Mediagazer: Syrian Television Journalist Announces Defection (The Lede)

12:40 PM ET, December 21, 2012

Top News:

News Corp. Says Publishing Unit Lost Money — News Corp . said the publishing company it plans to spin off incurred losses last fiscal year and in the most recent quarter. — The media conglomerate, which plans to separate its entertainment businesses from its publishing businesses …

Discussion: Reuters

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

News Corp's head of demerged newspaper arm may take home £2.5m — • Robert Thomson will also receive £1.2m bonus as company hives off publishing division from TV and film business — • If ‘new News Corporation’ was running as standalone entity it would have reported net loss of £2.07bn in year to 30 June

Discussion: mediabistro.com, The Wrap and paidContent

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Wall Street Journal Signs Up For Apple's Subscription Service — It took a while, but they're in: The Wall Street Journal is now selling digital subscriptions via Apple's “Newsstand” service. — That means Dow Jones' business newspaper has joined thousands of other magazines and newspapers …

Sayantani Ghosh / Reuters:
News Corp files with U.S. regulators to split company

Discussion: Deadline.com and Asiaone

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Gerard Baker lines up his new masthead at ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ names Murray, Blumenstein deputies

Discussion: CNET, NetNewsCheck Latest, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Forbes and FishbowlNY

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

‘Snow Fall’ Isn't the Future of Journalism — The New York Times' miraculous mega-multi-media feature “Snow Fall” is a triumph of reporting, design, and creativity. It was immediately hailed by much of the Internet as the “future of journalism.” It's not. And that's okay.

Discussion: PandoDaily and NetNewsCheck Latest

Rebecca Greenfield / New York Times:

What the New York Times's ‘Snow Fall’ Means to Online Journalism's Future — The New York Times debuted a new multimedia feature Thursday so beautiful it has a lot of people wondering — especially those inside the New York Times — if the mainstream media is about to forgo words and pictures for a whole lot more.

Discussion: Matters of Varying …

Emma Gardner / Lean Back 2.0:
The New York Times pushes the limits of online storytelling

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, New York Times and Gawker

Erik Wemple:

NRA boss blames media — In a news conference still in progress, National Rifle Association Chief Executive and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is shredding the media. Speaking to a crowded room of reporters and cameras, LaPierre referenced the killer in the Newtown shootings in Connecticut …

Discussion: The Wrap, The New York Observer, Politico, Mediaite and Gawker

The Huffington Post:

Fox News Airs Partial Coverage Of NRA Press Conference — Unlike its fellow cable news networks, Fox News aired the most of the highly anticipated NRA press conference that took place one week after the tragic Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, Conn. Both MSNBC and CNN aired the NRA press conference in its entirety.

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg Tech Blog:

The New York Times Paywall Is Working Better Than Anyone Had Guessed — The New York Times instituted a paywall on its website last year, a controversial move that has yielded great results. — Ever since the New York Times rolled out its so-called paywall in March 2011, a perennial dispute has waged.

Discussion: paidContent and @zimbalist

Wall Street Journal:

Hulu's Fork in the Road — As Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. battle it out for dominance in online video, owners of the much smaller Hulu LLC, Hollywood's own online video service, are under pressure to decide which direction to go. — Jason Kilar, chief executive of Hulu …

Discussion: CNET, Los Angeles Times, The Content Strategist, Business Insider, VentureBeat and NetNewsCheck Latest

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Michael Kinsley Returns To The New Republic As Editor-At-Large — NEW YORK — Michael Kinsley, who edited The New Republic for 20 years, is returning to the magazine in January as editor-at-large. Kinsley's return comes as the nearly 100-year-old politics and culture magazine relaunches …

Manuela D'Alessandro / Reuters:

Google executives acquitted in Milan autism video case — (Reuters) - An Italy appeals court acquitted three Google executives of charges of having violated the privacy of an Italian boy with autism by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on the site in 2006.

Discussion: Betabeat, SocialTimes, Wall Street Journal and The Verge

John Plunkett / Guardian:

BBC Daily and Sunday Politics editor tipped to run Newsnight — Robbie Gibb emerges as leading candidate to rejuvenate programme in wake of Jimmy Savile and McAlpine scandals — The editor of the BBC's Daily and Sunday Politics shows has emerged as the leading candidate to be the next editor of Newsnight.

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
BBC director of news returns with rallying memo to crisis-hit staff

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, The Huffington Post and Guardian

Erik Maza / WWD:

Wal-Mart Turns to Condé Nast for Beauty Magazine — Wal-Mart's BeautyScoop. — Photo By Courtesy of Wal-Mart Photo By Courtesy of Wal-Mart — Buried within Wal-Mart's Web site, beneath the red sales banners and loud holiday graphics, is a magazine called BeautyScoop.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

CNN, Planning New Programming, Hires Jake Tapper From ABC — 8:57 p.m. | Updated CNN said on Thursday that it had hired Jake Tapper, the senior White House correspondent for ABC News, as new programming for the cable news channel was announced. — Mr. Tapper, widely seen …

Discussion: mediabistro.com, TVWeek.com, Poynter, TVNewser, Politico, ABCNEWS, Chickaboomer, TVbytheNumbers, Softpedia News and The Wrap

Sven Grundberg / Wall Street Journal:

Spotify Rival Deezer Eyes U.S. — Online music streaming company Deezer stepped up pressure on its peers on Thursday with the launch of a free streaming service in more than 150 countries and said it is looking for a partner to enter the U.S. market. — The Paris-based company …

Discussion: CNET

The Lede:

Syrian Television Journalist Announces Defection — In a telephone interview shown on Thursday by the Saudi news channel Al Arabiya, a man who identified himself as Ahmad Fakhouri, a prominent Syrian state television anchor, announced his defection. — In the interview …

Discussion: TVNewser