Mediagazer: Nick Denton's 'State of Gawker 2012′ Memo: ‘Relentless and cynical traffic-trawling is bad for the soul.’ (Foster Kamer/The New York Observer)

12:10 PM ET, January 6, 2012

Top News:

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Warner Brothers Will Make Netflix, Redbox, Blockbuster Wait Longer for New Movies — Want to watch a new movie just out on DVD from Warner Brothers? You're going to have to buy it, or wait even longer to get it from Netflix or other disc renters. — A new deal between Time Warner's movie studio …

Discussion: Forbes, CNET, WebProNews, Engadget, Deadline.com, Home Media Magazine, VentureBeat, Epicenter, FT Tech Hub, Lost Remote, The Consumerist, Gizmodo, Electronista and parislemon, more at Techmeme »

Greg Sandoval / CNET:
HBO forces Netflix to go elsewhere for its DVDs

Discussion: Mashable!, Media Buyer Planner, VatorNews, Multichannel, The Verge, paidContent, Engadget, Broadcasting & Cable, Electronista, Media Decoder, The Next Web and VentureBeat

Steve Myers / Poynter:

How Google beat AP with Iowa caucus results (and why it matters) — WNYC's John Keefe decided to use Google's election results for his map tracking the results of Iowa's GOP caucus for three reasons: — Google's data were easier to deal with than the files provided by the Associated Press.

Discussion: Free Press and WebProNews

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Nick Denton's 'State of Gawker 2012′ Memo: ‘Relentless and cynical traffic-trawling is bad for the soul.’ — Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton occasionally sends out missives for his company that usually contain a little bit of insight into the way his company is trending …

Discussion: LA Observed, Media Decoder, Business Insider, @carr2n and Snarkmarket

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:
Gawker Blogger Fired After Post Invoking N-Word

Discussion: @editorialiste, FishbowlNY, The Wrap, Speakeasy and Gawker

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

New Lawsuit Means All Major Labels Are Suing Grooveshark — Grooveshark, a popular digital music service that is being sued for copyright infringement by three of the four major record companies, now has problems with the one big label that it has a licensing deal with.

Discussion: Digital Trends, Techland, Rolling Stone, WebProNews, Guardian, The Verge, CNET, Gizmodo, The Next Web, hypebot and AllThingsD, more at Techmeme »

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Lovefilm Adding More ITV, BBC Worldwide Archive TV — Amazon's Lovefilm is extending existing deals with ITV (LSE: ITV) and BBC Worldwide to gain a larger catalogue of their shows for online streaming, as it begins to defend against Netflix's imminent UK arrival.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Guardian, Reuters, GeekWire and Pocket-lint, more at Techmeme »

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

Contently Raises $2 Million to Play Matchmaker for Journalists and Brands — Series A Led By Groupon Founders' Investment Firm — Contently, a New York City-based startup that runs an online marketplace for freelance writing and editing work, has closed a $2 million Series A round led by Lightbank.

Discussion: Betabeat

Julie Moos / Poynter:

ECU journalism profs support fired student newspaper adviser — East Carolina University journalism professor Cindy Elmore is standing by her former colleague, Paul Isom, who was fired this week after serving as an adviser for three years to the student newspaper.

Discussion: Bellingham Herald, College Media Matters, The East Carolinian, WCTI-TV, www2.wnct.com and WITN

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Current TV Source: Keith Olbermann Has Not Responded To Request To Cover New Hampshire — The plot of the bewildering, apparently one-sided dispute between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and Current TV is thinning as it thickens. A source at the network tells Mediaite that …

Discussion: Hot Air, entertainment.time.com, The Week, Media Decoder and Company Town

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:
Keith Olbermann Has a Point Regarding the Quality of Current TV's Production Values

Discussion: Erik Wemple, PopWatch, Big Journalism and FishbowlLA

Michael Wolff / GQ:

Why I love Fox News — Forget the phone-hacking scandal, the real threat to News Corp comes from its enemy within - Fox News' president Roger Ailes has the power, profitability and political influence to bring the media empire to collapse — For more than a decade, the traditional media business …

Discussion: Company Town and Erik Wemple

Laurie Segall / CNNMoney.com:

Digital music sales top physical sales — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The times they are a-changin'. For the first time in history, digital music sales topped the physical sale of music. — According to a Nielsen and Billboard report, digital music purchases accounted for 50.3% of music sales in 2011.

Discussion: Guardian, VentureBeat, Engadget, Rolling Stone, AllThingsD, The Next Web, Gizmodo and Medacity, more at Techmeme »

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks's former PA arrested — Woman arrested by detectives on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice understood to be Cheryl Carter — The long-serving personal assistant to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is understood to have been arrested …

Discussion: Deadline.com, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Press Gazette, Guardian and BBC

Mark Sweney / paidContent:

BBC World Service To Run Ads On Some Websites And Radio Stations — The BBC Trust has approved plans to run advertising on a number of BBC World Service websites as well as in radio broadcasts for the first time in the corporation's history. — BBC World Service has been given the green light …

Mimi Turner / Hollywood Reporter:

Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Acquires U.K. Shortform Video Producer ChannelFlip — The deal marks the producer's second digital investment after buying social gaming start-up Bossa Studios last year. — LONDON - Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Group underlined its commitment to online programming …

Discussion: paidContent, Guardian and Televisual

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Comcast-Disney Pact Signals More Deals Aimed at Fighting Netflix — Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)'s rights agreement with Walt Disney Co. (DIS) may become the template for how pay-TV companies strike deals with programmers to defend their subscriber base against online rivals such as Netflix Inc.

Will Richmond / paidContent:
Disney, Comcast And Why TV Everywhere Alone Is Not Enough

Discussion: VideoNuze and Comcast

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Leveson inquiry: Dominic Mohan and Kelvin MacKenzie to appear next week — Lord Justice Leveson will focus on former and current editors from the Sun, Telegraph, Mail, Indy, FT and Express — The editor of the Sun, Dominic Mohan, and his best-known predecessor, Kelvin MacKenzie …

Discussion: Future of Journalism