Mediagazer: How false reports of Joe Paterno's death were spread and debunked (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

1:25 PM ET, January 22, 2012

Top News:

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How false reports of Joe Paterno's death were spread and debunked — News spread quickly Saturday evening that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno had died. Except, he hadn't. — Here is an account of how it happened. — We have made it easy to comment on posts …

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

False Paterno death reports highlight journalists' hunger for glory — As many people are now aware, on Saturday evening, a student news organization at Penn State reported that former football coach Joe Paterno had died. The information was picked up by CBS Sports and other major news outlets, and it spread quickly on Twitter.

Discussion: Onward State, Eye On College Football, eye-on-college-football …, @breakingnews, Bleacher Report, College Media Matters and Deadspin

Davis Shaver / Onward State:

What Happened Last Night — Last night was one of the worst moments of my entire life. But before I can explain what happened, you need to know a bit about Onward State. Onward State is a community news site, and that means that most decisions are made in a collaborative environment.

Discussion: Poynter, College Media Matters and ShortFormBlog

Scott Carroll / @scottyknoxville:

The managing editor of Onward State, Penn State student paper that initially reported Paterno died, has stepped down. http://www.facebook.com/...

Discussion: Gothamist, Poynter and Onward State

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought — Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News …

Discussion: Fox News, TorrentFreak, parislemon, @beschizza, @wllegal, @gaberivera, @jonhenke, @joshconstine, Hillicon Valley, Forbes, The Greenroom, @cshirky, Public Knowledge, Telegraph and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Dan Gillmor / Guardian:
The struggle against Sopa and Pipa is not over

Discussion: Mashable!, TeleRead, Gothamist, FlowingData and paidContent

Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Europe Says It Won't Adopt ‘Bad’ Digital Policy Like SOPA

Discussion: Future of Journalism, GigaOM, @senatorreid, @senatorreid, Policy Blog, Senate Democrats, Mashable!, ZDNet, Hillicon Valley, Washington Post, Uncrunched, The Next Web, L.A. Times Tech Blog, TechCrunch, The Verge, CNET and Guardian

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Megaupload Drops Lawsuit Against Universal Music Over Viral Video (Exclusive) — Amid a criminal case that forced the shutdown of Megaupload, the company has dismissed UMG from a lawsuit over a video that showed many stars endorsing the site. But that doesn't mean the case is over.

Discussion: Electronista, The Next Web, The Verge and WebProNews

Somini Sengupta / Bits:

A Move to Investigate the Investigators in WikiLeaks Case — This much is known: In its hunt for information about three people it believes to be associated with the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, the Justice Department has sought to extract details about them and their communications on Twitter.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire and Future of Journalism, more at Techmeme »

Marc Fisher / Washington Post:

Polarized news market has altered the political process in South Carolina primary — We follow three South Carolina voters and profile their media consumption, matching up their habits against national survey data. Watch a video of their activity and take a quiz to see which shows …

Discussion: Charles Apple, Future of Journalism and FishbowlDC

Erika Fry / CJR:
What I Saw at the South Carolina Debate

Discussion: Mediaite, Hit & Run, TVNewser, The New Yorker Blog, Associated Press, B&C, The Politico, Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel and msnbc.com

Ginger Gibson / The Politico:

Newt Gingrich and the press: Secret pals — It's a regular feature of the 2012 GOP presidential debates — that moment when Newt Gingrich takes a deep breath, then proceeds to rip the insipid moderator and the conflict-and scandal-mongering press. — His latest exercise …

Discussion: Poynter, Media Decoder, Erik Wemple and Online NewsHour

Conal Urquhart / Guardian:

Johann Hari leaves the Independent after plagiarism storm — Columnist will not return to newspaper after being accused of using material from other writers without giving them credit — Johann Hari, the journalist at the Independent who was suspended for plagiarism, has announced that he will not return to the newspaper.

Discussion: Future of Journalism, BBC, Poynter, Johann Hari, The Huffington Post, The Drum, FleetStreetBlues, @davidfolkenflik and Jon Slattery

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of signature content — What's your signature content? — Quick: If somebody buttonholed you in an elevator, a school play, or a bar, and said, “Why should I pay you for that?” — what do you tell them? — Each passing week, it seems we're further into the age of signature content.

Discussion: Forbes

Tim Carman / Washington Post:

And that's why we test — The storyout of Chile was enough to make a publisher's blood turn colder than a liquid nitrogen milkshake. In late December, the country's Supreme Court ruled that the newspaper La Tercera had to shell out more than $160,000 to 13 victims who were burned while trying to fry churros in hot oil.

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Has phone hacking changed attitudes at the top of News Corp? — Payouts to phone-hacking victims and new executive appointments show an attempt to move on — Rupert Murdoch was in London on Thursday in time to follow the coverage of the 37 News of the World phone-hacking settlements …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Telegraph and Guardian