Mediagazer: Why Al Jazeera buying Current is a good thing for media, country (David Zurawik/Baltimore Sun)

5:45 PM ET, January 4, 2013

Top News:

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Gore Went to Bat for Al Jazeera, and Himself — Al Gore at the Current TV studios in San Francisco in 2005. He said Al Jazeera's coverage was “thorough, fair and informative.” — Al Gore's Current TV was never popular with viewers, but it was a hit where it counted: with cable and satellite providers.

Discussion: Mediaite, MediaShift, @ggreenwald, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Erik Wemple, Business Insider, TVNewser, Kirk LaPointe's … and Politico

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

The Real Problem With Al Gore's $100 Million Payday From Selling Current To Al Jazeera — All sorts of people are hurling all sorts of criticisms at former Vice President Al Gore over the $500 million sale of his Current TV network to Al Jazeera. Gore is helping a foreign government spread propaganda in the U.S.!

Discussion: The TV Guy and The Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Al Jazeera Embraces Cable TV, Loses Web — Al Jazeera used the Web to build a following in America, which it hopes to exploit on cable television through Wednesday's purchase of Current TV. But to keep cable operators happy, Al Jazeera may have to make a difficult bargain: Giving up on the Web.

Discussion: MarketingVox News & Trends, Los Angeles Times and GigaOM

New York Times:

Al Jazeera in America — Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news network, has long wanted to gain a bigger American television audience, and it may have finally found a way to do that by buying Current TV. But as the deal was being signed, Time Warner Cable announced it would immediately stop carrying Current …

Discussion: Mediaite, CNN, Cision, The New Republic, The Raw Story, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times

David Zurawik / Baltimore Sun:
Why Al Jazeera buying Current is a good thing for media, country

Discussion: Capital New York, TVNewser and The Daily Beast

CEPR: Are Current TV's Slots on Cable Distribution Worth $500 Million?

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:
Why is the ‘Times’ editorial board making a cause out of Al Jazeera?

Discussion: Media Decoder and The Daily Caller

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Why Al Jazeera's Cable Move Could Cost Much More Than $500 Million

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:
Cybersquatters Hop On AlJazeeraAmerica.com

Discussion: Politico, Quartz and FishbowlNY

Reuters:
Al Jazeera's new channel struggles for U.S. distribution

Discussion: Felix Salmon, SNL Financial and PandoDaily

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Questions Linger for Hosts After Sale of Current TV

Discussion: Media Decoder

David Carr / Media Decoder:

New York Observer Hits Reset Again, Names Ken Kurson New Editor — It will come as something short of a surprise to those who follow the Manhattan media scene that The New York Observer has picked a new editor. After all, the newspaper has already had five editors in the seven years since Jared Kushner …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, @tomscocca, New York Magazine, @espiers, @koblin, @espiers, @weareyourfek, @ledbetreuters, @johnjcook, @felixsalmon and @weareyourfek

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Former ‘Observer’ editor Aaron Gell, surprised by news of his replacement, still deciding whether to stay on as No. 2 — There was one unanswered question in today's news that Ken Kurson has replaced Aaron Gell as editor-in-chief of The New York Observer: Whether or not Gell will remain at the paper as “executive editor.”

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: New ‘Observer’ editor Ken Kurson is a media veteran with family ties and, possibly, an abstemious hand

David Carr / Media Decoder:

Andrew Sullivan on Going Back to Future as an Indie Blogger — On Wednesday, Andrew Sullivan, one of the pioneers of the blogging Web, decided to end his relationship with The Daily Beast, and by the way, with advertising as well. His decision made quite a splash, in part because others wonder whether …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CJR, The Daily Dish, Mashable!, The New York Observer, Pressthink, 24/7 Wall St. and Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog

Jack Shafer:
The Andrew Sullivan traveling blog show

Discussion: The Daily Dish and The Atlantic Online

Tom Gara / Corporate Intelligence:

Inside BuzzFeed's Old Media Business Model — After BuzzFeed's announcement of a new $19 million round of venture funding yesterday, we had a chat with Jonah Peretti, the company's co-founder. He was pretty tight-lipped about the numbers - what the company is worth, or how much revenue it's pulling in …

Discussion: Quartz, Guardian, Business Insider and Digiday

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Why Tumblr and BuzzFeed are on a collision course in 2013 — The decline and fall of traditional media empires is one side of the ongoing turmoil within the industry, but the other side is the rise of disruptive new players, and two of the most prominent names in that category are BuzzFeed and Tumblr.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Bloomberg, Fortune, Hollywood Reporter, AdAge, Adweek, BuzzFeed and Forbes

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Hulu CEO is leaving as company wrestles with future — It's finally happened. Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced today that he will be walking away from the video site by the end of this quarter. SVP and Chief Technology Officer Rich Tom will be heading out the door with him.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Bloomberg, AllThingsD, Fast Company, Deadline.com, TechCrunch, The Wrap and CNET

Anna Heim / The Next Web:
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and CTO Rich Tom to leave company in Q1

Discussion: Hulu Blog, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, @jbflint, @danprimack, @antderosa, The Verge, @antderosa, @sdkstl and @pkafka

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Press Gazette axes quarterly magazine for online-only edition — Editor of trade title for journalists said company plans to focus resources on weekly digital edition, iPhone app and website — Press Gazette is to become online only after 44 years as the print trade title for UK journalists.

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, Jon Slattery and NetNewsCheck Latest

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Bloomberg uncertain about paper's gun map — New York City Mayor and gun-control advocate Michael Bloomberg today voiced uncertainty about a local newspaper's decision to publish the names and addresses of area residents with gun permits. — “It is public information, the public owns that data …

Discussion: Techdirt

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Rockland County Sheriff: Keep gun permits from media

Discussion: Poynter, Business Insider and Gothamist

Associated Press:

China says New York Times reporter was not expelled, says his visa application was incomplete — BEIJING — The Chinese government said Friday that it did not expel a New York Times reporter who had to leave mainland China this week after he failed to obtain new press credentials.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, mediabistro.com and New York Times

Associated Press: Journalists confront China censors over editorial

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Washington Times lays off staff — The Washington Times has just laid off newsroom staffers in a move that's been in the works for weeks. New top editor David Jackson and new Times CEO Larry Beasley broke the news at a meeting of approximately 20 employees, according to one person who attended.

Discussion: Poynter and @d1scourse