Mediagazer: Does Fox Dream of an ESPN? (William Launder/Wall Street Journal)

10:30 AM ET, December 17, 2012

Top News:

Group Aims to Be a Conduit for WikiLeaks Donations — A group advocating a more transparent government has formed a nonprofit organization called the Freedom of the Press Foundation to serve as a conduit for donations to organizations like WikiLeaks. The goal is to insulate …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Freedom of the Press …, Forbes, The Verge, Boing Boing, @digiphile and @xeni

The Huffington Post:

Crowd Funding the Right to Know — “A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know.” — Judge Murray Gurfein, Pentagon Papers case …

Discussion: Boing Boing

New York Times:

Newtown has Mixed Feelings About the Media Horde in Its Midst — NEWTOWN, Conn. — Wolf Blitzer understands that his presence here is not appreciated by some local people, who wish that the TV satellite trucks, and the reporters who have taken over the local Starbucks would go away and leave them to ache, grieve and mourn in peace.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, danah boyd, mediabistro.com and Guardian

Matt Bors:
I am Facebook Friends With Ryan Lanza, Which Became A Problem

Discussion: GigaOM, The Age, Poynter, Washington Post, Poynter, BuzzFeed, GigaOM, @jaredbkeller and Poynter

Nat Ives / AdAge:

A Look at Newspapers Turning a Profit — Yes, There Are Some — and Those That Are Not — Speculation surged last week that Michael Bloomberg, New York's billionaire mayor and founder of Bloomberg LP, might buy The Financial Times, after The New York Times reported he'd been thinking about it.

Discussion: USA Today, Noted and @michaelroston

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Print in 2013: Newspapers cut costs and seek tablets of salvation — Alexander Lebedev needs an investor, there's a new boss at Pearson, and the regional press faces further advertising woe — With Rupert Murdoch set to spin off his newspapers, Alexander Lebedev on the hunt for an investor …

David Carr / New York Times:

Buffeted by the Web, but Now Riding It — When the consumer Web exploded in the mid-1990s, part of the promise was that it would transform careers and the concept of work. Remember the signs on telephone poles and banners all over the Internet? “Work at home and turn your computer into a cash register!

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:

Disruptions: Instagram Testimony Doesn't Add Up — SAN FRANCISCO — On a late August morning, Kevin Systrom, chief executive of Instagram, took an oath before testifying at a hearing of the California Corporations Department, which sought to determine if Facebook's acquisition …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Betabeat, DealBook, Softpedia News, The Verge, GigaOM, Business Insider and The Appside

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

85% of U.S. magazine and newspaper publishers have an iPad app, survey says — A large annual survey of magazine and newspaper publishers finds that 90 percent have some sort of mobile presence — whether it's on a tablet, smartphone or e-reader. And while less than a quarter (22 percent) …

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

Amazon inks exclusive Prime Instant Video deal with Turner and Warner for two TNT series — Less than a week after Amazon announced that its Prime Instant Video service was arriving for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, the Internet giant has revealed it has inked exclusive licensing deals …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

William Launder / Wall Street Journal:

Does Fox Dream of an ESPN? — Broadcaster Is Expected to Unveil Plans for Cable Sports Network in Early 2013 — Anyone wondering why News Corp .'s Fox has been negotiating so many sports deals in recent weeks, including a stake in the YES Network and a likely deal to renew TV rights …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Mobile's Rude Awakening — Mobile audiences are large and growing. Great. But their monetization is mostly a disaster. The situation will be slow to improve, but the potential is still there — if the right conditions are met. — This year, a major European newspaper expects …

Discussion: Guardian

Allison Goldstein / American Journalism Review:

Blogging about the Mob — A longtime organized crime reporter takes a buyout from the Philadelphia Inquirer and tries his hand at blogging for a new Web site that provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of big trials. A couple of big differences: no editing, and he doesn't have to resort to ‘expletive deleted.’ " Fri., December 14, 2012.