Mediagazer: Orange County Register Owner Aaron Kushner Defies Trend To Shrink Costs (Elliot Spagat/Associated Press)

11:45 AM ET, January 2, 2013

Top News:

2012: The year Irish newspapers tried to destroy the web — This is not a joke. I have started with that clarification, because as you read this you will find yourself asking “Is this some kind of a joke?” I thought I would be helpful and put the answer right up at the start, so you can refer back to it as often as you require.

Discussion: Media Nation, @georgeprof and Boing Boing

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: AdAge, FishbowlNY, mediabistro.com and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jim Romenesko:

Hearst Magazines digital subscriptions now generating profits — Hearst Magazines president David Carey says in his New Year's letter to employees that at year's end, the company had 800,000 monthly digital subscriptions in the U.S. — the highest in the industry.

Discussion: @maryfitzger

Myles Tanzer / Gawker:

The Newspaper That Published Personal Information of Local Gun Owners Now Has Armed Guards — The saga of the Journal News' decision to publish the names and addresses of gun owners in Rockland County now has another chapter. — Earlier this week, the competing Rockland Timeswent ahead …

Discussion: The Rockland County Times, Poynter, Mediaite, mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY, Daily Mail, NetNewsCheck Latest and Politico

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
‘Journal News’ advertisers face boycott over gun map

Discussion: @johnjcook, Gannett Blog and The Huffington Post

New York Times:

Times Reporter in China Is Forced to Leave Over Visa Issue — BEIJING — A correspondent for The New York Times was forced to leave mainland China on Monday after the authorities declined to issue him a visa for 2013 by year's end. — Chris Buckley, a 45-year-old Australian who has worked …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Epoch Times, Guardian and The Huffington Post

John Garnaut / Sydney Morning Herald:
China expels journalist after Wen revelations

Discussion: Guardian and Business Insider

Elliot Spagat / Associated Press:

Orange County Register Owner Aaron Kushner Defies Trend To Shrink Costs — SANTA ANA, Calif. — New and expanded sections to cover business, automobiles and food. A nearly five-fold increase in community news pages and more investigative reporting. Even daily color comics.

Discussion: Poynter

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: Guardian, UPI and Reuters

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.

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Apple's iBookstore Headed to Japan This Year — Apple is preparing to take a serious run at the Japanese e-book market. The company is negotiating deals with a handful of Japanese publishers to supply a local version of its iBookstore with their e-book catalogs.

Discussion: paidContent, The Verge, Bookseller news and App Advice

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Belgian media planning shared digital content passport — Fresh from apparently wrangling online content fees from Google last month, Belgian newspaper websites will, in 2013, launch an industry-wide platform to take back their readers. — Major Flemish- and French-language newspaper publishers …

Reuters:

Tribune, out of Chapter 11, set to begin makeover as TV company — (Reuters) - Tribune Co, which started by publishing the Chicago Tribune on a hand press in 1847, sees a future in broadcasting, one not likely to include the major newspapers that made it a force in the news business.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR and Associated Press

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
New Tribune Board to Include Peter Liguori, Other Entertainment Veterans

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and LA Observed

Bill Maurer / Seeking Alpha:

Netflix Gives Reed Hastings Huge Raise: Why? — After the bell on Friday, Netflix (NFLX) announced that it was giving CEO Reed Hastings a huge raise. Mr. Hastings will get a $2 million salary along with $2 million of compensation through stock options, the ultimate value of which depends on how Netflix's shares perform.

Associated Press: Netflix CEO pay: Hastings' gets 100 percent raise

Jon Evans / TechCrunch:

All Journalism Is Tech Journalism Now — I am about to commit an act of meta-journalism. I'm sorry. I hate meta-journalism. I unfollowed GigaOm's Mathew Ingram (a fine writer) on Twitter some time ago because I could not muster any more interest in articles about articles and blog posts about blogging.