Mediagazer: Notre Dame football player Te'o girlfriend hoax 'became truth through the media" (Jeff Sonderman/Poynter)

10:45 PM ET, January 16, 2013

Top News:

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

Notre Dame football player Te'o girlfriend hoax 'became truth through the media" — The sports editor at The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune was, not suprisingly, in a meeting when we called Wednesday to ask about the Deadspin bombshell that the widely reported stories about Notre Dame linebacker …

Discussion: Deadspin, New York Times, ESPN, CNET, Yahoo! News, LA Observed, The Wrap, Gawker and Deadspin

Spencer Hall / SBNation.com:

The List: People who never looked up Lennay Kekua — The following is a list of organizations and people who, to varying degrees of incompletion, never bothered to check to see if Manti Te'o's girlfriend was real. — 1. Us. — 2. You (Jack Dickey and Timothy Burke excepted) — 3. Sports Illustrated.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Slate, The Verge and Daily Dot

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

News companies must pay for swiping Twitter pics (but our photo laws are still a mess) — News agencies can't simply help themselves to the photos they find on Twitter. That's the upshot of a closely watched court case involving a freelance photographer who sued the Washington Post …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Twitter pictures put in spotlight following London helicopter crash — Issue of image copyright highlighted as major media outlets use photos taken by Twitter account holders and posted on site — The fatal helicopter crash in London on Wednesday morning once again put Twitter in the spotlight …

Discussion: Daily Dot, The Verge, Fast Company, WebProNews, Business Insider and Poynter

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:
Want To Publish A Twitter Image Legally? Just Embed It.

Discussion: @tone_def, VentureBeat and Plagiarism Today

The Huffington Post:

Darrell Issa Probing Prosecution Of Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer Who Killed Himself — WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is investigating the Justice Department's prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide on Friday …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, TIME, Guardian, Techdirt, Chicago Sun Times, Stanford CIS Blog, TechPresident, The Verge, Mashable!, Associated Press, CNET and The Daily Beast

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:
Congresswoman Proposes 'Aaron's Law' Directly to Reddit After Aaron Swartz Suicide

Discussion: Hit & Run and Hillicon Valley

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

AOL's Patch to go from lousy local news network to even worse community message board network — Ever since Tim Armstrong took over AOL to “save” the news business, there's been apocalyptic sign after apocalyptic sign that the slick Google ad exec simply had no idea what journalists …

Discussion: CJR and FishbowlLA

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Digital First newspaper to reduce print frequency — The Oneida (N.Y.) Daily Dispatch will print three days a week beginning next month, owner Digital First Media announced Wednesday. — As is customary with such announcements, DFM promises “expanded online, mobile and electronic offerings” for Daily Dispatch readers.

Discussion: Digital First Media, Connecticut Newsroom and NetNewsCheck Latest

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Washington Post clarifies practices and standards for corrections — In an email to staff this morning, The Washington Post clarified its practices and standards for online corrections. The email was signed by three top editors, including Executive Editor Marty Baron …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and The Public Editor's Journal

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Weekly World News erects paywall, ending debate forever — The Weekly World News will move its website behind a paywall, the company announced Wednesday. Listen up, information-needs-to-be-free types: When Bat Boy goes behind a paywall, there's nothing left to discuss.

Discussion: The Wrap and Weekly World News

Joel Mathis / The Philly Post:

No One is Coming to Save Philadelphia Newspapers — These owners and these journalists will decide the fate of the Inky and Daily News. First they need a plan. Any plan at all. — Well, now we know: There will be no white knight to save Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers.

Discussion: Philly.com, Poynter and Cision

Lisa Campbell / The Bookseller:

Kobo claims 20% of global e-reading market — Kobo increased its global e-ink device sales by 150% in December, making it the “biggest month” for the company so far. — The Canada-based retailer said that contrary to suggestions that e-ink devices would decline in popularity over Christmas …

Leigh Beadon / Techdirt:

Dear HBO, Disney, Netflix Et Al: Fragmenting Online TV Lets Piracy Keep Its Biggest Advantage — As surely as iPods will continue to outsell wax cylinders, the film and television industries are moving online. Really, the whole distinction of media that “is” or “isn't” …