Mediagazer: BBC may change severance policy after George Entwistle payout criticised (Josh Halliday/Guardian)

10:00 AM ET, January 18, 2013

Top News:

Manti Te'o and the New Burden of Internet Truth — I'm not going to dig too deep into the extremely weird story of Manti Te'o, Notre Dame linebacker, Heisman trophy contender, who either made up a fake girlfriend for some reason or was hoaxed into believing his fake girlfriend was real for another …

Discussion: NPR, Hollywood Life and CBS New York

Jim Romenesko:
Keep in mind: Reporters are no longer given time to report

Discussion: Associated Press and Baltimore Sun

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Reporting in The Times on Football Star's Nonexistent Girlfriend Was Glancing, but Still Troubling

Discussion: The Buttry Diary, The Huffington Post, AdAge, Fox News, VICE, Gawker, Mother Jones, ComPost, Outsports and Pressing Issues

Jack Shafer:
Manti Te'o and the press get blitzed

Discussion: Deadspin, Hollywood Life and L.A. NOW

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:
Deadspin's editor-in-chief explains editing, reporting behind Manti Te'o story

Mobutu Sese Seko / Gawker:
Journalism, Scientology, and Manti Te'o: Finding the Leper with the Most Fingers

Discussion: The Daily Nightly, The Week and VH1 Celebrity

John R. MacArthur / Harper's:

Google's Media Barons — I had to cheer when I read the news the other week about a French company that's selling an ad-blocking service on the Internet. Xavier Niel, the entrepreneurial owner of the web-service provider Free, is threatening to smash the advertiser-supported “free-content” model.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Andrew Pugh / PressGazette:

Sunday Times: £1m fraud claim ‘strengthened’ after Lance Armstrong's Oprah confession — Sunday Times: 'We watched Lance Armstrong's interview with interest' Paper seeking to recoup 2006 costs plus interest Case is ‘stronger’ after Oprah confession The Sunday Times today warned Lance Armstrong it will …

Discussion: Guardian

BuzzFeed: Lance Armstrong's Last Legacy Is A Content Farm

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

PCC to investigate Julie Burchill column — The Press Complaints Commission is to launch an inquiry into the publication of Julie Burchill's controversial column in The Observer that caused outrage among transgender people. The commission decided to act after receiving 800 complaints.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

How news organizations can sell sponsored content without lowering their standards — Advertisers want to be let out of the box. — They want to break out of the constrained 300-pixel display ad box that everyone's eyes have learned to ignore, and leap into the stream of engaging content that readers actually pay attention to.

Discussion: SPEAKEASY, CNN and American Journalism Review

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

New Tribune CEO Peter Liguori sees opportunity to grow — Peter Liguori is Tribune's new CEO. — In its first board of directors meeting since emerging from a protracted bankruptcy, Tribune Co. named investor Bruce Karsh as chairman and veteran entertainment executive Peter Liguori as chief executive.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Media Decoder, The Wrap, tribune.com and Broadcasting & Cable

Nieman Journalism Lab:

When print is thriving, where does social media fit? A look at practices at India's The Hindu — In November, Sam Pitroda, technology advisor to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, held a “global Twitter press conference” on his account (@pitrodasam). Hyped as the first of its kind …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC may change severance policy after George Entwistle payout criticised — Commons committee says £450,000 paid to former DG was a ‘reward for failure’ as trust claims it was best outcome available — The BBC is considering significant reforms to its severance agreement policies …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Media roll out plans for Inauguration Day, stressing how ‘multiplatform’ they'll be — Over the last couple of days, news outlets have been rolling out their plans for covering Barack Obama's second swearing in as President of the United States on Monday at the National Mall …

Agence France Presse:

Sniper kills French journalist in Syria's Aleppo — BEIRUT — A Belgian-born French journalist, Yves Debay, has died from sniper fire in north Syria's Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. — “He was killed on one of Aleppo's fronts” on Thursday …

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Alarabiya.net English

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Bradley Manning denied chance to make whistleblower defence — Judge rules that Manning will not be allowed to present evidence about his motives for the leak - a key plank of his defence — Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of being behind the largest leak of state secrets in America's history …

Discussion: Techdirt

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:

Washington Post Suspends Mexico Bureau Chief for Plagiarism — The Washington Post suspended Mexico bureau chief William Booth on Thursday after he admitted to plagiarizing four sentences from an academic journal, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

Discussion: Poynter, Politico and Washington City Paper

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Choose Netflix UK For TV Shows, Amazon's LOVEFiLM Instant For Films, Study Suggests — The ongoing war between rival on-demand streaming services as they build out their catalogues to win customers by having the most enticing content means rarely a week goes by without news …

Discussion: Engadget

Dave Itzkoff / ArtsBeat:

Biden Getting an Autobiography From The Onion (Whether He Wants It or Not) — “Hombre, you've just done Uncle Joe a real solid buying this book,” begins the foreword to a new autobiography attributed to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “I ain't the kind of guy who forgets his debts.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Splitsider, bookforum.com, Mediaite, Politico and The Huffington Post

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:

Hearst begins shipping magazines on Apple's Newsstand before anywhere else — Apple and Hearst have struck a deal to offer 20 of the publishing organization's magazines on the iOS Newsstand before they're available in print or via other outlets, reports The Loop.

Discussion: AllThingsD, CNET, The Loop, TechCrunch and GigaOM

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Winfrey's Low-Rated Channel Is Poised to Break Through — Last Tuesday afternoon, Oprah Winfrey called the co-presidents of her cable channel OWN with jump-on-the-couch-with-joy news. “Lance wants to talk,” she said, referring to Lance Armstrong, whom she had been courting for a confessional interview …

Discussion: Media Decoder and The Huffington Post