Mediagazer: The Case of the Unfortunate Underscore: How Twitter Verified the Fake Wendi Over the Real Wendi (Kara Swisher/AllThingsD)

11:10 PM ET, January 4, 2012

Top News:

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

The Case of the Unfortunate Underscore: How Twitter Verified the Fake Wendi Over the Real Wendi — I went all Encyclopedia Brown yesterday after I and many others had been led astray by an account — @wendi_deng — that Twitter had verified with its famous blue check mark over the holiday weekend …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, MediaFile, Gawker, FP Passport, Business Insider, St. Petersburg Times, The Daily Caller and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo! News:

Current says Keith Olbermann refused to anchor Iowa caucus coverage — Analyses of Tuesday's Iowa caucuses are the top of most news sites right now—including Current TV's homepage, which features images of Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich above a video featuring former U.S. vice president …

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
Keith Olbermann Blasts Current TV; Internal Memo Reveals Tension Over GOP Primary

Discussion: Mediaite, Hot Air and Inside Cable News

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
Keith Olbermann's Days on Current Are Numbered

Discussion: TVNewser, The Politico and paidContent

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Should CBS also disclose its ties to Romney's Bain Capital? — Last week MSNBC and NBC News starting disclosing that its parent company, NBCU is a partner in the Weather Channel with Bain Capital, of which Mitt Romney is a partner. Now Fortune reports CBS News, at least Radio, might want to start disclosing this:

Azi Paybarah / Capital New York:

Mort Zuckerman changes editors, again: Kevin Convey's out, former News Corp. guy Colin Myler is in — Daily News. — After a year and a half, the Daily News has named a new editor-in-chief to replace Kevin Convey. It's Colin Myler, according to an email I've obtained …

Discussion: Poynter, Guardian, Capital New York, Gawker, New York Magazine, Media & Entertainment, The Politico, The Huffington Post, Jon Slattery, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer and Media Decoder

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: At ‘Daily News,’ a culture of using ‘permalancers’ gets shaken up

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:
Colin Myler: the great survivor

Discussion: Gawker

Matt Burns / TechCrunch:

It's Official: Yahoo Announces PayPal President Scott Thompson As Its New CEO — The search is over. Yahoo just named Scott Thompson as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective January 9, 2012. It's been four long months for Yahoo after ousting Carol Bartz in September.

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:
New Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson: 'We'll Be Back to Innovation'

Discussion: Business Insider, Forbes, TechCrunch, AllThingsD and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Newspaper Guild Sends Letter to Sulzberger Packed with 560 Signatures — On December 23, the Newspaper Guild of New York posted an open letter criticizing Arthur Sulzberger Jr. for freezing pensions — while giving departed CEO Janet Robinson hers early — and for not budging in negotiations.

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Filkin report: Police should record all contact with press — Report into the relationship between the police and the press recommends records kept of all contact and warns police against reporters flirting and using alcohol to get information — Metropolitan police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe …

Discussion: Guardian, @dansabbagh and Poynter

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Met police warned over drinking with journalists — Report warns of risks of ‘flirty reporters’ and calls for an end to traditional chats between police and reporters in pubs — Metropolitan police officers have been ordered to avoid “flirting” with and accepting alcohol from journalists.

Discussion: Guardian, Press Gazette, @athomson6 and @benfenton

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Disney and Comcast Link Up for Another 10 Years — Comcast has re-upped its distribution deal with Disney, which means the country's largest cable company will continue to pipe programming from ABC, ESPN and other channels into its subscribers' homes for another 10 years.

Clay Shirky:

Newspapers, Paywalls, and Core Users — This may be the year where newspapers finally drop the idea of treating all news as a product, and all readers as customers. — One early sign of this shift was the 2010 launch of paywalls for the London Times and Sunday Times.

Discussion: stdout.be, Media, disrupted, Boing Boing and Recovering Journalist

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

WSJ Cleared Over Europe Sales Fixing, Now Finger Points At ABC — The Audit Bureau of Circulation in the UK will not take action against Wall Street Journal (NSDQ: NWS) Europe for a circulation-boosting programme associated with the resignation of WSJ's Europe publisher and EMEA managing director Andrew Langhoff recently.

Discussion: Guardian, Talking Biz News, Reuters, Poynter and Journalism.co.uk

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
ABC's ‘thorough review’ into Wall Street Journal sales scandal is a whitewash

Discussion: Media Decoder, abc.org.uk and Press Gazette

Andrew Laughlin / Digital Spy:

Apple in running for Premier League TV rights, says report — Apple is interested in joining the billion pound battle to win the next round of bidding for Premier League TV rights, as part of plans to boost its Apple TV service. — Charles Sale over at The Daily Mail claims that the US company …

Discussion: Pocket-lint, Daily Mail, Electronista, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and Softpedia News

Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Premier League Rights: Google And Apple Unlikely To Bid

Discussion: GigaOM and Telegraph

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble to Put Sterling Publishing Up for Sale — Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest bookstore chain, has put its Sterling Publishing business up for sale, say people familiar with the situation. — The move comes at a time when Barnes & Noble is recasting itself …

Discussion: paidContent, Media Decoder, GeekWire, Electronista and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Stephen Lawrence's parents thank Daily Mail for ‘going out on a limb’ — Newspaper's ‘Murderers’ headline in 1997 put the case at heart of public consciousness, say David Cameron and Ed Miliband — The parents of Stephen Lawrence have praised the Daily Mail for “going out on a limb” …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Daily Mail and Editor's Blog