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Santorum Swarmed By Media In New Hampshire (Yahoo! News / The Cutline)
Fresh off his impressive showing in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum made a campaign stop in New Hampshire at a diner in Tilton Thursday -- with more than 50 reporters and photographers trailing him. The result was a veritable media crush, with Santorum and Co. packed into the tiny small-town diner. Yahoo! News / The Ticket: The sign outside the hot pink Tilt'n Diner makes a bold promise: "Real Food! Real People!" The latter part of that claim was put to the test Thursday, even before Santorum rolled up in his Ford F-150 pickup truck for a lunchtime meet-and-greet. Inside Facebook: Facebook partnered with NBC News' Meet the Press to present a multiplatform forum for Sunday's GOP presidential debate before the New Hampshire Republican primary. AllFacebook: Not only will the debate stream live on the Meet the Press Facebook page and Facebook's U.S. Politics page, but viewers can share questions and comment on the action throughout the event. TVNewser: Former CNN Larry King Live host Larry King has been tapped to moderate a GOP primary debate…sort of. King will moderate a spoof debate presented by Funny or Die and Yahoo!. NYT / Media Decoder: While the Republican candidates urged Iowans to support them in the caucuses Tuesday, the Democratic president paid a very splashy visit to the state online. An advertisement for the Barack Obama/Joe Biden campaign took over the home page for The Des Moines Register, dwarfing the strip of images of the Republican contenders. AllFacebook: Did Facebook and other social media platforms predict the outcome in Tuesday's election? AllTwitter: The Washington Post has created an app for election season that tracks Twitter and media mentions of all of the U.S. candidates. And considering the real-time nature of Twitter, it could prove to be a better measure of public sentiment than traditional polls. FishbowlDC: Many of us are in full-blown detox mode from the Iowa caucuses. After months of buildup, several reporters are ready to move on. MSNBC's Luke Russert started moving on before the caucuses even happened. On Tuesday afternoon, Russert began tweeting news stories from the District of Columbia and the 49 states other than Iowa to "slow down the Iowa hype." NYT / Media Decoder: Attention, politically opinionated pop stars: Plugging a presidential candidate may not help your sales, especially if that candidate is Ron Paul.

New York Times, Washington Post Expand Policing Of Article Pilfering Online (AdAge / MediaWorks)
The New York Times Co., The Washington Post Co., The Associated Press, and 26 other news companies began a joint venture to police websites that use their articles without consent and demand fees for legitimate use. Adweek: NewsRight launched Thursday with an impressive list of 29 investors that together represent more than 800 websites with a combined audience of nearly 170 million readers. Mashable: The company provides publishers with strings of HTML code to insert in their stories' headlines and text, so they can track the spread of each piece of their content. The encoded stories report to the registry, showing where and when a story is reblogged and read.

AP Branches Out Its Digital Syndication, Adds Pulse To The Mix (paidContent)
Over the years, The Associated Press has made a profile for itself by syndicating its news across thousands of newspapers both in the United States and abroad. Now as newspaper readers move to new platforms like tablets to consume their news content, the AP wants to make sure it is syndicating there, too.

NFL Viewership Dips Slightly In 2011 (B&C)
The National Football League's regular-season ratings were off slightly in 2011, with overall audience delivery slipping 2.1 percent from the 2010 season to an average of 17.5 million total viewers for all networks, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen ratings from Horizon media.

Gawker Blogger Fired After Post Invoking N-Word (NY Observer)
The Observer learned that Gawker blogger Seth Abramovitch was dismissed after a post that invoked a racial slur many considered to be in generally poor taste. Gawker.com editor A.J. Daulerio confirmed: "Yes, he was fired." TheWrap.com / Media Alley: "I thought it was a half-assed apology," Daulerio told TheWrap. "I basically do not want people working for the site who do not care. I had a conversation with Seth and he told me he really didn't care." NY Observer: Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton occasionally sends out missives for his company that usually contain a little bit of insight into the way his company is trending, which media watchers tend to obsess over like it's The Bible Code, looking for prophecies about the future of their industry from the blog network's fearless leader. This one, released Thursday, is already no different.

