Mediagazer: New York Observer Taps New Editor in Chief (Erik Maza/WWD)

1:20 PM ET, January 5, 2013

Top News:

Erik Maza / WWD:

New York Observer Taps New Editor in Chief — OBSERVING CHANGE: “Change is constant at the Observer.” That's how the editor in chief of the New York Observer, Aaron Gell, summed up his demotion during a 25-minute Friday afternoon staff meeting at the paper's West Side offices.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Kurson's ‘Observer’ meant to appeal to ‘Staten Island first responders, second-generation NYers in Forest Hills’ — “I hope I'm wrong, but the Observer as we know it died today.” — That's the reaction one New York Observer employee had on Friday afternoon to Ken Kurson's first meeting …

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

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

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

David Westin / The Huffington Post:

Consider the Source — Peter Jennings would have loved it. A former vice president is going into business with the Emir of Qatar to bring us a cable news channel focused on the Arab world. In one bold stroke we have lots of money going into news, disruption of the old order …

Discussion: Chickaboomer

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 Huffington Post, The TV Guy, Media Decoder and Felix Salmon

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

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

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Los Angeles Times

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, Broadcasting & Cable, AdAge, CNNMoney.com, Adweek, GeekWire, FierceOnlineVideo News, Home Media Magazine, Mashable! and CNET

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Let Jason Kilar Take a Bow

Discussion: PandoDaily and Digits

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

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

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

Many newspaper stocks beat market in 2012 — After getting shellacked in 2011, a number of newspaper stocks rebounded sharply last year, with five out of nine publicly held publishers handily outpacing the broader market. On average, newspaper stocks rose 20.8% in 2012 …

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Clipped launches as a Flipboard competitor, using natural language processing to better curate news — Finding ways to keep track of what's happening in the world and in various markets can be pretty difficult, especially on mobile devices. People are interested in seeking out new ways …

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

BuzzFeed valued at $200 million, leading new class of media upstarts — Business plan lulz at BuzzFeed's office way back in 2010 Scott Beale / Laughing Squid — Updated at 4:13 p.m. ET with a valuation for Business Insider. — BuzzFeed, the six-year-old website that blends coverage …

Discussion: AdPulp, Corporate Intelligence and paidContent

Reuters:

Britain's top tabloid scolds Argentina over the Falklands — (Reuters) - Britain's biggest-selling newspaper had a simple message for Argentina in an editorial published on Friday in the South American country: “HANDS OFF” the Falkland Islands. — The seven-paragraph epistle …

Discussion: The Sun

Jack Shafer:

The Andrew Sullivan traveling blog show — Why is Andrew Sullivan selling? And what are his readers buying? — Sullivan, maestro of the popular blog The Dish, pulled off the impossible this week. After announcing that he was breaking free from his bosses at the Daily Beast …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Techdirt, The Daily Dish and Mashable!

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: Private Frazer's Doomed …, Jon Slattery, pressgazette.co.uk and NetNewsCheck Latest