Mediagazer: NBC News and Newsweek / Daily Beast Team Up on 2012 Election Campaign Coverage (The Daily Beast)

5:00 PM ET, January 9, 2012

Top News:

Kelvin MacKenzie: Guardian Was Protected By ‘Broadsheet Snobbery’ Over Milly Dowler Mistake — The Sun newspaper could have been shut down if it had got the facts wrong about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone wrong in the same way the Guardian did, the tabloid's former editor has claimed.

Discussion: Guardian, @benfenton, @dansabbagh, @benfenton and ITN

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

Mirror hacking jibe ‘purely a joke’, Mohan tells Leveson inquiry — Sun editor admits that 2002 comment in which he thanked 'Vodafone's lack of security' for the Mirror's showbusiness coverage was about hacking, but claims it was just a joke — Dominic Mohan, the editor of the Sun …

Discussion: Guardian and Journalism.co.uk

Guardian:

Kelvin MacKenzie: News International should be fined for ‘lying’ to PCC — Former Sun editor tells Leveson inquiry NoW publisher should pay ‘penalty’ for misleading watchdog over phone hacking — Kelvin MacKenzie, the former Sun editor, has told the Leveson inquiry that News International …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Ben Popper / Betabeat:

BuzzFeed Raises $15.5 M Series C and Reunites HuffPo Dream Team — Cute, LOL, Fail...Politics? — Just a few weeks after poaching star political reporter Ben Smith from Politico and scooping CNN at the Repulican Primaries, Buzzfeed announced a big new round of funding to build out their operation.

Discussion: Adweek, Echo, AllThingsD, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, FishbowlNY and The Awl, more at Techmeme »

Kevin Lincoln / Business Insider: BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti: We Raised A Whopping $15 Million To Build A ‘Pure Social Site’

The Daily Beast:

NBC News and Newsweek / Daily Beast Team Up on 2012 Election Campaign Coverage — NBC News and Newsweek & The Daily Beast today announced a joint digital initiative that will focus on 2012 election campaign coverage. Under the agreement, the magazine and Web site will have access …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, NetNewsCheck Latest, TVNewser and Newsweek

Eric Deggans / Tampa Bay Times:

New CBS This Morning offers brisk, substantive and businesslike debut — Is it a bad sign when your new morning anchor looks like he could use a few more hours sleep on the first day? — As the newly-retooled CBS This Morning debuted today, noting anchor Charlie Rose's seemingly red-rimmed eyes might not be entirely fair.

Discussion: TVNewser

Erin Carlson / Hollywood Reporter:
‘CBS This Morning’ Premiere Draws Mixed Reactions From Media Critics

Discussion: entertainment.time.com

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

News Corporation Hires New General Counsel — News Corporation has hired a new general counsel, filling a permanent position that has been vacant since June. — Gerson Zweifach, a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP with experience litigating media and first-amendment cases …

Discussion: Company Town and Broadcasting & Cable

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

Keith Olbermann Agrees to Anchor Current Election Coverage (Exclusive) — “I am pleased that I'll be running the election coverage on Current, following this Tuesday's New Hampshire primary,” said Olbermann in a statement on Sunday. “However, I don't think those participating in the New Hampshire primary will share my satisfaction.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Poynter, National Review, Company Town, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Inside Cable News

David Carr / New York Times:
The Media Equation: At Current TV, Keith Olbermann Is Trapped Inside His Show

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Chickaboomer, TVNewser and Inside TV

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

Netflix launch in UK starts price war — Netflix, the American online film and television streaming giant, has finally made its way across the Atlantic - immediately sparking a price war among its UK rivals. — Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, was unruffled by Lovefilm's price drop …

Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Netflix officially announces UK, Ireland launch

Discussion: The Official Netflix Blog, Bits, TechCrunch Europe and PC Magazine, more at Techmeme »

Benno Muchler / New York Times:

In a Fledgling Country, Perils for the Press — In a thatched hut in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, about 10 young men and women sat on lawn chairs made of brown plastic. They loudly typed on the computer keyboards on the tables in front of them. Two fans were blowing heavily.

Al Tompkins / Poynter:

As journalists file fewer lawsuits, citizens fight for open records — On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in what could be a pivotal First Amendment case: the FCC v. Fox. What the Court decides will affect what we see on TV and hear on radio for years to come.

Steve Myers / Poynter:

NY Times offers unpaid internships after reporting on their questionable legality — After Times staff tweeted about about the upcoming deadline for its unpaid social media internship, Pamela Drew responded, “Shame on NYTimes & every deep pocket corporation looking for UNPAID interns, experience shouldn't be free labor.”

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

BSkyB Buys Stake In Social TV Start-Up Zeebox — News Corp-controlled pay-TV firm BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) is buying itself a foothold in the looming social TV field by acquiring 10 percent of the startup Zeebox for a sum that is “double-digit millions” in both pounds and dollars.

Discussion: Lost Remote and Guardian