Mediagazer: Romney Campaign Scrubs Criticism from Editorial Before Sending It Out (Evan McMorris-Santoro/Talking Points Memo)

6:20 PM ET, February 22, 2012

Top News:

Marie Colvin killed: Syrian forces had pledged to kill ‘any journalist who set foot on Syrian soil’ — Syrian forces murdered journalist Marie Colvin after pledging to kill “any journalist who set foot on Syrian soil”, it has emerged. — The 55-year-old Sunday Times reporter …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, @ramsaysky and The Daily What

New York Times:

Two Western Journalists Killed in Syria Shelling — CAIRO — Two Western journalists, one American and one French, were killed early Wednesday as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad pursued a deadly bombardment of the central city of Homs, according to activists and officials.

Michael Rundle / The Huffington Post - UK:

Syrian Minister ‘Unaware Foreign Journalists Were In Country’ After Deadly Shelling — Syria has said they were unaware foreign journalists were in the country after an American and French journalist were killed on Wednesday. Marie Colvin, a veteran correspondent for the Sunday Times …

Reuters:

U.S., French journalists killed in Syria — (Reuters) - Two Western journalists were killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday when shells hit the house they were staying in, opposition activists and witnesses said. — They were named as Marie Colvin, an American working …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Telegraph, CNN, Journalism.co.uk, @nytjim, @pdanahar, @fieldproducer, Guardian, ITV, @laurapitel, @katz, @billneelyitv, @nytjim, @jessradio, Digital Spy, Press Gazette, The Staggers and Jon Slattery

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Syria Correspondent Wanted Her Reporting Read Outside Pay Walls — Before her death on Wednesday in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, the veteran war correspondent Marie Colvin voiced a common frustration for journalists who are reporting from distant areas about conflicts that can feel remote to readers back home.

Discussion: Poynter, Lens, CBS New York, The Wall Blog and The Journalism Foundation

Lindsey Hilsum / Channel 4:
My friend, Marie Colvin

Discussion: Guardian, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and The Huffington Post

Erika Solomon / Reuters:
Syria asks foreign journalists to report to government

Discussion: @producermatthew

Ahmed Al Omran / NPR:
Rami Al-Sayed, Syrian Citizen Journalist, Is Killed During Attack On Homs

Discussion: Guardian and The Lede

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Gannett Building Paywalls Around All Its Papers Except USA Today — The vogue for digital paywalls sweeping the news business has made it all the way to the top: Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, is planning to switch over all of its 80 community newspapers to a paid model …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Jon Slattery, @jackshafer, 10,000 Words and Nashville Scene

Jeff Roberts / paidContent:
Gannett's Big Paywall Play: Will It Work?

Discussion: Gannett.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Cherie Blair to sue News International — Tony Blair's wife to take action against Glenn Mulcaire and NI over the alleged hacking of her phone by News of the World — Cherie Blair, the wife of the former prime minister, is suing News International and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Church hacking case ‘not resolved’ — Despite reports of settlement of up to £500,000, star's manager says talks with News of the World publisher are still ongoing — Charlotte Church has not yet settled her phone-hacking case against Rupert Murdoch's defunct tabloid the News of the World …

Discussion: Bloomberg and The Wrap

Jim Romenesko:

Did CNC ‘cause problems’ for MacArthur's City Hall friends? — Chicago journalist Geoff Dougherty claims the Chicago News Cooperative and MacArthur Foundation relationship went sour because CNC “had enough reporters and know-how to cause problems with MacArthur buddies at City Hall.” He writes:

Discussion: CJR, Time Out Chicago and Chicago Current

Jim Romenesko: CNC editor: No MacArthur Foundation interference

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

FT facing discrimination claims and strike action — The Financial Times is facing an employment tribunal over discrimination allegations involving journalists working on the Chinese version of the FT website, according to the NUJ. — It is also facing the possibility of strike action on Friday in a separate dispute over pay.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon Yanks 5,000 Kindle Titles In Fight Over Terms — Updated: IPG's full memo to publishers on page 2. — Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has turned off the buy button on nearly 5,000 Kindle titles from distributor Independent Publishers Group after IPG refused to capitulate to Amazon's demand for better terms.

Discussion: Publishers Lunch, Bits, Boing Boing, WebProNews, eBookNewser and Electronista

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Sam Zell Blames Tribune Failure on ‘Greedy’ Journalists. — Sam Zell. Credit: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images — Sam Zell must miss being the most hated man in the newspaper industry. Why else would the ever-pungent real estate billionaire be speaking up about his disastrous time running Tribune Co., all this time later?

Discussion: Gawker, LA Biz Observed and New York Times

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Whitney Houston Funeral Drew Millions on TV and Online — Millions of television and Web viewers spent time Saturday afternoon watching the funeral service for Whitney Houston, the pop music icon who died a week earlier. — CNN was the biggest beneficiary of the viewer vigil, according to Nielsen ratings.

Discussion: Pew Research Center, Digital Spy, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, TVNewser, Capital New York, Chickaboomer, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel

John Glenday / The Drum: BBC Whitney Houston coverage criticised

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

TBS Extends ‘Conan’ Through 2014 — The cable channel TBS announced on Wednesday that it had extended its contract with Conan O'Brien to star in the late-night series he began on the network in November 2010. — The new agreement, which amounted to picking up an existing option …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and rbr.com

Vanity Fair:

Reed Hastings on Netflix's Recent Rise and Fall — Still bloodied by one of the worst self-inflicted corporate disasters in recent memory—last year's $12 billion wipeout—Netflix C.E.O. Reed Hastings remains adamant about his goal: moving from red envelopes to streaming video.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

FRICTION AT AOL: Arianna Is A Huge ‘Headache’... But Also The Most Valuable Person At AOL — A year after AOL acquired The Huffington Post for $350 million, sources say AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is getting frustrated with working with Arianna Huffington, who became President at AOL after the deal.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and mediabistro.com

David Holmes / Fast Company:

Lindles: Jeremy Lin, Amazon Kindle, And The Rise Of Insta-Authors — Jeremy Lin has inspired a lot of rabid fans, magazine features, and six-figure book deal offers. But he's also fueled a new breed of lightening-fast ebook authors. Alan Goldsher, author of “Linsanity …

Discussion: Speakeasy, GalleyCat, Capital New York, mediabistro.com and Digital Book World