Mediagazer: Wikipedia's travel site's official launch coming soon; what to expect and not expect (Rafat Ali/Skift)

9:40 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: International Business Times, LA Observed, The Politics of Poverty, Capital New York, The Daily Dish, The Huffington Post and kottke.org

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Keeping Environmental Reporting Strong Won't Be Easy — Those who care deeply about environmental issues were understandably concerned Friday after learning that The Times was dismantling its special team - or “pod” - of seven reporters and two editors. — Beth Parke, executive director …

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

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 …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post and Politico

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, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, Politico, Poynter, Talking Biz News, JIMROMENESKO.COM and The Huffington Post

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: The Verge, paidContent, Kirk LaPointe's … and TECHGEEK.com.au

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 Wrap and 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 …

Rafat Ali / Skift:

Wikipedia's travel site's official launch coming soon; what to expect and not expect — [UPDATE: The Wikimedia Foundation is tentatively slated to launch Wikivoyage next week, on January 15, Skift has learned.] — Wikipedia's next big push is a travel wiki, and the official launch …

Discussion: Wired, the Econsultancy blog, SocialTimes, CNET, Mashable! and The Verge