Mediagazer: The newsonomics of college news innovation (Ken Doctor/Nieman Journalism Lab)

4:15 PM ET, December 16, 2012

Top News:

A Local Crisis Meets The Global Social Web — A crisis unfolds in a small town. A shooting rampage at an elementary school — children and teachers have been killed — ends with the alleged shooter dead on the scene. A law enforcement official names the alleged shooter in the Sandy Hook shooting …

Discussion: @glennf, @jaredbkeller, @max_read, @julesdwit, @buzzfeedben, Mother Jones and Poynter

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

It's not Twitter — this is just the way the news works now — If it seems like just yesterday that we were talking about how error-prone Twitter and other social-media outlets were during a crisis, that's because it was almost yesterday — Hurricane Sandy, the last event to really stress-test …

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Metropolis and MiamiHerald.com

Julie Moos / Poynter:

How The Newtown Bee is covering Sandy Hook Elementary shooting — Newtown Bee Associate Editor Shannon Hicks was at the newspaper's offices about a mile and a quarter from Sandy Hook Elementary when she heard about a possible shooting at the school, said John Voket, also an associate editor at the paper.

Discussion: NY Daily News, Speakeasy, New Yorker, Mediaite, Online NewsHour, @brianstelter, Associated Press and The Rural Blog

Matt Bors:

I am Facebook Friends With Ryan Lanza, Which Became A Problem — I woke up late Friday morning and posted my latest comic before realizing no one would be talking about it or any other issue that day except the latest massacre unfolding before our eyes - this time involving children. Not “this time.”

Discussion: GigaOM and Poynter

Will Oremus / Slate:

Building a Better Truth Machine — Emergency workers stand in front of the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn. — When something momentous is unfolding—the Arab Spring, Hurricane Sandy, Friday's horrific elementary school shooting in Connecticut—Twitter is the world's fastest …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
How can we explain shootings if we don't report on mental illness?

Discussion: @sesmithwrites

Jack Shafer:

The best of the year in review! — From their lazy fingers to your scratchy eyeballs, journalists are now transmitting their “year in review” articles and “best of 2012″ lists if, unlike the New York Times Book Review, they haven't already published their lists of 100 notable books or their 10 best round-up.

Discussion: TheMediaBriefing and The New Republic

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of college news innovation — On May 29, the news of the death of daily newsprint swept two ends of the country. — In New Orleans, the rumors were verified: The Times-Picayune would be going to three days a week of printing. In Eugene, Oregon, one of the country's oldest college papers …

Patrick B. Pexton / Washington Post:

Will washingtonpost.com cost you money? — The Post is closer to charging you for online news than it was only nine months ago, when I last wrote about this subject. But the decision is not final. — Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 6 that The Post …

Discussion: @rajunarisetti

Derek Thompson / Quartz:

Young mobile news readers still prefer stories the way their great-great-grandparents did: In columns of text — In the eyes of employers, marketers, and brand gurus, Generation Y tends to be treated like a separate species, forged in the primordial stew of Internet, whose habits …

Discussion: TheMediaBriefing

Amanda Zamora / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Crowdsourcing campaign spending: What ProPublica learned from Free the Files — Editor's note: Back in September, we told you about Free the Files, a project from ProPublica that tried to harness the energies of the crowd to sift through (virtual) stacks of documents regarding political ad spending at local television stations.

Tanzina Vega / Media Decoder:

ESPN to Use Twitter to Send Instant Replays of College Football — For the holidays this year, college football fans are getting the gift of portable instant replay. — Starting Saturday, in time for bowl season, Twitter in partnership with ESPN and Ford will provide embedded replays from football games in posts sent via Twitter.

Discussion: CNET, TechCrunch and Adweek

Curtis Brainard / CJR:

Flight of the bloggers — Despite recent departures, Discover is rebuilding fast — Amidst a move from New York to Wisconsin, Discover magazine has lost some of its most popular science bloggers in recent weeks, but the publisher says that the outlet is as committed to its brand as ever.