Mediagazer: Current TV Sold To Al Jazeera; Possible $400 Million Deal For Al Gore and Co. [UPDATED] (Jeff Bercovici/Forbes)

10:40 PM ET, January 2, 2013

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed — 9:16 p.m. | Updated Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister. — It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Current TV Sold To Al Jazeera; Possible $400 Million Deal For Al Gore and Co. [UPDATED] — Al Gore and his Current TV colleagues. (Image credit: via @daylife) — It looks as if Current TV will soon be a thing of the past. Al Jazeera, the Doha, Qatar-based news broadcaster …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Digital Spy, Cable Television News and Broadcasting & Cable

David Lieberman / Deadline.com: Al Jazeera Buys Current TV, But It Won't Be On Time Warner Cable

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 — Andrew Sullivan has spent the past few weeks leading a debate at his immensely popular politics-and-other-stuff blog The Dish over whether readers will pay for content. Now we see why: Sullivan announced Wednesday …

Discussion: Speakeasy and The Wrap

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

Discussion: The Verge and The Daily Dish

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

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, @carr2n and Opinionator

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.

Discussion: Politico and Gothamist

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.

Discussion: The Wrap

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, The Atlantic Online and PandoDaily

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

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, Politico, Politicker, TechCrunch, Daily Mail and Gawker

Steve Friess / Politico:

C-SPAN apologizes for racy show titles — C-SPAN apologized Wednesday for a bizarre scheduling snafu that resulted in its online feed being topped with the title “Just Plain Dick” during the Senate's fiscal cliff debate on New Year's Eve. — “You may have seen tweets and postings online asserting …

Discussion: C-SPAN Video Library, Hollywood Reporter and Mediaite