Mediagazer: Express continued to use convicted PI Whittamore (Andrew Pugh/Press Gazette)

2:25 PM ET, January 12, 2012

Top News:

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante? — I'm looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about. — One example mentioned recently by a reader: As cited in an Adam Liptak article on the Supreme Court …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Boing Boing, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Business Insider, The Awl, Vanity Fair and The FJP

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Journalists incredulous as Times public editor asks: ‘Should the Times be a Truth Vigilante?’ — New York Times Public Editor Arthur S. Brisbane is attracting attention and derision for his latest blog post, “Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?” — “I'm looking for reader input on whether …

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

So whaddaya think: should we put truthtelling back up there at number one? — Somewhere along the way, telling truth from falsehood was surpassed by other priorities to which the press felt a stronger duty. Arthur Brisbane, public editor of the New York Times, was unaware of this history …

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Tells Judge About Tabloid Editor's $1,150 Bribe to Prison Guard — News Corp. (NWSA) for the first time publicly detailed bribery by a journalist at its now-defunct News of the World, telling a court that a former editor agreed to pay a prison guard to get a story about a child killer.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Express continued to use convicted PI Whittamore — Richard Desmond's Express Newspapers continued using convicted private investigator Steve Whittamore until as late as July 2010, the Leveson Inquiry heard this morning. — The company's legal chief Nicole Patterson was also unable …

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

Press Association: Why I published Madeleine stories

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: ‘Daily Express right to quit PCC because it failed to stop McCann libels’

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Homeland Security watches Twitter, social media — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.

Discussion: Techland and WebProNews, more at Techmeme »

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

James O'Keefe's Weak New Hampshire Exposé Could Get Him Arrested — The Alfred E. Newman of investigative journalism, James O'Keefe, staged his latest undercover video at the New Hampshire primary, where members of his team attempted to expose voter fraud by obtaining ballots for dead people.

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Amazon Kindle Owners Are “Borrowing” Nearly 300,000 Electronic Books A Month — Amazon is releasing new data on its Kindle Lending Library, which the e-commerce site says now has over 75,000 books. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own …

Discussion: MediaFile, paidContent, GalleyCat and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

CNN Reporter Becomes Target Of Ron Paul Supporters — A group of Ron Paul supporters are calling on CNN to remove the correspondent covering the candidate from her assignment, claiming that she is too biased against Paul. Dana Bash aroused the ire of the pro-Paul brigade on Monday …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre paid £1.7m — Salary package for Associated Newspapers editor-in-chief down more than £1m on 2010 remuneration after restructuring of incentive scheme — Paul Dacre reinforced his reputation as the best-paid editor on Fleet Street by taking home …

Matthew Futterman / Wall Street Journal:

News Corp.'s Fox Joins Battle to Buy Dodgers — News Corp.'s Fox unit joined the battle to buy the Dodgers Tuesday, signing a nondisclosure agreement with bankers handling the sale of the storied franchise, according to people with knowledge of the process — The move formally makes News Corp …

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?

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Jodi Kantor gets a grilling from Upper West Side Barnes & Noble Patrons about her book, ‘The Obamas’ — It's been a busy, rough week for Jodi Kantor, the New York Times reporter whose new book about the first family, The Obamas, entered the world on Tuesday to mixed reviews and controversy …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Politico, The Huffington Post, Politico, CBS News, Associated Press, newsfeed.time.com and Melville House Books

Felicia Pride / FishbowlNY:

Son of Village Voice Founder Criticizes Company for Ads that Have Been Used for Sex Trafficking — John Mailer, son of writer and Village Voice co-founder Norman Mailer, has joined the campaign on Change.org calling on Village Voice Media to shut down the adult section of its Backpage.com classifieds site …

Discussion: The Groundswell Movement and FishbowlLA

Douglas Page / News & Tech:

Digital First? Not so fast — Shakespeare suggested we kill the lawyers and let's hope the same fate awaits the newspaper cognoscenti who see a terminal disease in every printed newspaper. — While their collective “wisdom” on print lacks any foresight, what's more disturbing is that newspaper execs …