Mediagazer: News Corp. Says Publishing Unit Lost Money (John Jannarone/Wall Street Journal)

4:20 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: Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine, Telegraph, Los Angeles Times, paidContent, Agence France Presse and Reuters

Mark Sweney / Guardian:
News Corp's head of demerged newspaper arm may take home £2.5m

Discussion: The Wrap, NetNewsCheck Latest and The Wrap

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
News Corp. Publishing Business Lost $2.1 Billion

Discussion: Media Decoder and bizjournals

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

Discussion: Deadline.com

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: Gawker, The Wrap, Fast Company, Guardian, Capital New York, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Mediaite, Erik Wemple, Speakeasy, The New York Observer, Washington Post, AdAge, VentureBeat, Politico, The Atlantic Wire, msnbc.com and BuzzFeed

Poynter:

Factcheck: NRA blames media for gun violence — At a Friday “press conference” (no questions were allowed), National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre provided the gun lobby's explanation for the shooting deaths of 28 people a week ago today in Newtown, Conn. Among LaPierre's culprits: the media.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Guardian, BuzzFeed, Mediaite and Slate

The Huffington Post:
Fox News Airs Partial Coverage Of NRA Press Conference

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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 …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, FishbowlNY, CNET, MacRumors, TUAW, The Next Web and Electronista

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

Discussion: Poynter, Matters of Varying … and Lean Back 2.0

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, @zimbalist and CyberJournalist.net

Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:

Hollywood's January Violence Spree: Half of Films Show Guns Amid NRA Criticism — The entertainment industry is bracing for an outcry about violence in movies following the Newtown, Conn., school shooting; the NRA is already blaming film, TV and video games for portraying life as a “joke.”

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times: Getting dialogue started on violence not easy, ex-CBS exec says

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 …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Guardian price to rise by 20p — Price of weekday and Saturday editions to rise by 20p, to £1.40 and £2.30 respectively, from 12 January — The Guardian is to raise the price of its weekday and Saturday editions by 20p, to £1.40 and £2.30 respectively, from 12 January.

The New York Observer:

Spin Stops Print Edition — Just in time for the holidays, Spin's printing presses have officially stopped spinning. The music magazine, which started way back in 1985, announced today that print edition is officially no more. — After the magazine was acquired by Buzzmedia in July …

Discussion: The Daily Swarm, FishbowlNY, Adweek and Mashable!

Jim Romenesko:

New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson: “My strategy is to protect our newsgathering muscles' — New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson told her staff at Thursday's “Grill Jill” session: — * “The size of our newsroom staff is about 1150 people, roughly the same size it was 10 years ago.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Corrects Cory Booker Article, But Stands By Story — NEW YORK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker took aim Monday at a recent front page New York Times article on his tenure as mayor, telling The Huffington Post that he'd “never seen an article so factually wrong and so willfully willing …

Guardian:

Hugh Grant settles News of the World phone hacking claim — Actor will donate the sustantial damages he received from News International to Hacked Off campaign for press reform — Hugh Grant has received substantial damages from News International after settling his claim for phone hacking by the News of the World.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Huffington Post and BBC

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Newsweek's farewell (print) issue: Jon Meacham, Mark Whitaker, Eleanor Clift, Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff — Newsweek has lined up an all-star roster for its last-ever print edition before switching to a digital-only format under the name Newsweek Global. — The double issue that goes …

Discussion: New York Post

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

TV Everywhere, for Real, for Now: NimbleTV Starts a New York Trial Run — “TV Everywhere” is supposed to let you watch whatever you want, wherever you want to watch it, on any device you want — as long as you pay for TV. — But the cable guys have been working at this for more than three years, and they still can't really deliver.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, NetNewsCheck Latest and TechCrunch

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: Wall Street Journal, The Verge, SocialTimes and Betabeat