Mediagazer: NFL viewership slides but still dominant in ratings race (Joe Flint/Los Angeles Times)

12:30 PM ET, January 6, 2013

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

When Reporters Get Personal — BILL GRUESKIN remembers being an editor at The Wall Street Journal in 2004 when Farnaz Fassihi's e-mail, meant for a few friends' eyes only, began to circle the globe. Ms. Fassihi, an Iranian-American, was a reporter for The Journal, and the exposure of her views …

Discussion: Pressthink, @andrewdonohue, @jayrosen_nyu and Kirk LaPointe's …

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Former C.I.A. Officer Is the First to Face Prison for a Classified Leak — WASHINGTON — Looking back, John C. Kiriakou admits he should have known better. But when the F.B.I. called him a year ago and invited him to stop by and “help us with a case,” he did not hesitate.

Discussion: @krmaher and @shephardm

Agence France Presse:

Iran designing software for controlled social media access — TEHRAN — Iran is designing “intelligent software” that would give citizens restricted and controlled access to banned social networking sites, local media on Sunday quoted police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam as saying.

Discussion: The Next Web and Associated Press

Reuters:

South Sudan holds journalists for failing to cover president speech — (Reuters) - South Sudan has arrested two state broadcast journalists for failing to ensure coverage of a crucial speech by President Salva Kiir, a government official said on Sunday, prompting an outcry from an international media watchdog.

Discussion: Big News Network.com and Committee to Protect …

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

NFL viewership slides but still dominant in ratings race — Redskin star Robert Griffin III helped keep the NFL on top of ratings race. — The National Football League is still the most dominant programmer in television, but even it is not immune to shrinking audiences in an overcrowded media landscape.

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.

Discussion: Capital New York, Capital New York, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Kurson's ‘Observer’ meant to appeal to ‘Staten Island first responders, second-generation NYers in Forest Hills’

Discussion: @espiers and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Caleb Hannan / Business Week:

Dish Network, the Meanest Company in America — For 2012, the website 24/7 Wall St. determined that the worst company to work for in America was the Dish Network (DISH), the Englewood (Colo.)-based company that provides satellite TV to more than 14 million subscribers.

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Dinosaur alert: Irish newspapers desperately trying to charge for links — There's plenty of experimentation going on in the media business when it comes to finding new methods of monetizing content: leaky paywalls at the New York Times and others, API licensing at The Guardian …

Discussion: The Irish Times, Softpedia News, nni.ie and The Irish Times

CNN:

Online outrage over Ohio rape case prompts city website — Steubenville, Ohio (CNN) — Amid social media pressure and allegations of a cover-up, leaders in Steubenville, Ohio, have launched a website to keep the community updated on a rape case that has consumed the small Ohio town.

Discussion: The Verge, ABCNEWS, The Raw Story, Pressing Issues and The Week

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Exclusive: McChrystal was shocked by controversy over Rolling Stone article — Stanley McChrystal, the retired general and former head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was shocked by the Rolling Stone article that led to his firing, he reveals in a soon-to-be-published memoir.

Discussion: New York Times, @mlcalderone, @williamsjon and New York Magazine

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Pelosi: Altered photograph was ‘accurate historical record’ — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended her office's use of Photoshop to represent some female lawmakers who arrived late for a photo shoot. … Kenny Irby, Poynter's senior faculty for visual journalism …

Discussion: Mediaite, NPPA Blogs, ABCNEWS and Washington Post

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: Financial Times, Chickaboomer and CEPR

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
The Real Problem With Al Gore's $100 Million Payday From Selling Current To Al Jazeera

Discussion: TVNewser, Washington Times, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and The TV Guy

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Mental health reporters say Newtown shooting coverage shows progress — When I looked at the state of reporting on mental-health issues after the Newtown, Conn., shootings, I saw a forbidding landscape. John Head sees improvement. When he started reporting on mental health …

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.