Mediagazer: Macmillan CEO: No, we won't settle with the DOJ in the ebooks case (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

7:10 AM ET, December 20, 2012

Top News:

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

At News Conference, Reporters Skip Past Gun Control and Face Instant Criticism — The harshest judges of those in news media are often others in the news media, and, with the benefit of Twitter, that intrajournalistic watchdog role can be performed simultaneously with the journalism being criticized.

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

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Paywalls Don't Bump Ad Prices — The bet on paywalls, meters and other methods of charging for access to digital content is that the revenue generated directly from consumers will outpace an expected decrease in ad revenue. — The other assumption is that a publisher's paying audience …

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

New York Times tells us to take down screenshot of its interactive graphic (that we praised) — 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. It appears in a Quartz post …

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

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

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 …

Christopher Zara / International Business Times:

Is Time Magazine's Person Of The Year Still Relevant? — When Time magazine named Charles Lindbergh its first Man of the Year in 1927, superlative journalism was still a fresh concept. The Oscars weren't born yet. And the notion of “Best Of” still promised to serve an untapped niche.

Discussion: Daily Download, App Advice and Adweek

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Pakistani teen blogger Malala Yousafzai is Time's runner-up for Person of the Year

Discussion: Gothamist, PolicyMic and TIME

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

Discussion: TIME, Mediaite, Globe and Mail, The Huffington Post, TUAW, Real-Time News from Birmingham, Mediaite and Capital New York

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 …

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 and TVSpy

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, Bookseller news, Wall Street Journal and PublishersWeekly.com

Bloomberg:

Watching Searches by Content Fleet Seen Saving Newspapers — Sixteen hours before Whitney Houston was pronounced dead on Feb. 11, a startup in Hamburg noticed a surge in Web traffic about the American singer after she had been seen drunk and arguing in a Hollywood club.

Thanks:@steverubel

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

Storify users posted 554,000 stories in 2012 which were viewed 367 million times — Today Storify released its end of the year statistics, noting in the process the most popular moments that were incorporated into its service. — The company stated that a total of 554,000 stories …

Katy Bachman / Adweek:

House Passes Video Sharing Bill — A bill that will allow consumers to share on social media what movies or TV shows they watched passed the House of Representatives Tuesday. — The bill amends the Video Privacy Protection Act to allow sharing as long as the companies obtain consent …

Discussion: Gawker, Hillicon Valley, TechCrunch and CNET

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Pollard report uncovers culture of distrust at BBC — Head of communications threatened to ‘drip poison’ about Meirion Jones over suspicions he was leaking information — The former head of communications for BBC News pledged to “drip poison” about Meirion Jones, the Newsnight producer …

Discussion: bbc.co.uk and Guardian

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

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

Discussion: Guardian

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Kodak Agrees To Sell Digital Imaging Patent Portfolio For $525M To Consortium Of 12 Licensees, Including Apple, Google, Facebook — Kodak has agreed to sell its digital imaging portfolio to a consortium of 12 licensees for $525 million, organized by patent-holding company Intellectual Ventures …

Discussion: Business Wire, Bloomberg, CNET, Softpedia News, Fast Company, VentureBeat and ZDNet

Alistair Barr / Reuters:

Owner of OpenTV slaps Netflix with patent lawsuit — (Reuters) - The owner of interactive television pioneer OpenTV sued Netflix Inc on Wednesday, alleging the company infringed on patents that cover technology underpinning the fast-growing Internet video sector.

Discussion: Stock market news, ZDNet, Cable Television News and The Next Web