Mediagazer: In battle for listeners, Audiobooks.com switches to Audible's pay-by-the-book model (Laura Hazard Owen/paidContent)

3:05 AM ET, January 15, 2013

Top News:

Lindsey Turrentine / CNET:

The 2013 Best of CES Awards: CNET's story — The true story of what happened before last week's Best of CES Awards unveiling — Last week, about 40 members of the CNET editorial staff met in the CNET trailer in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center to vote on our official Best of CES winner.

Discussion: The Verge, Hillicon Valley, PandoDaily, Wall Street Journal, Home Media Magazine, @megan, TVNewser and NetNewsCheck Latest

Joshua Topolsky / The Verge:

Exclusive: CBS forced CNET staff to recast vote after Hopper won ‘Best in Show’ at CES — The Dish Network's Hopper wasn't simply in the running: it had actually taken the top prize — On Friday, news broke that CNET had been forced by its parent company CBS to remove the Dish Network's Hopper set-top box …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, The Atlantic Wire, Electronista, @alexweprin, BetaNews, @brianstelter, Betabeat, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Deadline.com, Techdirt, AdAge, Adweek, @sandocnet, Poynter and Digits

John Herman / BuzzFeed:
Star CNET Reporter Resigns Over CBS Controversy

Discussion: @sandocnet, @sandocnet, Talking Biz News, @alexweprin, @ryanlawler, @ryan and @sandocnet

John Biggs / TechCrunch:
What's Next For CNET After The Dish Debacle?

Discussion: The Verge and Talking Biz News

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Lance Armstrong Interview Could Be Worth Millions to Oprah Winfrey Network — Oprah Winfrey: She gets it. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) — Considerable as it may be, Oprah Winfrey's personal celebrity isn't enough to build a cable network on, as the early struggles of OWN showed.

Discussion: mediabistro.com, The Daily Beast, Associated Press and Media Myth Alert

David Carr / Media Decoder:
Armstrong and Winfrey: Familiar Names in a Time-Honored Ritual

Discussion: Yahoo! News and New York Times

Buzz Bissinger / The Daily Beast:
I Was Deluded to Believe Lance Armstrong When He Denied Doping

Discussion: Yahoo! News and Guardian

Isaac Rauch / Deadspin:
The Sunday Times Put An Ad In The Chicago Tribune About What Questions Lance Armstrong Should Answer On Oprah

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, @ap, Adweek, NY Daily News, road.cc, Detroit Free Press, The Age, radionz.co.nz, BikeBiz and The Huffington Post

Brendan Sasso / Hillicon Valley:

Justice drops charges against Swartz after activist kills himself — The Justice Department dropped its charges against Internet activist Aaron Swartz on Monday, citing his death. — Swartz, who was facing computer hacking charges, hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday. He was 26.

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, ReadWrite, Associated Press, WebProNews, Crikey, Softpedia News, AllThingsD, The Wrap, Betabeat, TechCrunch, Media News and AllThingsD

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Iranian Government Promotes Aaron Swartz Conspiracy Theories — Extremists on the Internet have cottoned on to the idea that the Obama administration had Aaron Swartz killed. There is no evidence for this. — After the suicide of 26-year-old programmer and free internet activist Aaron Swartz …

Wall Street Journal:
Legal Case Strained Troubled Web Activist

Discussion: Gawker, Science Citizen, Daily Dot, The Volokh Conspiracy and Quote and Comment

Dylan Byers / Politico:

N.Y. Times shakeup: Rick Berke to leave masthead, head new video effort — New York Times assistant managing editor Rick Berke will be leaving the masthead to take on a leadership role in video content, POLITICO has learned. — Berke, a former Washington editor, will join video …

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Joyce Wadler Takes NY Times Buyout — Joyce Wadler, the original bold-faced name columnist, has decided to take a buyout, a source tells us. The announcement was included in a longer email to Times staff, noting that Ms. Wadler would leave the Times to pursue her passion: humor writing.

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, FishbowlNY and Politico

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

‘No pattern’ of crime related to Journal News maps, says police official — David Chong, the White Plains (N.Y.) public safety commissioner, tells the Erik Wemple Blog that there is “no pattern” of crime linked to the gun-permit-holder maps published last month by the Journal News.

David Carr / New York Times:
Guns, Maps and Data That Disturbs

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, CBS New York, Poynter, The Huffington Post and Capital New York

Newsday:
Journal News gun permit map used by burglars to target White Plains home?

Discussion: lohud.com, The Verge, Gannett Blog, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, National Review and Fox News

Leslie Kaufman / Media Decoder:

Digital Reading on the Rise for Children (With a Qualifier) — David Maxwell for The New York Times Alexis White, 7, a second grader in Green, Ohio, using an iPad during class. The iPad is gaining popularity as a reading device. — Digital reading is rising fast among children ages 6 to 17 …

Discussion: PublishersWeekly.com

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
54% of U.S. kids have never read an ebook: New report

Discussion: Scholastic Media Room

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

The problem with BuzzFeed's sponsored posts — BuzzFeed is not just upending conventional wisdom on how Internet publishers can make money with its innovative digital ads; the lists, quizzes and posts it creates with advertisers show brands they can “actually create something people will engage with …

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

The Atlantic backtracks and removes controversial Scientology advertorial — The Atlantic has U-turned on its controversial paid-for feature article from the Church of Scientology. The publication had sparked a debate on media ethics and business models after allowing the advertorial …

Los Angeles Times:

Rupert Murdoch says Los Angeles Times purchase not a sure thing — Rupert Murdoch and Jim Gianopulos attend the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images / January 13, 2013)

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

In battle for listeners, Audiobooks.com switches to Audible's pay-by-the-book model — When Audiobooks.com launched last January, the company had high hopes for a cloud-based streaming service that would let users listen to unlimited audiobooks for a monthly charge of $24.95.

Discussion: CNET