A new letter has fanned the flames already scorching new New York Times CEO Mark Thompson. The ex-BBC chief has claimed that he only learned of the sex allegations against British celebrity Jimmy Savile after he left his job, but the note might prove otherwise. Thompson is facing heat because people have claimed that he killed a news program that was investigating Savile, in the hopes that it would quell the scandal.

According to the Times (by the way, it must be brutal to be dragged over the coals by your own company), the letter was sent to The Sunday Times, by lawyers representing Thompson and another unnamed BBC executive. People who have seen the note told the Times that it contained “a summary of the alleged abuse, including the allegation that some abuse might have occurred at the BBC.” The letter was sent 10 days before Thompson left the BBC.

An aide to Thompson while he was at the BBC told the Times that he did “verbally authorize” his lawyers to send it. However, “It’s not clear if he was shown it, but he doesn’t remember reading it.”

It would be quite odd for someone of Thompson’s position — or anyone, really — to agree to a letter that threatened to sue another company without reading it, don’t you think? We have a feeling things are going to get a lot hotter for Thompson.

Today marks the beginning of the Mark Thompson era at The New York Times Company, and it could be a long time before he settles in comfortably. Thompson comes aboard as his past stint at BBC continues to haunt him.

Currently, British law enforcement agents are investigating the celebrity Jimmy Savile over allegations that he abused hundreds of underage girls. Thompson enters into that picture because people have claimed that under his watch, the BBC program Newsnight killed an investigative piece on Savile, in an effort to quiet the scandal. To make matters worse, Thompson’s successor and two other senior executives have abruptly resigned due to pressure from the alleged misconduct.

As you can imagine, Times staffers are a little worried about the whole thing.

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If you ever wonder how authors and bloggers do it — that relentless, 24-hour-a-day publicity driving social media quest — you’re not alone. Katty Kay, a BBC journalist and author, is right there with you.

During an interview at mediabistro.com’s eBook Summit, Kay wondered aloud how self-promoting authors, bloggers and other freelance writers survive. Do they write while also having a full-time job to pay the bills? We’ve often wondered the same ourselves, but there seems to be no right answer. Even Kay acknowledged that she was able to write her book, Womenomics, in part because of her full time gig at the BBC.

But beyond an awareness of the challenges of the publishing and journalism world today, Kay did have some good advice for journalists: focus on your own brand through blogs and social networking. Gone is the conventional wisdom that journalists have to write a book in order to extend their credibility and notoriety. Now, it’s all about the blog.

“Journalists with a high profile in Washington have a blog that’s a high profile,” Kay said, citing George Stephanopolous, Jake Tapper and John Dickerson as good examples of this. She also said journalists are now using their blogs as a homebase while working for many different organizations or platforms. “The more places I have to get income from and to have a platform on, the safer life feels.”

VIDEO: Sister blog TVNewser talks with Kay at the eBook Summit about being a foreigner working on a U.S. news broadcast.

Earlier: eBook Summit: Digital Lessons For Journalists, News Organizations

Over the weekend, tempers flared over CNN‘s coverage — or lack thereof — of the Iranian election and subsequent protests. Frustrated viewers took to Twitter to voice their concern over CNN’s oversight or lack of interest in the foreign controversy, creating the hashtag #cnnfail, which was a trending topic until yesterday. (It’s no longer trending this morning, although #IranElection, Tehran and Mousavi are.)

Yesterday, our colleagues at WebNewser caught up with #cnnfail, noting that NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen had asked Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz, who also hosts CNN show “Reliable Sources,” to include #cnnfail in his column today.

Although Kurtz discussed the legitimacy of Twitter and whether journalists are “going overboard” with it on his show yesterday and in his column today, he completely ignored the protests taking place on the social network against the news network where he works. On Kurtz’s show, CNN’s Rick Sanchez mentioned that Twitter had helped him to more effectively cover happenings in Iran — a perfect opening for them to discuss #cnnfail.

“Last night, when…I started Twittering about what was going on in Iran, I learned as much about the situation in Iran as I would have watching frankly my network, the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post combined,” Sanchez said.

Kurtz’s thoughts on the issue would have been much more timely if he had discussed #cnnfail and how Twitter had become a media watchdog in this instance. Instead, in his column he talked about celebrity Twitters, and quoted actress Mariel Hemingway. Did he write his column weeks ago and never look at it again? We think he missed the boat on this one.

What do you think? How do you feel about the coverage of Iran by the news networks? Do you think Kurtz should have discussed #cnnfail?

Watch the Twitter segment from “Reliable Sources” after the jump

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After writing about future of his own paper in his column yesterday, New York Times media columnist David Carr appeared on “BBC World News America” on BBC America last night to talk about the fate of daily newspapers.

Carr told “BBC World News America” anchor Matt Frei, that he is more excited than ever to work at the Gray Lady since the current climate of shutting down newsrooms “has made the kind of information that we make and manufacture every single day, indeed by the hour, all the more important.”

In the interview, as in his column, Carr acknowledged that the Times has to come up with some new ways to generate revenue. Despite the fact that its Web site has 20 million readers and, according to Carr, “3 million people that stop by all the time throughout the day.”

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