Mediagazer: U.K. Judge Who Probed News Says Internet Can Be Tamed (Joe Schneider/Bloomberg)

8:50 AM ET, December 7, 2012

Top News:

Washington Post Considers a Paywall — The Washington Post, one of the last holdouts against the trend of charging readers for online access to newspaper articles, is likely to reverse that decision in 2013, according to people familiar with the matter. — While details are being finished …

John Robinson / Media, disrupted: Erecting a paywall? Make sure everything behind it is better than before

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Daily Beast Considers Charging for Website — Newsweek/Daily Beast Co., the media company founded by Tina Brown and backed by billionaire Barry Diller, is considering charging readers for access to its Daily Beast website for the first time. — The New York-based company …

Discussion: Capital New York and NetNewsCheck Latest, Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
As Newsbeast layoffs begin, some are quitting on their own

Discussion: Poynter, WWD Media Headlines, MediaNama, Adweek, Business Insider, NetNewsCheck Latest, Politico, The New York Observer, Capital New York, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post and @katedailey

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer: How Newsweek Predicted Its Own Demise

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Guardian News & Media plans to shed 68 editorial posts — Publisher of the Guardian, Observer and MediaGuardian says it must save £7m from the editorial budget — Guardian News & Media, the publisher of the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk, has informed staff of plans …

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:
Guardian steps up pressure for staff to volunteer for redundancy

Discussion: @jamesro47 and @jamesro47

Telegraph:

Leveson Report: PM proposes third way to regulate the press — David Cameron is considering establishing a new independent press watchdog by Royal Charter - the mechanism used to set up the BBC and the Bank of England. — Watch Lord Leveson deliver his report

Discussion: Guardian

Joe Schneider / Bloomberg:

U.K. Judge Who Probed News Says Internet Can Be Tamed — U.K. Justice Brian Leveson, who called for an independent regulator following a probe of News Corp. (NWSA)'s phone-hacking scandal, said legal remedies are powerful enough, over time, to rein in Internet privacy breaches.

Discussion: Digital Spy, Telegraph, Hollywood Reporter, Daily Mail, ABC News, HeraldSun, theweek.co.uk, Guardian and LSE Media Policy Project

Julie Moos / Poynter:

George Zimmerman sues NBC over editing of 911 tape after Trayvon Martin shooting — Lawyers for George Zimmerman, who has been charged in the murder of Trayvon Martin, announced Thursday that he has sued NBC for its editing of a 911 call that was made after the shooting.

Discussion: CNN, Media Decoder, gzvnbc.com, Washington Post, Mediaite, Chickaboomer, TVNewser, The Wrap, The Daily Caller and TMZ.com

Leslie Kaufman / Media Decoder:

At Random House, Employees Will Enjoy 5,000 Shades of Green — Random House had its corporate Christmas party on Wednesday night in New York, and word is that Santa likes bondage. A lot. — Markus Dohle, the chief executive of Random House, promised employees — from top editors to warehouse workers …

Discussion: Bookseller news, The New York Observer, PAPERMAG, Gawker and bookforum.com

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Spotify pays out more than $500m in royalties since its 2008 launch — Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich settle differences, with Metallica agreeing to put their whole back catalogue on streaming service — Streaming music service Spotify has now paid out more than $500m (£311m) …

Discussion: TechCrunch, paidContent, Rolling Stone and AdAge

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:
Spotify Event Tries to Bury the Old Feuds Between Artists and Napster

Discussion: paidContent

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Netflix Being Investigated By The SEC For CEO Reed Hastings' Public Facebook Posts — As if Netflix didn't have enough problems: The company announced today that it is being investigated by the SEC for a post that CEO Reed Hastings had made on his public Facebook page in June.

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

Amidst Ongoing Legal Battles, Aereo To Launch Apps For Smart TVs, Set-Top Boxes — Aereo, the polarizing startup that allows users to watch broadcast TV over the Web, is currently fighting for its life in court. The IAC and Barry Diller-backed startup is tangled up in what will likely …

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune resumes limited usage of Journatic — Five months after suspending Journatic for plagiarism and other ethical breaches in its TribLocal suburban newspapers, the Chicago Tribune announced to employees Thursday it will resume use of the hyperlocal content provider on a limited basis for such information as community listings.

Discussion: Chicago Business, Chicago Sun Times, Street Fight and Associated Press

Chris Amico / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Opened Captions: Turning the spoken words on TV screens into streams of hackable data — A few weeks before the first presidential debate, Dan Schultz and his colleagues on The Boston Globe's interactive team were trying to figure out what they could build that would make the newspaper's coverage stand out.

Jim Romenesko:

The National staffers launch Facebook campaign to oust their editor — Some journalists at The National in Abu Dhabi have launched a Facebook campaign to force the resignation of editor-in-chief Hassan Fattah, who they contend has “led the paper into oblivion” and “forced a near wholesale turnover of the staff.”

David Kravets / Wired:

Hollywood's Total Piracy Awareness Program Set for January Launch — UNIVERSAL CITY, California - Beginning in a few weeks, the nation's major internet service providers will roll out an initiative — backed by Obama and pushed by Hollywood and the record labels - to disrupt …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Jimmy Savile scandal: Pollard inquiry to report in week of 17 December — Former Sky boss Nick Pollard has investigated the BBC's handling of its aborted Newsnight documentary — The Pollard inquiry into BBC executives' handling of the axed BBC Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile is to be published in the week of 17 December.