Mediagazer: Columnist Ernest Hooper to become Brandon Bureau Chief for Tampa Bay Times (Eric Deggans/St. Petersburg Times)

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

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

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

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, TVNewser and Multichannel

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

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

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.”

Thomas James Brennan / Lens:

From a Marine's Side of the Camera — When Finbarr O'Reilly, a Reuters photographer, embedded with my squad of Marines in Afghanistan last October, I strategically positioned myself between him and my men, to keep them out of trouble. I based my decision on experience and preconceived notions regarding combat journalists.

Nicholas White / Daily Dot:

From the Trenches: The best and worst moments of building the Daily Dot — When you're climbing a mountain, you don't realize how high you've gotten until you stop to look back. Almost exactly one year ago, there was nothing more to the Daily Dot than a full-time CEO (me) and two part-time cofounders …

Thanks:owenthomas