Mediagazer: Hollywood keeps its tax break in ‘fiscal cliff’ deal (Richard Verrier/Los Angeles Times)

6:40 PM ET, January 2, 2013

Top News:

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

New Year, New Dish, New Media — When I first stumbled into blogging over 12 years ago, it was for two reasons: curiosity and freedom. I was curious about the potential for writing in this new medium; and for the first time, I felt total freedom as a writer. On my little blog, I was beholden to no one but my readers.

Felix Salmon:

Andrew Sullivan goes it alone — The big media news of the day is that Andrew Sullivan is taking his team, going independent, and running the Daily Dish as a standalone business. It's a risky move, but it's not that risky. And I like the direction he's moving in, for a number of reasons.

Discussion: WE ARE YOUR FEK

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Andrew Sullivan breaks from the Daily Beast; new Dish to charge $19.99/year

Discussion: Speakeasy, The Wrap and The Daily Dish

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
Andrew Sullivan Declares Independence, Leaves The Beast

Discussion: Mashable!

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Al Jazeera Is Said to Be Acquiring Current TV — Updated Al Jazeera is putting the final touches on a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore and his business partners seven years ago. — If the deal is completed, Current will provide …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Forbes, TechCrunch, Cable Television News, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, The Wrap, The Verge, @rafat, @jeremyscahill, @ase, @rafat, @johnjcook and The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Why Gawker honored news blackout for James Foley but not Richard Engel — Gawker reporter Adrian Chen found out in December that journalist James Foley was missing in Syria but didn't report on his disappearance “at the request of Foley's family and the GlobalPost,” he writes.

Discussion: The Daily Beast

AFP:

US journalist, AFP contributor, kidnapped in Syria — A freelance American reporter who contributed videos to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in recent months was kidnapped in war-torn Syria six weeks ago and has been missing since, his family revealed on Wednesday.

Discussion: UPI, Guardian, Gawker, Reuters, Big News Network.com and Capital New York

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Journalism Is Not Narcissism — Every year, thousands of fresh-faced young aspiring journalists flood our nation's college classrooms, in order to learn how to practice their craft. What should we tell them? This, first: journalism is not about you. — Susan Shapiro, an author …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Opinionator and @carr2n

Reuters:

NY Times loses bid to uncover details on drone strikes — (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected The New York Times' bid to force the U.S. government to disclose more information about its targeted killing of people, including American citizens, who it believes have ties to terrorism.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Hearst: “Nearly 800,000″ monthly digital U.S. subs, short of 1 million goal — In a New Year's letter to employees, Hearst Magazines president David Carey writes that the company has nearly 800,000 monthly digital subscribers in the U.S. “across iPads, Nooks, Kindle Fires and Android devices-the highest in the industry.”

Discussion: mediabistro.com, MinOnline, Adweek and FishbowlNY

Jim Romenesko:
Hearst Magazines digital subscriptions now generating profits

Discussion: @maryfitzger

Source:

How We Made Snow Fall — A Q&A with the New York Times team — A Q&A with the New York Times team — The New York Times' astonishing Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, launched in the final days of 2012, capped a year of extraordinary work in interactive journalism, both at the Times and in newsrooms around the world.

Discussion: Gizmodo and The Atlantic Online

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Culture Editor Jonathan Landman to leave NYT — Culture Editor Jonathan Landman tells coworkers in an email that he's leaving the paper: … Landman was named culture editor in 2009 after running the Times' online operation. Reached by email, Landman said he couldn't say what he's doing next.

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Newspaper can't have more gun permit data, county says, after publishing names, addresses outraged community — Community anger over its decision to publish the names and addresses of gun owners in two New York counties did not deter The Journal News from plans to publish the same information for a third county.

Discussion: New York Times, TechCrunch, Politico, Daily Mail, Erik Wemple and Gawker

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

Washington Times to become ‘digital-first’ — The Washington Times' executive editor David Jackson on Wednesday laid out his plans to improve the conservative paper's digital presence in 2013. — Jackson wrote in his “vision statement” that the paper will continue to print five days a week …