Mediagazer: Amazon hiring creative execs for original programming (Ryan Lawler/GigaOM)

11:20 AM ET, February 11, 2012

Top News:

Journal Columnist Jeffrey Zaslow Is Killed in Crash — Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow, who wrote some of the paper's most memorable front-page features and became a best-selling author, died in a car crash Friday morning at age 53. — Mr. Zaslow was killed in an automobile accident in northern Michigan.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Chicago Tribune, MyFox Detroit and GalleyCat

Patricia Montemurri / Tucson Citizen:

‘Last Lecture’ author Jeffrey Zaslow Dies — Jeffrey Zaslow, the West Bloomfield, Mich. author who wrote best-sellers such as The Last Lecture about a professor dying of pancreatic cancer and a recent book on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' recovery from a gunshot wound to the head …

Guardian:

Senior Sun journalists arrested in police payments probe — Rupert Murdoch is flying to London after five of tabloid's most senior staff are arrested inongoing inquiry into alleged bribery — The Sun has been plunged into crisis following the arrest of five of its most senior journalists …

Discussion: Reuters, The Huffington Post, The Independent, Press Gazette and Associated Press

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

8 Arrested in Scandal Over Murdoch's Tabloids — LONDON — British authorities arrested eight people on Saturday, including five employees of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun, as part of an investigation into bribery of public officials by journalists, Scotland Yard and the newspaper's parent company said.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared

Ryan Lawler / GigaOM:

Amazon hiring creative execs for original programming — Add Amazon to the list of online video providers that could soon release some new original programming. The company is looking to hire creative executives to develop and produce original comedies and kids shows for online and traditional distribution.

Discussion: AllThingsD, WebProNews and Electronista, more at Techmeme »

Alex Fitzpatrick / Mashable!:

Europeans Plan Widespread Protests Against Internet Censorship — Protests against Internet censorship will blanket Europe this weekend, while Germany and Latvia announced Friday they would put the brakes on signing a copyright treaty that has sparked controversy across the continent.

Discussion: TorrentFreak, Electronista and BBC

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Gov. Rendell wanted NY Mayor Bloomberg to buy Philly papers — When Ed Rendell was governor of Pennsylvania in 2008, he spent some time traveling around the country with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At the time, Rendell pitched Bloomberg on buying Philadelphia's daily newspapers …

Discussion: Poynter

Julie Moos / Poynter:
Raymond Perelman ‘dismayed’ he was ‘excluded’ from bidding on Philly papers

Discussion: philebrity.com and Associated Press

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

Birth control and the Church: The missing context — Even a card-carrying secular humanist like me couldn't help but be troubled that the Obama administration was ordering the Catholic Church to provide birth-control coverage to its employees despite Catholic doctrine prohibiting the practice.

Discussion: New York Times, Forbes, The New Yorker Blog, Firedoglake and NPR

Lens:

A Painterly World Press Photo Winner — A thin man rests his head on the shoulder of a burqua-clad woman, the pair collapsed together against a wall. The expression on her face can't be seen. But her body language - right arm wrapped tightly around his neck, left hand clinging to his arm - conveys everything her expression cannot.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Future of Journalism, Boston Globe, Gawker, The Huffington Post, The FJP, The Verge and FishbowlNY

Associated Press:

Netflix trims 4th quarter earnings to account for $9 million settlement of video privacy case — SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix pressed the rewind button on its fourth-quarter earnings after settling allegations that the video subscription service violated a consumer-privacy law.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, more at Techmeme »

Adam Martin / The Atlantic Wire:

Patch Would Like its Journalists to Let it Speak For Them — Patch's request to its hundreds of local editors not to comment on Jim Romenesko's reporting on Patch is just the latest example of a big media company trying, and failing, to control its people's participation in Internet conversation.

Discussion: Online Journalism Review and Future of Journalism

Jim Romenesko:
Dear Patch: I was hyperlocal long before you

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY and Street Fight

L.V. Anderson / Slate:

Does Time Magazine Think Americans Are Stupid? … - Obama Just Pulled a Fast One on Republicans With His Contraception Compromise — Is One of the Most Influential Pastors in the U.S. Too Involved in His Flock's Sex Lives? - Lithwick: Prop 8 Ruling Shows Gay Marriage Opponents Have No Legal or Empirical Case

Discussion: Talking To Strangers and @tcarmody

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:

Music Labels' Joint Venture, VEVO, Shows Pirated NFL Game At Sundance — Over the last decade the major music labels — and their trade organization, the Recording Industry Association of America — have established a repeated pattern of attacking consumers in the name of squelching illegal file-sharing.