Mediagazer: Arkansas Paper Refuses To Print Gay Couple's Commitment Ceremony Announcment (Instinct)

‘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: Journalism.co.uk and 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 …

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 …

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

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

Discussion: Press Gazette

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: 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

Discussion: mocoNews

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

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

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 …

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

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

NewsHour crowdsources translations of President Obama's ‘State of the Union’ — NewsHour has big plans to transform the way it presents election coverage — and ultimately other news — to non-native English speakers and the hearing impaired. — As part of its State of the Union Address …

Discussion: Online NewsHour

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

Mitt Romney's Taxes — All the major papers are devoting lots of resources to covering Mitt Romney's tax return, putting the national spotlight on how taxes, and particularly on how little taxes the ultra-wealthy actually pay. — It's top story right now on the home pages of The New York Times …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Mother Jones, Washington Wire, Forbes, Fortune and The New Yorker Blog

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Is Julian Assange's Talk Show For Real? — Larry King...Charlie Rose...Julian Assange? — Well, maybe. The voluble, volatile Wikileaks founder is getting his own talk show, or so he says. Beginning in March, Assange will be “hosting a series of in-depth conversations with key political players …

Discussion: TVNewser, CNET, Future of Journalism, The Atlantic Wire, The Next Web, Engadget, Digital Spy, PandoDaily, Mashable!, Gawker, New York Magazine, Guardian and Gizmodo

Alysia Santo / CJR:

Teaching Cyber-Security — Confidentiality promises often require technical skill — Since 2007, Steve Doig, an investigative journalist, has been giving a talk called “Spycraft: Keeping your sources private.” He's presented at conferences for Investigative Reporters and Editors …

Tim Carmody / Epicenter:

“Beloved, not Beliked': Why TV's Live and Streaming Audiences Are Diverging — Television is a very different experience in the age of video on demand. Even if we're watching the same kind of content — say, 30- to 60-minute scripted dramas and comedies — we watch it differently.