Mediagazer: Basil Al-Sayed, Who Chronicled The Syrian Uprising, Is Dead (Ahmed Al Omran/NPR)

Mark Guarino / Christian Science Monitor:

After deaths in Detroit, Backpage.com advertising comes under scrutiny — Several women found dead in Detroit over the weekend had profiles on Backpage.com, a website offering escort services. The website has received attention before for a potential connection to illegal activity.

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: The Huffington Post, Inside Cable News and TVNewser

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: Mediaite, Hollywood Reporter, Beet.TV and The Huffington Post

Frances Martel / Mediaite: It Begins...NY Times Report Suggests Tension Between Olbermann And Current TV

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.

Discussion: New York Magazine

Discussion: Inside Cable News and TVNewser

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: Media Decoder and The Huffington Post

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

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.

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 …

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: Deadline.com, The Wrap, NY Daily News, Mediaite, Gawker, Media Decoder and The Huffington Post

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

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.

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, iMediaEthics, Gawker, Mediaite and Poynter

Jim Romenesko:

He's finally a best-seller! — Blum suggested how the author might add to his story, about a husband “driven to extremes” by his wife repeating the same anecdotal story endlessly. — Dick Babcock — Blum tells me: “Dick ended up re-shaping the story significantly, and the revised version was just right.”