Mediagazer: Family of journalist Austin Tice struggles with silence on kidnapping (Ariel Zirulnick/Christian Science Monitor)

4:40 PM ET, December 11, 2012

Top News:

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

BuzzFeed apologizes (sort of) for smear of The Oatmeal cartoonist — Popular viral news site BuzzFeed this week slammed a cartoonist as an amoral hypocrite. Unfortunately, the story turns out to have been based on a grievous factual error — leading the cartoonist to issue a savage counterattack …

Discussion: Poynter, The Oatmeal, @buzzfeedandrew, @carr2n and Betabeat

Sara Morrison / CJR:

The limits of Internet research — “Rule number one of the Web: You don't mess with The Oatmeal” — Internet research helped Buzzfeed contributor Jack Stuef unmask @ComfortablySmug, the Twitter account that earned ire for posting false information during Hurricane Sandy. Stuef was praised for his work then.

Slade Sohmer / HyperVocal:
Why This BuzzFeed v. The Oatmeal Fight Actually Does Matter

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu and CJR

Bloomberg:

Tribune Said to Seek Bankers for Newspaper Sale — Tribune Co., the bankrupt owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily newspapers, is interviewing bankers about selling its papers, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Deadline.com, Poynter, The Atlantic Wire, Chicago Sun Times, bizjournals, @jcstearns, The Huffington Post and @thematthewkeys, Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

Against ‘Objective’ Algorithms: The Case of Google News — Whole new categories of weird noise are being introduced into the news world as a result of Google's algorithm, whatever its virtues. — If something comes out of a computer on the basis of statistics, it must be objective, right?

Discussion: Google News Blog and Nieman Journalism Lab

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google News Gets An Updated Look On Tablets, Support For Gestures

Discussion: Engadget, The Next Web and WebProNews

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Late shift ap-Piers likely for CNN host — CNN host Piers Morgan could join the late-night crowd. — The slumping cable news network is considering moving his hour-long interview show from the prized 9 p.m. slot back to 10 p.m. — or even later, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Chickaboomer and The Huffington Post

Michael Wolff / Guardian:
Can Jeff Zucker fix what ails CNN?

Discussion: New York Post

Ed Sherman / The Sherman Report:

Sporting News prints final magazine after 126 years; web site still continues — It was inevitable. — After the 126 years, The Sporting News is printing its last magazine. One of the great traditions in sports is yet another casualty of the modern news era. — The Sporting News, though, isn't going away.

Discussion: Sporting News Feed RSS, AdAge, Poynter, LA Observed, FishbowlNY, The Wrap and Deadspin

Dan Sabbagh / Guardian:

Leveson report: editors seeking legal advice on third-party complaints — Alan Rusbridger says five clauses of report will only be accepted by counterparts subject to ‘being scrutinised by lawyers’ — Alan Rusbridger spoke of widespread opposition to how third-party complaints should be handled

BBC: PCC replacement to be set up in early 2013 - Lord Hunt

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Lena Dunham Wages War with Gawker — Despite what most would think, Lena Dunham is not a fan of Gawker. In fact, she had her lawyer contact the site after Gawker published her book proposal, which fetched her a cool $3.7 million. Gawker did take down the proposal, but that wasn't enough for Dunham.

Discussion: HyperVocal, Inside TV and Deadline.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

For employees of Bloomberg LP, a megabonus deferred — The thousands of employees of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's eponymous media and finance company will have to wait longer than they thought for the megabonuses dangled in front of them two years ago, Capital has learned.

Elizabeth Jensen / Media Decoder:

PBS Names Beth Hoppe as Programming Chief — PBS has a new head of programming. — Beth Hoppe, who joined PBS in August 2011 as a vice president in the programming department, has been promoted to the top programming job, according to an internal memo distributed Tuesday.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and Hollywood Reporter

Ariel Zirulnick / Christian Science Monitor:

Family of journalist Austin Tice struggles with silence on kidnapping — Austin Tice was kidnapped near Damascus in August. His family went to Beirut recently in hopes of extending their reach into Syria and finding out more about who might be holding him.

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Angus Stickler resigns from Bureau of Investigative Journalism over Newsnight documentary — Angus Stickler, the journalist behind the disastrous Newsnight programme implicating Lord McAlpine with child sex abuse claims, has resigned from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

After rapid growth, ebook readers set for collapse with shipments plummeting 36% in 2012 — In 2011, dedicated ebook readers saw shipments of 23.2 million units, a number that now appears to have been the peak of the ebook reader market. By the end of 2012, sales are expected to fall a whopping 36 percent to 14.9 million units.

Associated Press:

Committee To Protect Journalists: A Record 232 Reporters Jailed Worldwide — NEW YORK (AP) — The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report Tuesday that a record-number 232 journalists are imprisoned worldwide and that Turkey has the highest number with 49 journalists behind bars.

Discussion: Guardian and CNN