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:
Mediaite, Gawker, Media Decoder, 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.
RELATED:
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
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.
RELATED:
Alexandra Topping / Guardian:
Leveson inquiry should address media sexism, women's groups demand — Press accused of perpetuating violence against women through sexual objectification and damaging representation — Lord Justice Leveson should widen his investigation into the practices and ethics of the British press …
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:
iMediaEthics, Mediaite, Poynter, PhotoBlog and msnbc.com
RELATED:
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:
FishbowlNY and Poynter
RELATED:
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.
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:
paidContent, VentureBeat, CNET, ReadWriteWeb, AllThingsD, 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:
Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and The Huffington Post
Derrick Harris / GigaOM:
Could SOPA fly if big media put skin in the game? — The biggest web-related legal controversy over the past few months — if not the entire year — has been the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. The bill's shortcomings have been covered to death (including by GigaOM here and here) …
Discussion:
Techdirt and Future of Journalism
RELATED:
Elana Zak / 10,000 Words:
Confused by SOPA? Five Multimedia Explainers
Confused by SOPA? Five Multimedia Explainers
Discussion:
Prison Planet.com, Thanks:elanazak
Shia Kapos / Chicago Business:
Sun-Times sellers boosted return through prior asset sales — Sun-Times sellers boosted return through prior asset sales — Even before the owners of Sun-Times Media Group Inc. sold the company this week, they made out well with the help of previous asset sales.