AOL Joins Forces With Bonnier's Parenting Group (FishbowlNY)
AOL and Bonnier's Parenting Group are teaming up. For AOL, the partnership means Bonnier's family-centric editorial content from Parenting.com will be shared with AOL.com, HuffPost Parents, and the AOL Family channel. AdAge / Digital: In a new type of partnership with a publisher, AOL has formed an ad-sales alliance with Bonnier's Parenting Group to help sell reserved ad inventory on Parenting.com, the digital home of Parenting magazine. At the same time, AOL will drive Web traffic to Parenting.com by featuring links to Parenting content on several AOL sites. The two companies will share revenue from combined campaigns. paidContent: AOL may have recently had a high-profile rap on the knuckles from a shareholder not pleased with the company's direction, but it has continued to forge ahead with its strategy to find innovative ways of growing the reach of its advertising network and traffic on its own content sites.

Second Life: Time Inc. Brand Brings 75 Iconic Years To iPad (minOnline)
Talk about the iPad helping to revive print! The keepers of the Life magazine brand knew a good thing when they saw it.

Google Wins Dispute Over YouTube Typo Domains, Names Ordered Transferred (Fusible)
In a no-brainer, a single-member panel with the National Arbitration Forum ordered that several YouTube typo domain names be transferred to Google. The domain names disputed in the case were: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com, and yutube.com.

Kevin Convey, Ousted News Editor, In Newsroom Farewell: He Was 'Blindsided,' Even Though His Successor Was Picked In October (Capital New York)
One day after the New York Daily News made the surprise announcement that it was hiring Colin Myler, late of Rupert Murdoch's infamous News of the World, to replace Kevin Convey as editor-in-chief, Convey convened his staff at 4 p.m. Thursday under the paper's venerable four-sided vintage clock in the center of the newsroom to bid farewell. NY Post / Media Ink: Most were surprised that Convey turned up in the newsroom one day after his demise was announced by internal memo to staffers. The Daily News did not cover the changing of the guard in its own pages, and Convey remained on the masthead Thursday as the top editor.

New Executive Editor, Other Moves At Better Homes And Gardens (FishbowlNY)
Better Homes and Gardens made a few moves Thursday. Oma Blaise Ford has been promoted from senior deputy editor, home design -- a position she has held since 2002 -- to executive editor of the magazine. Adweek: The company hired food editor vet Laurie Buckle for a new position called BHG food content core, where she'll develop cross-platform food content. Buckle previously had been the chief editor of Fine Cooking. She's also had editing stints at Bon Appétit and Food Network Magazine.

Former NCTC Director Joins NBC News (TVNewser)
NBC News has brought on former National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter as a counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and national security analyst.

NBCU Names Adam Stotsky General Manager Of G4 (B&C)
NBC Universal has named Adam Stotsky general manager of G4, reporting directly to Bonnie Hammer, chairman, NBCU Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios. LA Times / Company Town: Stotsky previously served as president of marketing for NBC Entertainment and spearheaded the "NBC: More Colorful" campaign. He replaces G4's president of the past six years, Neal Tiles, who NBCU said was leaving to "pursue new challenges." TheWrap.com: From 2001-08, Stotsky held various marketing positions for NBCU's Syfy network, where he expanded Syfy's portfolio into video gaming, licensing, and merchandising. THR: To date, Hammer, who inherited G4 in the Comcast merger, has been more focused on sister cable network E! Entertainment Television.

NBC Publicity EVP Rebecca Marks Re-Ups With Network (TheWrap.com)
Rebecca Marks, executive vice president, NBC entertainment publicity, has extended her contract with the network.

Variety Web Hound Sniffs Out Some Funny Deadline.com Business (FishbowlLA)
Rather than engaging a high-priced PR specialist to blast out email notices to L.A. media types, Variety has gone more in the Walter Winchell direction to protect its scoops. And FishbowlLA loves them for it.

Nook Holiday Sales Up 70 Percent This Year (eBookNewser)
Barnes & Noble reported Thursday that Nook sales during the nine-week holiday sales period increased 70 percent from the same period last year. This includes sales of the Nook Simple Touch, the Nook Color, and the Nook Tablet.