Mediagazer: An Election Year Dawns Without Keith Olbermann (Brian Stelter/Media Decoder)

Mark Guarino / Christian Science Monitor:

After deaths in Detroit, Backpage.com advertising comes under scrutiny — Four women in Detroit were found dead in two car trunks Sunday. Their connection to a website offering escort services is reviving an ongoing debate about the right of online media outlets to host advertising that many say enables criminal activity.

Tresa Baldas / Detroit Free Press:

Backpage.com says 22 more websites are linked to dead Detroit women — Backpage.com, a classified advertising website, said today that computer and forensic evidence shows at least 70 different escort ads on 22 websites are linked to the investigation involving four women whose bodies …

Discussion: Detroit Free Press

WXYZ-TV: Police investigate more than a dozen websites in women's murders

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Despite kingmaking expectations, Fox News seems neutral among GOP field — Even before the first Republican presidential candidates declared they were running, pundits and political operatives alike were debating the Fox News Channel's potential influence on the GOP race.

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Media Decoder and Chickaboomer

MSNBC explains Bain Capital disclosure — Jeremy Gaines, VP of Communications at MSNBC, writes in to explain why his network's anchors are only now disclosing NBC's business ties to Bain Capital, the buyout firm co-founded by Mitt Romney: … Gaines doesn't explain why Bain's co-ownership …

Ahmed Al Omran / NPR:

Basil Al-Sayed, Who Chronicled The Syrian Uprising, Is Dead — This was the last thing Basil al-Sayed, a citizen journalist in Syria, filmed before he was shot in the head by security forces: — According to activist Rami Jarrah, yesterday, al-Sayed succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in the restive city of Homs.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Magazine and Guardian

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Iowa Media Plays On National Stage As Caucus Nears — NEW YORK — When Craig Robinson launched The Iowa Republican in March 2009, he hoped to bring his decade's worth of Republican campaign and fundraising experience into the coverage of state politics. And Robinson's been successful …

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

An Election Year Dawns Without Keith Olbermann — Keith Olbermann, who came to Current TV this year to remake the channel and compete against his old home, MSNBC, is sitting out the biggest political nights of the season. — Despite being the biggest star on the fledging channel …

Discussion: Business Insider, FishbowlDC, Erik Wemple, Big Journalism, Chickaboomer, @brianstelter, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, Inside Cable News and Media Decoder

Eric Deggans / St. Petersburg Times:

Columnist Ernest Hooper to become Brandon Bureau Chief for Tampa Bay Times — It's a season of change at the soon-to-be Tampa Bay Times, as longtime columnist Ernest Hooper becomes chief of the newspaper's Brandon bureau full-time. Hooper will still write columns, only not as often …

Economist:

Blogs are blamed for cheapening debate in some fields. Yet they have enriched economics — Blogs are blamed for cheapening debate in some fields. Yet they have enriched economics — from the print edition — “LET Truth and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse …

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

The New York Times Spamming Incident Wasn't That Big a Deal — The New York Times's Home Subscriber alert heard round the world on Wednesday is now enjoying a second, silly turn in the news cycle, mostly thanks to News Corp and Anonymous. Thursday morning, the cover of Rupert Murdoch's American tabloid …

Discussion: Mediaite and Runnin' Scared

Discussion: Poynter and FishbowlNY

Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Co. bankruptcy case on hold until May — Tribune Co.'s long-running sojourn in bankruptcy shows no sign of ending soon. — A federal judge said in a ruling Thursday that he won't hold a confirmation hearing on plans to end the three-year bankruptcy until May at the earliest.

Paul Hitlin / PEJ:

Bloggers Argue Over The 2011 “Lie of the Year” — When a Pulitzer Prize winning fact-checking site announced its “Lie of the Year” for 2011, it set off a partisan firestorm in the blogosphere triggered by liberal critics of that choice. — According to PolitiFact.com …

Discussion: Poynter

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

News Corp investors face risk of patriarch ‘not being in charge’ — The Financial Times's Lex column argues that the cost to News Corp of the phone hacking scandal is its “most overlooked consequence.” — It scuppered the company's £7.5bn bid to buy the 61% of BSkyB it doesn't already own …

The Independent: Murdoch's £100m plan to settle hacking cases before they get to court

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

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: PetaPixel, Gawker, iMediaEthics, Mediaite and Poynter