Mediagazer: National Enquirer Whitney Houston casket photo: Finally too far? (Rene Lynch/Los Angeles Times)

6:15 PM ET, February 23, 2012

Top News:

BBC:

Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning defers pleas — Bradley Manning is accused of leaking 700,000 files to Wikileaks — The US Army private accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks has chosen not to enter a plea at the start of his court martial.

Discussion: The Next Web

National Post:

Bradley Manning formally charged with ‘aiding the enemy’ by giving files to Wikileaks — Supporters of U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst, hold vigil outside the gates of U.S. Army Fort George G. Meade where Manning's Article 32 preliminary hearing will begin December 18, 2011 in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Females on Campaign Trail Go For Sexpot Look — Forget about SexyTwitPics. Washington has its own crop of would-be sexy females on the loose. And an unusual trend is developing among campaign and White House reporters of the XX persuasion. They're using provocative …

Discussion: Poynter, The Atlantic Wire, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, @attackerman, @annielowrey, @justinnxt, @kashhill, @jeffbercovici, @ledbetreuters, @hamiltonnolan and @lheron

Erin Gloria Ryan / Jezebel:

Concerned Female Reporter Can't Help But Notice Female Reporters Are Looking Awful Slutty Nowadays [Sluts] — With everything from birth control to equal pay under assault, it's never been more important that we, as women, tackle the issues that really matter to women today.

Hunter Walker / Politicker: Is This Twitter Avatar Too Sexy for Politics?

James Barron / New York Times:

Marie Colvin's Mother Recalls Her Determination to Get the Story — Marie Colvin got into Yale University the way she would later get into foreign countries, with grit and determination. — After spending a year in Brazil on a student exchange program, from January of her junior year …

Discussion: BBC, Capital New York, Expatica, Washington Post, @jenanmoussa, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Media Decoder, CNN, The New Yorker Blog, Telegraph, Telegraph, The Huffington Post, Reuters and Freelance Unbound

James Crugnale / Mediaite:
Lara Logan: ‘I Feel Guilty, I Feel A Little Bit Responsible’ For Marie Colvin's Death

Discussion: Reuters, Erik Wemple and Channel 4

Dylan Stableford / Yahoo News:
In the wake of reporter deaths in Syria, White House grilled on aggressive journalism at home

Discussion: ABC News

Robert Mackey / The Lede:
Wounded Journalists Plead for Evacuation From Homs

Discussion: Guardian and Committee to Protect …

Kerri Macdonald / Lens:
Parting Glance: Rémi Ochlik

Discussion: New York Times, Press Gazette, At War, Media News and Media Decoder

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Charlotte Church settles phone-hacking case with News International — Details of deal between star and News of the World publisher to be announced in court next week — Charlotte Church has settled her civil action against News International and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @joshhalliday, Journalism.co.uk and Guardian

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Theakston and Brazier sue NI

Discussion: Press Gazette

Natalie Peck / Hacked Off: EXCLUSIVE: anonymous phone hacking victim HJK speaks to Hacked Off

The Huffington Post - UK: Andy Coulson Loses Bid To Make Murdoch Pay Legal Costs

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Murdoch confirms Sun on Sunday will be 50p — Rupert Murdoch takes to Twitter to announce price of new Sunday edition, plus a price reduction for Saturday's paper — Rupert Murdoch has taken to Twitter to confirm that the Sun's new Sunday edition will cost 50p. He also announced a 17% cut in price for the Saturday Sun.

Discussion: Press Gazette, @rupertmurdoch and Media Week

John Plunkett / Guardian:
Times and Sunday Times digital subscriptions to double in price

Discussion: Press Gazette, paidContent and The Next Web

Dan Lyons / The Daily Beast:

Ethical or Not, Silicon Valley Bloggers Hit Up VCs for Angel Funds — It's a win-win game: Bloggers write favorably about both sides' portfolios, and everyone exits with 100x returns. Even social media maven Robert Scoble is getting in on the game. But whatever happened to journalistic integrity?

Discussion: CNET, Globe and Mail, Fortune and Real Dan Lyons

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:
Are Silicon Valley tech bloggers truly objective?

Discussion: GigaOM, eMedia Vitals, Uncrunched, Real Dan Lyons, parislemon and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:
Scoble: hit man of Silicon Valley?

Discussion: Uncrunched

Todd Wasserman / Mashable!:

Google to Launch TV Service — Google is looking to get into the paid TV business. — The company filed an application last week to provide video service to residents of Kansas City, Mo., according to The Wall Street Journal. If approved, the service could launch as soon as a month from now …

Discussion: business.time.com, AllThingsD, GigaOM, Media Week, Wall Street Journal, C21Media, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, VentureBeat, @PSFK and Electronista

The Baron:

Reuters changes editorial priorities in quest for Pulitzers — Reuters is adopting a new editorial approach aimed at winning Pulitzer Prizes: long, in-depth, investigative special reports from all bureaux. In the longer term the organisation will have fewer journalists; they will be better paid.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

AP unveils new logo for first time in 30 years — The Associated Press announced a new logo this morning, an update of the one that's perched elegantly atop stylebooks for 30 years. The letters are now black, the “A” no longer leans against the “P” in an avuncular fashion, and both letters are on the same baseline.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, FishbowlDC, ap.org, FishbowlNY and PRNewser

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

Say Goodbye To Blockbuster Stores — The Blockbuster brand emerged from the ashes of bankruptcy to have an impact on the bottom line of its new owner, Dish Network (NSDQ: DISH). The satellite TV service provider reported its first subscriber uptick in about two years, growth that was driven …

Discussion: Multichannel, MediaFile and MediaPost

Stephen Robert Morse:

Why I will not donate to this Kickstarter campaign that purports to save journalism and why you shouldn't donate to it either — I noticed a Tweet this morning that promoted a Kickstarter campaign for Matter, a long-form journalism effort that comes from an international group of journalists …

Discussion: Forbes, Boing Boing and Capital New York

John Biggs / TechCrunch:
Support Long-Form Journalism With This Online Kickstarter Project

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Business Insider and 10,000 Words

Mark Lisheron / American Journalism Review:

Romenesko Roars Back — Jim Romenesko is scrolling through his e-mail and tweets as any dedicated reporter would at 5:20 a.m. on a Saturday. Stopping at the screenshot of an ESPN mobile headline sent to him by a reader, he thinks, “Holy s**t, I have to post this.”

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Mail Online close to 100m users — Associated Newspapers network remains world's most popular newspaper website with more than 99m monthly browsers — Mail Online had a shade under 100 million monthly browsers in January, as the traffic growth of the world's most popular newspaper website showed no sign of stopping.

Discussion: WebProNews, Media Week and Press Gazette