Mediagazer: Some personal news - I'll be taking a new job as East Coast editor of VentureBeat on Monday. http://t.co/G0ea3l0B (Ben Popper/@benpopper)

2:30 PM ET, January 13, 2012

Top News:

Clay Shirky / Guardian:

The New York Times public editor's very public utterance — Brisbane's question on reporters' duty to challenge misleading political speech has permanently altered readers' expectations — Thursday, Arthur Brisbane, the public editor of the New York Times, went to his readers with a question:

Discussion: Salon, The FJP, RedState, Washington Post, The New York Observer, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, Vanity Fair, Poynter and Business Insider

Arthur S. Brisbane / The Public Editor's Journal:
Update to my Previous Post on Truth Vigilantes

Discussion: GigaOM, rbr.com, AdAge, Poynter, Strange Attractor, Crikey, Jack Shafer, Future of Journalism, The New York Observer, The Raw Story, Kirk LaPointe's … and The Huffington Post

Steve Myers / Poynter:
Keller: 'I wonder if Art hasn't confused matters a bit'

Discussion: Mediaite and FishbowlNY

Jim Romenesko:
NYT public editor on reaction to Truth Vigilante post

Ed Strapagiel / INMA:

Newsmedia executives cautious about 2012 — 2012 study finds North American newspapers pessimistic about ad revenues, looking to digital for growth. — Newspapers — and many other industries — expected at least some economic recovery in 2011. This simply did not happen.

Discussion: freefromeditors

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Stephen Colbert to Explore (or Pretend to) Run for President — If anyone can make a mockery of the newest campaign finance innovation, the “super PAC,” it's Stephen Colbert. — Mr. Colbert, the Comedy Central television host, has made jokes at the expense of super PACs for months …

Discussion: Soup, Speakeasy, Media Decoder, msnbc.com, The Raw Story, The Huffington Post, Washington Wire, The New York Observer, New York Magazine and PopWatch

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Future Publishing sells New York operation for $3m — Magazine publisher Future has sold its loss-making New York division to NewBay Media — Future Publishing has sold off its loss-making New York operation - home to magazines including Guitar World, Revolver and Guitar Aficionado - in a deal worth $3m (£1.9m).

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Folio, MinOnline, Media Week and eMedia Vitals

Rupert Murdoch / @rupertmurdoch:

Many questions and jokes about My Space.simple answer - we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Techland, NME, PC Magazine, BetaNews, The Huffington Post, SlashGear, London Calling Blog, Epicenter and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

Deal Would Lead Letterman to a Late-Night Milestone — David Letterman as a guest on “The Tonight Show” with his idol, Johnny Carson. It appears that he will extend his contract, and surpass Mr. Carson's 30 years as a late-night host. — PASADENA, Calif. - It appears increasingly likely …

Discussion: Business Insider, The New York Observer, Inside TV, Company Town, Splitsider, Deadline.com, The Huffington Post and Gothamist

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Larry King, Carlos Slim Planning ‘Huge’ Online Venture (Exclusive) — Larry King is launching a “huge” online initiative backed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, TheWrap has learned. — Two individuals close to King confirmed that the venture was underway, though details remain sketchy.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Jim Romenesko

Russell Adams / Deal Journal:

Why It's Tough to Sell the Boston Globe … New York Times Co.'s recent sale of 16 local papers suggested it may be only a matter of time before the company consists of little more than the flagship newspaper. But the next likely target for disposal, the Boston Globe, comes with some complicating factors.

Discussion: @romenesko

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

“Soft” Ad Sales Ding Hulu's 2011 Growth — Remember back in the fall of 2011, when we started hearing anecdotal reports about slowing ad sales? Add Hulu to the list of examples: The company just reported a 60 percent jump in overall revenue for 2011 — which isn't as much as it had thought it was going to do a year ago.

Discussion: MediaPost, rbr.com, Betabeat, GigaOM, Hulu Blog, ReadWriteWeb, paidContent, WebProNews, Business Insider, Engadget, VentureBeat and SplatF, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider:
Hulu's 2011 Revenue Comes In At $420 Million

Discussion: Forbes, PC Magazine, Company Town and TechCrunch

Adam Penenberg / Fast Company:

Amazon's Plagiarism Problem — Amazon's erotica section isn't just rife with tales of lust, incest, violence, and straight-up kink. It's also a hotbed of masked merchants profiting from copyright infringement. And even with anti-piracy legislation looming, Amazon doesn't appear too eager …

Discussion: Betabeat, The FJP, Fortune and The Awl, more at Techmeme »

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Facebook Gives Politico Deep Access to Users' Political Sentiments — Counting Twitter mentions would have you believe that Ron Paul is the most popular Republican candidate in the ongoing U.S. primaries. Umm, right. — But some social media analysis of politics is going beyond that.

Discussion: Forbes, Facebook, The Politico, Inside Facebook, Medacity, The Hill, VatorNews, ZDNet, Poynter, Gawker, FishbowlDC, The Next Web and Mashable

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What would a Google News Plus Your World look like? — How soon until we get a Google News “Plus Your World?” — With the introduction of the oddly extraterrestrial-sounding Google “Search Plus Your World”, the company proclaimed their latest experiment is “transforming Google …