Mediagazer: Gawker Editor: N-Word Did Not Get Blogger Fired (Pandora Young/FishbowlLA)

12:20 AM ET, January 12, 2012

Top News:

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

PBS ‘Frontline’ Planning News Corp. Exposé? — Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera was out to dinner with his old friend and colleague from ABC News, Lowell Bergman, when things turned quite sour. Bergman is an esteemed journalist, having produced the now-infamous exposé of the tobacco companies for “60 Minutes.”

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Online Video News and Future of Journalism

Erik Larson / Bloomberg:

Rupert Murdoch's Wedding Singer Sues News Corp. Over Phone Hacking — The British pop star who sang at News Corp. (NWSA) Chairman Rupert Murdoch's wedding in 1999, when she was 13 years old, sued the company over claims its News of the World tabloid later hacked into her voice mails to get stories.

Discussion: Bloomberg and Guardian

John Eggerton / Multichannel News:

PEJ: Presidential Campaign Already Getting Too Much Coverage — But Result Mirrors Responses During Previous Campaign Primary Blitzes — According to the latest Project for Excellence in Journalism New Interest Index, 37% of respondents say there has already been too much coverage …

Discussion: Pew Research Center

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Journalists' campaign-trail secrets revealed

Discussion: The Huffington Post

John Cassidy / The New Yorker:
In Defense of Political Journalists

Discussion: Boston Phoenix and Poynter

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

Private investigator Steve Whittamore used by MoS after arrest — Mail on Sunday editor Peter Wright first became aware of the newspaper's use of the private investigator in ‘early 2004’, who he said was used until September that year — Peter Wright, the editor of the Mail on Sunday …

Discussion: Guardian, Digital Spy, Neville Thurlbeck, @benfenton, @iburrell, @dansabbagh, Press Gazette, Journalism.co.uk and Press Gazette

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: Paul Dacre had hand in accusing Hugh Grant of smears, Leveson inquiry hears

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Did The Daily Launch Too Early? — News Corp.'s The Daily may have launched a year too early, but the company's perfectly okay with that. — Speaking on a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, David Brinker, The Daily's Senior VP of Business Development and Operations …

Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, Company Town, NetNewsCheck Latest, PR Newswire and paidContent

Rem Rieder / American Journalism Review:

A Troubling Approach to Employee Relations — Halifax Media Group, new owner of the former New York Times Co. regional papers, and its onerous non-compete contract. — Rem Rieder (rrieder@ajr.umd.edu) is AJR's editor and senior vice president. — Halifax backed off, which is very good news.

Discussion: St. Petersburg Times and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Jim Romenesko: Letter to Romenesko: ‘Out came the non-competes’

Julie Moos / Poynter:
NYT limited layoffs to 200 employees in sale to Halifax

Discussion: Poynter

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

New Republic owner quashes reports of liberal journal's sale — Despite reports to the contrary, the New Republic's principal owner insists the 98-year-old journal of liberal political opinion, reporting and arts criticism isn't shopping for a new owner. — “There's nothing there to the story …

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Will Anyone Buy Influential D.C. Magazine?

Discussion: DealBook and Media Decoder

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Nick Kristof on Occupy and the rise of citizen journalism — Many traditional journalists seem inherently suspicious of “citizen journalism” — that is, the idea that anyone with a cellphone camera and a Twitter account can function as a journalist given the right circumstances.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Future of Journalism

Kat Stoeffel / The New York Observer:
Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof Building His Own FarmVille

Discussion: Fast Company

John Plunkett / Guardian:

BSkyB axes Al Gore's Current TV from its pay-TV lineup — Sky makes ‘commercial decision’ to let go of documentary channel that has struggled for ratings — Al Gore's Current TV channel in the UK is facing closure after BSkyB - part owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - axed it from its pay-TV lineup.

Discussion: Digital Spy, @iburrell and National Review

Ian Burrell / @iburrell: UK news-based TV channel Current, part of network set up by Al Gore, is facing closure because BSkyB is withdrawing funding, Current says

Steven Church / Businessweek:

Dodgers End Bankruptcy Fight With Fox Over Media Rights — Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — The bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers ended their court fight with News Corp.'s Fox Sports over future television rights, removing the last major barrier to a sale of the Major League Baseball team.

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justices Weigh Relevance of TV Indecency Laws — WASHINGTON — In a rollicking Supreme Court argument that was equal parts cultural criticism and First Amendment doctrine, the justices on Tuesday considered whether the government still had good reason to regulate cursing and nudity on broadcast television.

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Company Town, Media Decoder, Los Angeles Times and Reason

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Here's How Amazon Is Telling Apple To Take Its 30% Cut Of eBook Sales And Stuff It — A year after Apple changed its rules about digital content sales for iOS applications, Amazon is striking back with its own work around for Kindle eBook sales on the iPad.

Discussion: TeleRead, Change of Subject and Future of Journalism

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

These Condé Nast Editors in Chief Won't Be at Their Magazines Forever — These Condé Nast editors in chief won't be at their magazines forever. A (premature) look at who's in the wings

Discussion: Media Week

Yinka Adegoke / Reuters:

Exclusive: Microsoft Web TV subscription plan on hold — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has put its talks with media companies about an online subscription service for TV shows and movies on hold, according to people familiar with the discussions. — The technology giant had been in intense talks …

Discussion: MediaFile, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Electronista, The Verge, Business Insider, MediaPost and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Eric Kleefeld / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

CNN Apparently Waives Its Own Debate Rules To Let Rick Perry In — CNN Apparently Waives Its Own Debate Rules To Let Rick Perry In — CNN now says that Rick Perry is being invited to their debate in South Carolina on January 19, two days before the big primary in which he hopes to make his last stand.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Guardian and The Daily Caller

Foster Kamer / The New York Observer:

Awl City: The Awl Launches Awl Music, Tumblr-Powered Video-Radio Station for Awl Their Friends — Longreads-approved website The Awl—run by Radar, Observer, and Gawker expats Alex Balk and Choire Sicha—is coming up on its third anniversary! Since they've launched, they've spun off three blogs …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Gawker Media's new HD view makes a play for big monitors and a grander stage for video and photos. — Gizmodo, the popular gadget site and pageview king of Gawker Media, debuted a new look last night that they're calling HD view, and it's big. Not big in the grand scheme of things — big in the number of pixels it takes up.

Discussion: Gizmodo