

HarperCollins Saw 100 Thousand eBook Downloads on Christmas Day — It looks like everyone had a record number of eBook downloads on Christmas day. HarperCollins reported yesterday that their servers are just beginning to recover from the many new customers who downloaded eBooks this weekend.

Discussion: GalleyCat