Mediagazer: The Tip of the Spear — “Hot, blinding klieg lights were aimed … (Joel Sappell/Los Angeles Magazine)

7:35 PM ET, December 19, 2012

Top News:

Pollard inquiry: BBC ‘incapable’ of dealing with Jimmy Savile affair — • Newsnight editor Peter Rippon, his deputy Liz Gibbons and 5 Live boss Adrian Van Klaveren to move to new BBC jobs — • Deputy director of news Stephen Mitchell retires amid criticism and is to leave BBC after 38 years

Discussion: bbc.co.uk, AdAge, @joshhalliday, @breakingnewsuk, Telegraph, @gordonrayner, @gordonrayner, Telegraph, @journalismnews, Telegraph, Journalism.co.uk, NetNewsCheck Latest and Kirk LaPointe's …

New York Times: BBC Inquiry Blames Rigid Management for Mishandling Sex Abuse Scandal

Josh Halliday / Guardian: Pollard report uncovers culture of distrust at BBC

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
NYT CEO Thompson spared in BBC inquiry

Discussion: Guardian

Adam Sherwin / The Independent:
Pollard report: Former BBC Director-General George Entwistle ignored warnings of Jimmy Savile's ‘dark side’

Discussion: Guardian, Guardian, @skynewsbreak and @dansabbagh

Guido Fawkes: Full Tim Davie Email to BBC Staff

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

New York Times tells us to take down screenshot of its interactive graphic (that we praised) — Updated at 12:22 p.m. ET with latest Times statement. — The New York Times Co. has demanded that we take down a screenshot of an interactive graphic that the Times produced for the recent US presidential election.

Discussion: Techdirt, JIMROMENESKO.COM, NetNewsCheck Latest, @smalera, @pkafka, @digiphile, @jbenton and @jackshafer

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter: NYT says it was ‘simply asking for proper attribution’ from Quartz

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Pakistani teen blogger Malala Yousafzai is Time's runner-up for Person of the Year — The Taliban “wanted to silence” Malala Yousafzai when they shot her and several classmates on Oct. 9, Aryn Baker writes. “Instead, they amplified her voice.” — The Pakistani teenager was targeted …

Discussion: TIME, PolicyMic and Gothamist

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
President Barack Obama Is Time's Person of the Year, By Default

Discussion: TIME, TIME, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Globe and Mail, LightBox, PolicyMic and Capital New York

Christopher Zara / International Business Times:
Is Time Magazine's Person Of The Year Still Relevant?

Discussion: Daily Download, Fortune and ComPost

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

At News Conference, Reporters Skip Past Gun Control and Face Instant Criticism — President Obama, joined by the vice president, spoke with reporters on Wednesday afternoon. — 3:34 p.m. | Updated The harshest judges of those in news media are often others in the news media, and …

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Lynn Sweet, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast

New York Times:

Newtown Massacre Changes Plans at Movie and TV Studios — LOS ANGELES — When news broke about the massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, the USA cable channel jumped into action. Using key words like “shooting,” “school” and “children,” executives reviewed scripts and identified problematic episodes …

Discussion: The Week

Ben Walsh / MediaFile:

In a crisis, Twitter morphs into cable news — Twitter calls itself a “real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting.” That network is defined by its personalization: The person who assembles her feed is the person who reads it.

Joel Sappell / Los Angeles Magazine:

The Tip of the Spear — “Hot, blinding klieg lights were aimed at our faces, as were an array of video cameras, in violation of our negotiated agreement that allowed for only one. Our hearts racing, we walked out.” — In the mid-1980s, journalist Joel Sappell and a colleague began …

Discussion: LA Observed

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Macmillan CEO: No, we won't settle with the DOJ in the ebooks case — Macmillan CEO John Sargent sent a letter to authors and agents on Wednesday afternoon, saying that the publisher does not plan to follow Penguin's lead and settle with the Department of Justice in the ebooks lawsuit.

Discussion: Tor.com Frontpage Partial, PublishersWeekly.com, GalleyCat, AllThingsD and digitaltrends.com

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Final NBC News Crew Member Escapes Syria — The final member of the NBC News production team that had been kidnapped in Syria has escaped the country, NBC News says. In the firefight that resulted in NBC News correspondent Richard Engel and his team being freed, technician Ian Rivers was separated from his colleagues.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and FishbowlDC

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Reuters Creates Integrated Business Unit — Reuters is forming a new business unit which is essentially a combining of existing editorial and news-centric sales and marketing operations. — As part of the shift, Stephen Adler, editor-in-chief of Reuters, will run the business unit and add “president” to his role.

Discussion: @mathewi, SocialTimes, TVSpy and TVNewser

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

DuPont awards bring focus to dangers of reporting from war-torn Syria — Two reported series about the war in Syria will receive Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards during a ceremony at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library next month. — CBS News is the winner of a 2013 duPont Award …

Discussion: Columbia News, NetNewsCheck Latest, TVNewser and Broadcasting & Cable

Ken Layne / The Awl:

Are Newspaper People Really Still Wondering If Journalism Can Exist Without Newsprint? — Decades of often awkward interaction with America's “print media” professionals has proven (to me) that writers who talk about their medium are bores, and also bad writers.

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Montreal students take credit for fake viral video of baby-snatching eagle — Since being uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, this incredible video of an eagle swooping down and snatching a toddler with its talons from a Montreal park has been watched more than 1.2 million times.

Discussion: Blogue Centre NAD, Gawker, Drew Curtis' FARK.com, BuzzFeed and ABCNEWS