Mediagazer: Nielsen Buys Arbitron, Radio Ratings Service, In $1.3 Billion Deal (Jeff Bercovici/Forbes)

3:25 PM ET, December 18, 2012

Top News:

Mike Brunker / NBC News:

Richard Engel and NBC News team freed from captors in Syria — Richard Engel at the end of a reporting trip in Syria in July of this year. — NBC News' Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and members of his network production team were freed from captors in Syria after a firefight …

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
How NBC News Kept Richard Engel's Disappearance Secret

Discussion: Boing Boing, Chickaboomer, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Minnesota Public Radio

Rhonda Roland Shearer / iMediaEthics:

CJR Reporter Lying, Exploiting a Source? What's happening at Columbia Journalism Review? — Bruce Porter, a retired Columbia University journalism professor and the author of the book-turned-movie Blow, decided in 2011 that he would find Marcy, the then-teen source he betrayed …

Discussion: @craigsilverman

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer: Trouble at The Columbia Journalism Review?

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Reports of Fox News Barring Discussions of Gun Control Are Premature — “It is too soon to talk the politics of gun control,” executive producer for weekends David Clark writes in an email that insiders say has been taken wildly out of context. — Much was being made online on Monday …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Rupert Murdoch Wants Stricter Gun Laws After Newtown, But Fox News Doesn't Get the Memo

Discussion: Mediaite, The Wrap, TVNewser, Business Insider, NY Daily News, FishbowlNY, CNN, The Huffington Post, Inside Cable News and Sydney Morning Herald

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

BBC to publish findings on Newsnight's Jimmy Savile report on Wednesday — Corporation readies Pollard report into handling of Newsnight investigation into child abuse by Jim'll Fix It presenter — The BBC is planning to publish on Wednesday the much-anticipated Pollard report into the handling …

Discussion: Digital Spy

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
BBC and ITV apologise to Lord McAlpine for sex abuse allegations

Discussion: PressGazette

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

Vice Purchases i-D, the British Style Magazine — Vice, the multimedia company known for its in-your-face journalistic style, is expanding into fashion coverage by buying the British style publication i-D magazine. — Vice executives said that fashion was a topic that complemented their existing coverage …

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, Guardian and The Next Web

Adrienne LaFrance / Denver Post:

Newtown to the media: You're making this nightmare worse — NEWTOWN - “Enough is enough.” That's how one local woman summed up the weird and terrible media spectacle that has overtaken her once sleepy hometown. — As Newtowners gathered in shock to comfort one another after a 20-year-old resident went …

Discussion: Poynter and Washington Post

Jim Romenesko:

From 1694: ‘News too extraordinary to be believed without farther confirmation’ — From JASON FEIFER: I've been poking around NewspaperArchive.com recently, and just came across this great nugget from a 1694 dispatch called Account Of The Publick Tranasctions in Christendom. — Feifer

Jack Shafer:
Newtown teaches us, once again, to discount early reports

Discussion: The Daily Caller and BuzzFeed

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Errors in Newtown Shootings Coverage Reflect Growing Pressures

Discussion: Yahoo! News, mediabistro.com, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, Erik Wemple, Forbes, NPR, New York Times, ZDNet, Softpedia News and Tampa Bay Times

Jim Romenesko:

Robin Fields and Eric Umansky Promoted at ProPublica — Robin Fields has been promoted to managing editor at ProPublica, succeeding Stephen Engelberg, who becomes editor-in-chief. He replaces Paul Steiger, who becomes executive chairman. — Umansky and Fields

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Nielsen Buys Arbitron, Radio Ratings Service, In $1.3 Billion Deal — The digital revolution is blurring the lines between different mediums to the point that having one company that monitors TV viewership and another that measures radio audiences doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Discussion: MediaPost, Forbes, AdAge, NetNewsCheck Latest, AllThingsD, Worldwide, bizjournals, Cable Television News, Radio & Television … and PandoDaily

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

New Leader for Pearson Unit That Includes Financial Times — John Ridding will take over as chief executive of the FT Group, a subsidiary of Pearson that includes The Financial Times and half of The Economist, the company said Tuesday. Mr. Ridding, who has served as chief executive …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

N.Y. Times getting another price hike — The New York Times subscription rate will increase again next month, a spokesperson at the paper tells POLITICO. — As of January 2013, an annual subscription to the Grey Lady will cost $660.40 a year ($12.70 a week) in the greater New York City area and $837.20 …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Reuters:

Three former TheStreet execs settle false reporting claims — Three former executives of the TheStreet Inc have agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $375,000 to settle accounting fraud allegations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Forbes

Eileen Brown / ZDNet:

So Instagram can now sell your photos: Get over it — Summary: The Instagram community is complaining about the change to its terms and conditions which allows Instagram to generate revenue from your photos — without compensating you. — Eileen Brown — Instagram made a change …

Discussion: CNET, AllThingsD, BBC, Speakeasy, Guardian, Guardian, TechCrunch, Softpedia News and Digits

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Helps Bring More Ancient Texts Online: Books Of Deuteronomy, Genesis And Others Offered In New Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library — Continuing its work to help scan and preserve ancient texts, this morning, Google announced that it has been working with the Israel Antiquities Authority …

Discussion: mediabistro.com, The Paris Review, ArtsBeat, CNET and The Official Google Blog

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Fox's bloody t-shirt: Newtown images shows risks of automated advertising — Newspapers are careful about where their ads appear. They make sure, for instance, that flight specials don't appear beside plane crash articles or that Taco Bell coupons aren't printed beside food-poisoning stories.