Mediagazer: Al Jazeera reporter killed by sniper in Syria (Al Jazeera English)

1:30 AM ET, January 19, 2013

Top News:

Gawker Media sets traffic record with Deadspin's Manti Te'o blockbuster — For the first time ever, Gawker Media drew more than 10 million U.S. visitors in one week. The memo to Gawker staff: … * Te'o story is still on top of the Gawker Media Big Board (gawker.com/stats)

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

David Folkenflik / NPR:

The Manti Te'o Story: Why The News Media Let Its Guard Down … One of the top collegiate football players in the country, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was lionized by the media amid stories of his perseverance on the field after both his grandmother and his girlfriend died.

Discussion: The Buttry Diary, Deadspin, The Big Lead and The Atlantic Wire

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

With All Eyes on Manti Te'o Hoax Story, Deadspin Doesn't Immediately Cash In — Scoop Highlights Difficulty Publishers Face When Traffic Spikes — Deadspin's blockbuster article revealing that the girlfriend of star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o never existed eclipsed 3.5 million views Thursday evening.

Discussion: Poynter, Yahoo! News, paidContent, Adweek, L.A. NOW, UPROXX, Politicker, Erik Wemple, New Yorker and The Wrap

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:
So the Manti Te'o Scandal Is Some Sort of Indictment of Online Culture? Nonsense!

Discussion: Techdirt, Adweek and GeekWire

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

John Geddes, Managing Editor, Is Leaving The New York Times — John M. Geddes, left, with the executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson, and a fellow managing editor, Dean Baquet. — 2:37 p.m. | Updated John M. Geddes, a managing editor at The New York Times for the last decade …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Politico, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
Alice DuBois Takes Times Buyout to Go to BuzzFeed

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Politico

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Armstrong Confession Draws 4.3 Million Viewers to Oprah's Network — The first part of Lance Armstrong's doping confession to Oprah Winfrey drew about 4.3 million viewers to OWN on Thursday night, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings released on Friday.

Discussion: Forbes, The Wrap and TVNewser

Andrew Pugh / PressGazette:
Sunday Times: £1m fraud claim ‘strengthened’ after Lance Armstrong's Oprah confession

Discussion: Guardian, Forbes, AdAge, TVNewser, Yahoo! News, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek and FishbowlNY

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Publicist sues FishbowlDC for libel — Washington, D.C., publicist Wendy Gordon has filed a lawsuit over a series of unflattering photos that the media-gossip site FishbowlDC ran of her, Zoe Tillman reports. … Gordon's complaint says she isn't a public figure, and the posts …

Discussion: The BLT, Politico, The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

Will Sommer / City Desk:
The FishbowlDC Lawsuit Is a Work of Art

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Hunter Walker / Politicker:

How Ed Koch Helped Make Nikki Finke a Reporter — Nikki Finke during her days in Mr. Koch's office as depicted in a 1974 New York Times engagement notice. — Former New York Mayor Ed Koch has had an influence in Hollywood as well as the Big Apple. Before coming to City Hall …

Discussion: @penenberg

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:

Time Warner Cable Bans Some Gun Ads — Company-wide Initiative Comes Weeks After Sandy Hook Tragedy — Just weeks after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Con., Time Warner Cable has initiated a company-wide ban on certain gun ads.

Discussion: Deadline.com and Mediaite

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Major papers' longform meltdown — No one equates story-length with quality. Let's start with that concession. — But still. Story-length is hardly meaningless when you consider what it takes to explain complex problems, like say, the financial crisis, to the broader public.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and NetNewsCheck Latest

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: @alexismadrigal, New York Magazine, The Verge, paidContent, @waxpancake, Hit & Run, Beyond Search, @clarajeffery, @waxpancake and Boing Boing

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Journal News removes gun map, citing New York's new gun law — Ed Tagliaferri, the executive vice president of DKC Media, forwards this statement from Janet Hasson, Publisher of the Journal News, the New York state-based newspaper that published the “gun map” featuring the names and addresses …

Al Jazeera English:

Al Jazeera reporter killed by sniper in Syria — Qatar-based media network says freelance journalist Mohammed al-Horani was killed by a sniper in the province of Deraa. — A sniper has shot dead Al Jazeera freelance reporter Mohamed Al-Massalma in the southern Syrian province of Deraa, the Qatar-based media network has said.

Agence France Presse:
Sniper kills French journalist in Syria's Aleppo

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

Dylan Byers / Politico:

POLITICO interview: Piers Morgan — To Piers Morgan, the answer is simple: pro-gun advocate and conservative radio show host Alex Jones was the best guest he ever had. — “The best thing about Alex Jones is that 8 million people watched that video on YouTube,” Morgan told POLITICO …

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Magazine, Chickaboomer, Guy Fawkes' blog, The Huffington Post, The Daily Dish and Capital New York

Guardian:

John Witherow named acting editor of the Times — Publishing directors refuse to endorse appointments amid a standoff with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp over merger plans — John Witherow has been named acting editor of the Times after a bizarre standoff between Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation …

Discussion: The Times, pressgazette.co.uk and Telegraph