Mediagazer: Apple TV snubs Amazon's Lovefilm, adds Watchever in Germany (Tim Carmody/The Verge)

1:35 PM ET, January 11, 2013

Top News:

New York Times Dismantles Its Environment Desk — Times says demise of the nine-person team, created in 2009, won't affect climate coverage. — The New York Times will close its environment desk in the next few weeks and assign its seven reporters and two editors to other departments.

Discussion: LA Observed, mediabistro.com, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:

Major Shakeout Looms for Top New York Times Editors — The next two weeks are going to get tense inside the headquarters of the New York Times. — Last month, executive editor Jill Abramson told the staff she'd have to cut 30 positions from the news division to buffer against financial losses …

Discussion: New York Times

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

In CBS Vs. Dish Network, CNET's Credibility Is The Loser — It's axiomatic in journalism that an appearance of a conflict of interest is as much to be avoided as an actual conflict. There may be perfectly valid reasons for putting the owner's wife on the cover, but trying to convince readers of it is a fool's errand.

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

Every Tech Journalist's Worst Nightmare — At 4:05 PM on Wednesday, Dish Networks notified its Twitter followers that it had been chosen as a finalist for CNET's “Best of CES” awards for its new DVR product. This was not a surprise — the Hopper was given a best-of award by nearly every publication …

Discussion: paidContent, CNET, The Awl, Betabeat, Boing Boing, New York Magazine, Trust But Verify, Talking Biz News and The Loop

Digits:
Dish Recorder Snubbed for CNET Award Over CBS Legal Scuffle

Discussion: The Verge, Bloomberg Tech Blog, Dish, TECHGEEK.com.au, Forbes, AllThingsD and Reuters

Guardian:

Times editor not expected to be appointed until next week at earliest — Meeting this week between paper's independent directors and John Witherow did not result in his immediate confirmation — A new editor of the Times is not expected to be announced until next week at the earliest …

Charlie Warzel / Adweek:

Newsweek Unveils Its First Animated Cover — Freed from the chains of print, Newsweek is continuing its streak of digital firsts to raise eyebrows for its tablet edition, whose Jan. 11 edition will feature an animated cover image for the first time in the magazine's 80-year-history.

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

The New York Times' Plan to Save the Banner Ad — Like many publications, The New York Times has a banner ad problem. The problem is this: the Web is littered with banners and new computer-driven methods of buying discrete audiences is putting even further pressure on the display ad market.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@steverubel

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

Fleet Street editors call for charitable trust to oversee new independent newspaper watchdog — Fleet Street editors are calling for a special charitable trust to be set up to oversee the new independent newspaper watchdog demanded by Lord Justice Leveson. The proposal has been advanced …

Sara Morrison / CJR:

Maura Johnston's new song — The former Village Voice music editor is back with a magazine app — After Maura Johnston was let go from the Village Voice in September, she decided that, after six years as a full-time writer, it was time to “prove myself on a grand scale.”

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Pay TV will shrink for first time in history, study says cable watching peaked in 2011 — It's finally happening. The number of Americans who pay for cable-like TV products is declining, says a research forecast that claims subscriptions peaked at nearly 101 million in 2011 but will decline to less than 95 million by 2017.

Discussion: GigaOM

Tim Carmody / The Verge:

Better than Nielsen: Twitter breaks down TV behavior by demographics, device, and genre — UK statistics show that tweeting about ‘Homeland’ is not like tweeting about ‘Downton Abbey’ or ‘X Factor’ — Twitter has released a twenty-page booklet for advertisers on trends in television viewing and Twitter use in the UK.

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Cyndi Stivers / CJR:

Huey, Luce, and the news — At year-end, Time Inc. editor in chief John Huey quietly announced plans to head to a fellowship at Harvard after an 11-year run (six in the top job) on the Mount Olympus of magazine journalism. On his way up, he ran Fortune, coauthored Sam Walton's autobiography …

Guardian:

Guardian, Telegraph and FT post modest sales rises in December — Newspapers perform resiliently, with i reporting biggest decline of 3.66% month on month - but year-on-year sales up 31% — The Financial Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph were the only daily national newspapers to see month-on-month sales increases in December.

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, Media Week and mnilive.com

Nadja Brandt / Bloomberg:

Condos Replace Newsrooms as U.S. Papers Sell Real Estate — Newspaper owners, struggling with plunging demand and advertising spending at a six-decade low, are squeezing money out of the assets they do have with rising value: buildings and land. — A.H. Belo Corp. (AHC) …