Mediagazer: Dr. Drew Pinsky took $115,000 from pharmaceutical firm (Jim Romenesko)

11:05 AM ET, January 17, 2012

Top News:

Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:

Apple to announce tools, platform to “digitally destroy” textbook publishing — Apple is slated to announce the fruits of its labor on improving the use of technology in education at its special media event on Thursday, January 19. While speculation has so far centered on digital textbooks …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Fortune, MacRumors, Digital Trends, Electronista, Techland, Nieman Journalism Lab, MacStories, Business Insider, TUAW, CNET, ZDNet, Gadget Lab, The Next Web, 9to5Mac, The Verge, Gizmodo and Daring Fireball, more at Techmeme »

Shara Tibken / Wall Street Journal:

Apple to Give a Lesson About Textbooks — Apple Inc. fans should have something new to cheer this week, but it's not likely to be the latest iPad or a TV. — While the notoriously secretive Apple remains mum about its education announcement Thursday at New York's Guggenheim museum, observers aren't expecting a new gadget.

Discussion: paidContent, ZDNet, iDownloadBlog.com, Pocket-lint, MacRumors and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Atlantic Media Elevates Digital Chief — The Atlantic Media Co. has given its top digital executive responsibility for corporate finance, signaling the importance it sees digital media playing in the company's future. — In his new role, announced late Monday, Scott Havens becomes svp …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Guardian:

John Witherow gives Leveson evidence — • Times editor: it should have covered hacking ‘harder, earlier’ — • Statutory regulation would open door to political interference — • He confirms the Times rejected MPs' expenses data in 2009 — • NI finance boss: cash payments have ‘gone down considerably’

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk and Jon Slattery

Reuters:
UK politicans and police to blame for hacking-editor

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Nick Stern / The Huffington Post - UK: We Can't Condone the Ruthless Paparazzi

Valerie Block / Crain's New York:

Huffington Post is developing a new video offering — Al-Jazeera could contribute content to the project. — Arianna Huffington, the president and editor in chief of Huffington Post Media Group, was quite the social butterfly during a recent trip to Doha, Qatar.

Emma Barnett / Telegraph:

Wikipedia founder defends blackout — Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has defended the decision to blackout the website around the world tomorrow, despite other American technology companies refusing to follow suit. — The digital encyclopaedia will voluntarily shut …

Discussion: Gov 2.0 and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:
Wikipedia will shut down for 24 hours on Wednesday to protest against SOPA

Paul Carr / PandoDaily:
Costolo is Right: Wikipedia's SOPA Blackout is a Terrible Idea

Discussion: VentureBeat, CNET, Softpedia News, Computerworld and MacStories

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:
Twitter's Dick Costolo calls Wikipedia's SOPA blackout ‘foolish’ [Updated]

Discussion: WebProNews, GeekWire, GigaOM, New York Magazine and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

Netflix Hit With Class-Action Suit By Angry Investors — Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) has been hit with a class-action suit by a group of disgruntled investors who claim the online movie-rental chain withheld information from them prior to its steep stock-price plunge over the late summer and fall. — The

Discussion: The Wrap, VentureBeat, Fast Company and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »

Nick Denys / The Kernel:

Why The Huffington Post UK Failed — The Huffington Post's UK operation has not been a rousing success. Nick Denys investigates why, concluding that a lack of editorial leadership and mediocre hires may be to blame. — On the day that AOL purchased the Huffington Post, for a reported $315 million …

Simon Dumenco / AdAge: Ad Age Reports That HuffPo Reports That Hollywood Life Reports That Us Weekly Reports ...

Jim Romenesko:

Dr. Drew Pinsky took $115,000 from pharmaceutical firm — Charles Seife tells me he's been doing some work on pharmaceutical-company payments to physicians and recently came across an interesting name — Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of VH1′s “Celebrity Rehab” and the nightly HLN show, “Dr. Drew.”

Emma Bazilian / Adweek:

Texas Tribune Ropes in Funds And Readers — When The Texas Tribune launched in November 2009 as a nonprofit online news organization, it had one mission: to provide comprehensive reporting on politics, public policy and state government—increasingly critical coverage as local papers closed …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

CBS Sports Opens Site to App Makers — CBS Corp., in a move aimed at boosting its share of the nearly billion-dollar fantasy-sports business, is opening up its CBS Sports website so outside developers can create apps geared toward fantasy enthusiasts. — Fantasy sports, where participants …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, TechCrunch and AdExchanger.com

David Carr / New York Times:

Hollywood Techniques at Play in Politics — Hollywood came early to the 2012 presidential race in the unlikely form of “When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” the 28-minute documentary-style attack film that opens with the word “capitalism” and comes to an end with chants of “Wall Street greed.”

Discussion: The Caucus and The Wrap

Ryan Tate / Gawker:

Tech Industry Buys Itself a Mouthpiece — How did Silicon Valleys bigwigs react when their favorite trade publication adopted strict new conflicts of interest policies? They banded together to pay someone else to cover them. — Former TechCrunch reporter Sarah Lacy today launched PandoDaily …

Discussion: Poynter, PandoDaily, SiliconFilter and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »