Mediagazer: Key witness in Bradley Manning WikiLeaks trial defends Reddit webchat (Matt Williams/Guardian)

4:40 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, The Politics of Poverty, Capital New York, The Huffington Post and kottke.org

Andrew C. Revkin / Dot Earth:

The Changing Newsroom Environment — There's been a flurry of blog, Facebook and Twitter shock and anger following Katherine Bagley's exclusive report for Inside Climate News on the decision by The New York Times to shut down its standalone environment “pod” and redistribute that able team …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and mediabistro.com

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal: Keeping Environmental Reporting Strong Won't Be Easy

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

Why BuzzFeed's photo spat with Reddit could be just the tip of the iceberg — BuzzFeed's impressive growth — capped off by a recent $15.5-million venture-financing round — is a testament to the site's ability to find and package “viral” content on a range of topics, from heartwarming photos …

Alex Fitzpatrick / Mashable!: Redditors Accuse BuzzFeed of Photo Theft

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.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:
Every Tech Journalist's Worst Nightmare

Discussion: paidContent, CNET, Gizmodo, The Awl, Boing Boing, Betabeat, 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

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: FishbowlNY, Politico, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Talking Biz News and The Huffington Post

Will Sommer / City Desk:

D.C. Won't Prosecute David Gregory Over Gun Magazine — Looks like NBC's David Gregory won't have to turn to the life of a fugitive, after all. Despite waving around a 30-round magazine that's illegal under District law on a Dec. 23 Meet the Press broadcast, Gregory won't be prosecuted …

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.

Discussion: The Verge

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 …

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: WebProNews and 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