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

2:30 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: The Wrap, paidContent and The Wrap

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

Discussion: Media Decoder

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

Discussion: Deadline.com and Asiaone

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, The Next Web and CNET

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: Matters of Varying …

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

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlNY, Gawker and New York Times

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, CyberJournalist.net and @zimbalist

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, Capital New York, Guardian, Mediaite, Erik Wemple, Speakeasy, AdAge, VentureBeat, The New York Observer, Politico, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, msnbc.com and BuzzFeed

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

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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.

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

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.

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: Mashable!

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 phone hacking by the News of the World.

Discussion: Associated Press and BBC

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, Business Insider, The Content Strategist, VentureBeat and NetNewsCheck Latest

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, Wall Street Journal, The Verge and SocialTimes

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, TVNewser, TVbytheNumbers, Softpedia News and The Wrap