Mediagazer: Why newspapers are closing the shutters on staff photographers (Roy Greenslade/Guardian)

‘Fake sheikh’ Mazher Mahmood: Bribe allegation ‘completely untrue’ — Former News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmood tells the Leveson inquiry allegations he attempted to bribe staff to alter copy when he previously worked for the Sunday Times are ‘completely untrue’

Discussion: Guardian

Guardian:

PA editor Jonathan Grun gives evidence — • Bob Crow says he was followed by investigators on holiday — • Claims he was harassed by Sun reporters over strikes — • Mazher Mahmood denies bribing former colleague in 1989 — • Letter from Times editor …

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

The Times faces Leveson scrutiny over NightJack — The Times faced renewed scrutiny this morning over the role of email hacking in its exposure of the identity of anonymous police blogger NightJack. — The discussion of the issue at the Leveson Inquiry into the hacking scandal comes …

Press Gazette:

Jefferies calls for inquiry over ‘police leaks’ to reporters — Joanna Yeates's former landlord Chris Jefferies has accused police of leaking information about him to journalists following his arrest on suspicion of her murder. Retired school teacher Christopher Jefferies made the accusation …

Discussion: Guardian

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Mahmood: 'I've had splashes from crack addicts' — Former News of the World investigations editor Mazher Mahmood has defended the use of “unreliable” sources, telling the Leveson Inquiry: “I've had front page splashes from crack addicts.” — Mahmood, making his second appearance at the Inquiry …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Leveson inquiry: Sun executive says sorry for Christopher Jefferies coverage

Discussion: Press Gazette

Alexandra Topping / Guardian: Leveson must back ban on sexualised images in media, women's groups say

Guardian:

BBC sexism allegations: Ed Vaizey to broker meeting with director general — Broadcasting minister to set up meeting with Mark Thompson to discuss under-representation of women both on and off air — The broadcasting minister, Ed Vaizey, has undertaken to set up a meeting between Nadine Dorries …

Discussion: Guardian

Press Association:

MP slams BBC ‘culture of sexism’ — The Government should withhold the licence fee payout to the BBC at the next round of negotiations unless the Corporation does more to tackle sexist discrimination against its women television and radio presenters, a Tory MP has said.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

E-Singles: 'Journalism's Extraordinary Challenges In An Entirely New Place' — Byliner recently announced that it has sold 100,000 original e-singles, and other publishers are finding similar success with the format: The Atavist sold over 100,000 copies of ten e-singles combined last year …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and Future of Journalism

Dianna Dilworth / GalleyCat:

B&N's Jim Hilt Says Print Isn't Dead — Barnes & Noble is shifting its focus from device to content, according to Jim Hilt, vice president of e-books at Barnes & Noble who spoke at the Digital Book World conference today. — He said that 2011 was about the device and 2012 is about the content.

Discussion: mocoNews and eBookNewser

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
E-Book Bummer: Growth Slower Than Thought—'Incremental, Not Exponential'

Discussion: bookforum.com, Techdirt, Future of Journalism and mocoNews, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent: Barnes & Noble: We're ‘Not Competing’ With Independent Bookstores

Instinct:

Arkansas Paper Refuses To Print Gay Couple's Commitment Ceremony Announcment — The Arkansas Democrat Gazette isn't acting very democratically and has found itself the subject of a protest after denying a gay couple's request to print their commitment ceremony announcement. Details follow.

Chloe Albanesius / PC Magazine:

Yahoo: Media Giant, Tech Company, or Both? — Yahoo's new CEO, Scott Thompson, has had the job for just three weeks, but during today's fourth quarter earnings call, he pushed for a more “balanced” approach and insisted that Yahoo is equal parts media company and equal parts tech firm.

Discussion: TechCrunch and MediaNama

Carl Straumsheim / American Journalism Review:

The Buzz About BuzzFeed — The online meme aggregator gets serious about developing original content. — Carl Straumsheim (cstraumsheim@ajr.umd.edu) is an AJR editorial assistant. — When Ben Smith announced last month that he was leaving Politico to become editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed …

Tami Abdollah / scpr.org:

Former LA Times editor Russ Stanton moves to KPCC — Former Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton will be the new vice president of content for Southern California Public Radio's KPCC. — The hire is part of an aggressive effort by the nonprofit news organization to become …

Discussion: Company Town, LA Observed and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Richard Huff / NY Daily News:

Lara Logan: Life is not about dwelling on the bad — Exclusive Interview: CBS news star talks about PTSD, her recovery, her family, her work and the women that inspire her — CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan in Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted by a mob of protesters.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, PopWatch and msnbc.com

Discussion: TVSpy

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Why newspapers are closing the shutters on staff photographers — Newspaper photographers are in retreat. Staff jobs are vanishing as publishers look for new ways to cut costs. — National papers have gradually been reducing numbers in recent years. Many titles have only a handful.

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Jim Hopkins / Gannett Blog:

Memo: GCI to reveal new model for weak USCP; plan could be biggest news revamp in five years — Corporate is poised to announce a revamping of its U.S. community newspapers next week, the latest since the launch of the digital-first Information Center model in 2006, according to a company memo.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and AllThingsD

Discussion: Publishing Executive …, MediaPost, rbr.com, Poynter and FishbowlNY