Mediagazer: Before the Toss, Super Bowl Ads (Stuart Elliott/New York Times)

3:55 PM ET, February 4, 2012

Top News:

The Incredible Shrinking New York Times — The New York Times just reported its fourth-quarter results to finish out 2011. — And it's still shrinking. — Despite the launch of an online paywall that has, by any measure, been a big success, the company's revenue for its core news business shrank again in 2011.

Discussion: @michaelwolffnyc, @michaelwolffnyc, @romenesko, @michaelwolffnyc and @michaelwolffnyc

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The NYT needs a lot more than just a paywall — If there was a bright spot in the latest quarterly results from the New York Times, it's the fact that the newspaper's metered paywall has attracted almost 325,000 subscribers willing to pay a monthly fee for the site.

Discussion: Slate, paidContent, @mathewi, The Awl and Paul McMorrow

NPR:

How Online Paywalls Are Changing Journalism … Read Clay Shirky's column “Newspapers, Paywalls, and Core Users” — Online media advocate Clay Shirky has long been a skeptic of newspaper paywalls. He now thinks 2012 could be the year that a critical mass of readers will be willing to pay for news online.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Mark Thompson / BBC:

The harassment of BBC Persian journalists — For those working for the BBC Persian service, interference and harassment from the Iranian authorities has become a challenging fact of life. — I am hugely proud of how they deal with that relentless pressure, and their unswerving commitment …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Digital Spy, @poynter and @brianstelter

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Apple Tweaks iBook Language: Your Content Is Your Content — A couple weeks after introducing its new iBooks Author app, Apple has clarified legal language about what happens to books users create with the software. Apple continues to insist that users can only sell electronic books in the iBook format via its iTunes store.

Discussion: The Next Web, PC Magazine, The Verge, Softpedia News, Epicenter, TUAW, ZDNet, CNET, MacStories, @jcstearns, Future of Journalism and paidContent, more at Techmeme »

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

How Dallas Morning News reporter got scoop that Komen was reversing its decision — When Dallas Morning News reporter Tom Benning called a Susan G. Komen for the Cure spokeswoman Friday morning, he got a heads up that something big was about to break. — “I literally called the person …

Discussion: The Scoop, Capital New York, Jezebel, Forbes, The New Yorker Blog, AdAge, New York Times, Mother Jones and Mediaite

Mandy Jenkins / Zombie Journalism:

I'm more than a Twitter Monkey — So can I level with you guys? I'm relieved that I'm not going to be doing this same social media jam forever. — Not because I don't like it - actually, I still really love it. I live to send out a tweet and see a flood of reaction come in as mentions and retweets.

Discussion: The New York Observer, SocialTimes.com, @dancow, @niemanlab, @mathewi, @jeffsonderman and Poynter

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Watch Out, TV: AOL and HuffPo Jump Into Live Video — AOL and The Huffington Post are readying a live video network that will have twelve hours of programming every weekday when it starts this summer. — The network, which is currently named The Huffington Post Streaming Network …

Discussion: GigaOM, Media & Entertainment, The FJP, FishbowlLA, Future of Journalism and The Huffington Post

Stuart Elliott / New York Times:

Before the Toss, Super Bowl Ads — The Super Bowl has long been the biggest day of the year for advertising, as more than 100 million Americans watch television's most expensive and daring commercials. Unlike years past, one thing will be mostly missing this year: surprise.

Discussion: Media Money …, iMediaConnection Blog, Forbes, Media Decoder, MediaFile and ReadWriteWeb

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Reuters staff vote for first strike in 25 years — NUJ members ‘overwhelmingly’ back action over below-inflation pay offer of 1.75% — Journalists at Thomson Reuters have voted to strike - for the first time at the news agency in more than 25 years - over a below-inflation pay offer.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Halifax lays off more than half of staff reporting to former NYT Regional HQ in Tampa — About 30 employees of the former New York Times Regional Media Group were notified Friday that their new employer, Halifax Media Group, has decided to lay them off and offer severance packages.

Lauren Dugan / AllTwitter:

Biz Stone Clarifies Twitter's Stance On Censorship And China — This guest post comes to us from tech blogger Will M. You can follow Will at @BetterPath. — “They should have asked me write that,” Biz Stone says about a blog post on Twitter.com that set off a global controversy.

Discussion: Committee to Protect … and Reporters Without Borders