Mediagazer: Journalist held in Syria faces execution by her kidnappers (Roy Greenslade/Guardian)

9:05 AM ET, December 12, 2012

Top News:

The minister and a warning to The Telegraph before expenses story — Maria Miller's advisers warned The Telegraph to consider the minister's role in implementing the Leveson Report before this newspaper published details of her expenses. — Maria Miller — The Culture Secretary's special adviser …

Discussion: Guardian, Guest blog, Mirror.co.uk, Sky News, New Statesman, Hacking inquiry, HoldTheFrontPage, @dansabbagh and Spectator

Fraser Nelson / Spectator:

Maria Miller's adviser reminds us why politicians can't be trusted with press regulation — An email from an Asian friend last night pointed me to a piece in the Telegraph saying: 'This is the kind of thing they do in Singapore! I'm amazed it's happening in Britain.' She was referring to Maria Miller …

Discussion: Guardian

Ned Simons / Huffington Post UK:

Maria Miller's Office Accused Of Using Leveson Role To Try And Suppress Expenses Story — The Daily Telegraph has taken the unusual step of publishing details of a conversation between one of its reporters and a ministerial adviser in an attempt to highlight what it believes would be the dangers …

Nick Cohen / Spectator:

Lord Justice Leveson and the baby killers — I have worried about Hugh Grant's understanding of power ever since he started bringing up baby. I first saw him reach for the innocent child at one of the party conferences, where he was on stage arguing for statutory control of the press.

Libby Wiener / ITV News:

PM backs Culture Secretary over ‘threats’ to newspaper — The Prime Minister has confidence in his Culture Secretary Maria Miller, his spokesman insisted today. — It follows claims that her special adviser Joanna Hindley threatened the Daily Telegraph over a story about Mrs Miller's expenses.

Discussion: Guido Fawkes

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

Reuters: Owners of Southern California dailies eye Tribune papers-sources

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Journalist held in Syria faces execution by her kidnappers — The captors of a journalist in Syria are threatening to execute her tomorrow (13 December) unless their demands for a $50m ransom are met. — Anhar Kochneva, a reporter with Russian and Ukrainian dual nationality …

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

Felix Salmon:

Why we won't have tablet-native journalism — Last week, when the Daily died, I declared that the reason, in part, was that tablet-native journalism was impossible. And I got a lot of rather vehement pushback, including some smart commentary from John Gruber, taking the other side of the argument.

Discussion: PandoDaily

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.

Discussion: Poynter, PandoDaily, GigaOM, @jayrosen_nyu, HyperVocal and The Oatmeal

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Leveson warns journalistic standards could slip if bloggers not subject to law — Leveson warns journalists might adopt unethical practices in face of competition from internet without level playing field in law — Lord Justice Leveson has warned that unless criminal and civil law is enforced …

Discussion: PressGazette and Guy Fawkes' blog

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Is it marketing or is it journalism? The case of Tumblr's ‘Storyboard’ — At a panel discussion in San Francisco this past September—"Is Tumblr the new Time Inc.?" was the typically provocative title—Jessica Bennett and Allie Townsend, editors at Tumblr and Facebook, respectively …

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Vox Media says the Verge is “very profitable” after one year — In late 2011, The Verge arrived on the media scene with grand plans to redefine tech news. Parent company Vox Media made an expensive bet on brand-name writers and bespoke publishing tools. — In the month of October …

Discussion: VentureBeat