Mediagazer: ‘Times’ staffers gather for bullpen memorial for Anthony Shadid; his final piece published today (Joe Pompeo/Capital New York)

2:49 AM ET, February 18, 2012

Top News:

Should the White House stay mum on Shadid? — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today said the following in regards to Anthony Shadid, the New York Times foreign correspondent who died yesterday on assignment in Syria. From ABC's Jake Tapper: … All true. But proper?

Discussion: VOA, WWD and Poynter

Julie Bosman / Media Decoder:

Release Date Is Moved Up for Shadid Book — Anthony Shadid, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter who died on Thursday while reporting in Syria, was weeks away from embarking on a book tour. — He was scheduled to return to the United States for a 20-city tour to promote …

Discussion: Speakeasy, msnbc.com, Poynter, The New York Observer, The New Yorker Blog, New York Times, Media Nation, Online NewsHour and New York Times

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
‘Times’ staffers gather for bullpen memorial for Anthony Shadid; his final piece published today

Discussion: PRNewser, ABCNEWS, LA Observed, The New Yorker Blog and GalleyCat

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Ad sources expect Sun on Sunday ‘in weeks’ — Rupert Murdoch to accelerate timeline for launch, say reports, while media agencies warn of ‘stressed’ Sunday market — Media buying agencies believe that the Sun on Sunday is set to launch “within weeks”, but warn of a vicious price …

John F. Burns / New York Times: Murdoch Offers Reassurances to Sun Newsroom

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:
Murdoch: Sun on Sunday will be launched ‘very soon’

Discussion: The Staggers, Erik Wemple, Guardian, Media & Entertainment, Bloomberg, Mediaite, The Wrap, Business Insider, Journalism.co.uk, mnilive.com, Media Week, Globe and Mail, AdAge and Press Gazette

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Rupert Murdoch Announces Sun On Sunday, Says Suspended Employees Can Return To Work

Discussion: Reuters, Gordon's Republic, Guardian, @dansabbagh, CNBC, Associated Press, @sophyridgesky, Guardian, Press Gazette, Mixed Media, Guardian, Telegraph, Media Week, Media Decoder, Jon Slattery, Capital New York and Reuters

Tim Carmody / Epicenter:

Qwikster Rebaptized: Netflix's Name Game With Disc-Only Subscriptions — Here's a new post title from Netflix's company blog that wouldn't have made sense five years ago, or even last July: “Now you can sign up directly for a DVD only plan.” — First, it's all true.

Discussion: CNET, PC Magazine, WebProNews and Home Media Magazine

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Netflix (Still) Really Doesn't Want Your DVD Money

Discussion: Fortune, VentureBeat, Softpedia News, VatorNews, Digital Media Wire, The Official Netflix Blog, TechCrunch and Gizmodo

Felix Salmon:

Gawker Media jettisons its porn blog — Back in November, Nick Denton put Gawker Media's Fleshbot up for sale. The official announcement, here, is NSFW due to the ads surrounding it — which pretty much explains why Fleshbot was being sold: its customers — porn sites — are very …

Dave Maass / San Diego CityBeat:

U-T outsources comment censorship — Move is expected to ‘refine the tone and content of the comments without hindering their flow’ — The new owners of U-T San Diego have been making a lot of changes at the city's main daily newspaper. The latest involves new policies for censoring monitoring comments on its website.

Discussion: FishbowlLA

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Analyst: News Corp. Waited Too Long to Launch Sun on Sunday — You don't see a lot of media companies launching new, mass-circulation newspapers these days. But News Corp. is a special case: The paper it's launching, The Sun on Sunday, isn't really a new paper per se but a substitution …

Callum Borchers / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Boston Courant: Proud not to have a website until the owner sees “a profitable end game” — Eight years ago, David Jacobs, publisher of the weekly Boston Courant, paid a web designer in Ukraine to create a website for his newspaper. On that initial investment, and on subsequent research …

Discussion: Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog and mediabistro.com

Greg Sandoval / CNET:

Microsoft mulls plan for new music service (exclusive) — The software maker has discussed with some of the major record companies about creating a music service to serve Xbox as well as an upcoming Windows-based phone. — Microsoft is in talks with some of the major record companies …

Discussion: The Verge, Electronista, The Next Web, Gizmodo and The TechBlock, more at Techmeme »

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Iran Nuclear Coverage Echoes Iraq War Media Frenzy — NEW YORK — Military strikes expected! Weapons inspectors called in! A murky al Qaeda connection! And Cheney says time's up for Ira... Wait. Haven't we seen this movie before? — It's already been a decade since …

Discussion: Salon, FAIR Blog and prospect.org/blog/beat-press

Paul McNally / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC World Service to broadcast morning news conference — Global broadcaster to use Twitter, Facebook and Skype to encourage listener input in news meeting on 29 February — The World Service is celebrating its 80th anniversary — The BBC World Service is to open up its morning editorial meeting …

Discussion: Guardian

Ron Kampeas / Foreign Policy:

So You Want to Be Jerusalem Bureau Chief... How to tackle — and not tackle — the most delicate assignment in journalism. — Even before she gets to Israel, Jodi Rudoren, the new New York Times bureau chief, is already explaining why she'd prefer not having “Zionist” attached to her name.