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CNN Officially Severs Ties With Larry King (LA Times / Company Town)
CNN and Larry King are going their separate ways. Although King gave up his daily primetime talk show on CNN in December 2010, he still had a deal for several specials. The last of those -- A Larry King Special: Dinner With the Kings -- aired in December. NYT / Media Decoder Last month, it was reported that King, 78, was planning to participate in an online venture with Carlos Slim Helú, the Mexican billionaire who is also an investor in The New York Times Co. No such venture has been formally announced, and King's lawyer did not immediately respond to an email message Wednesday. TVNewser Janelle Rodriguez has been promoted to vice president of programming for CNN. B&C Rodriguez had previously served as director of programming for CNN, a position to which she was promoted in 2010. During that time, she oversaw all Atlanta-based programs, including weekday and weekend editions of CNN Newsroom. FishbowlDC CNN.com managing editor Meredith Artley announced Wednesday that Manuel Perez has been named editorial director for CNN Digital.

On Cable News, Covering Syria From Afar (Mostly) (TVNewser)
There continues to be a massive civil war in Syria, but thanks in part to a government crackdown on foreign journalists, coverage on cable news tends to be from afar.

ABC News Taps Social Media Analytics Company Bluefin Labs For Election Coverage (TVNewser)
ABC News is collaborating with MIT-spawned social media analysts company Bluefin Labs for its 2012 election coverage. As part of the agreement, ABC will have exclusive access to data visualization provided by Bluefin during a number of key election events, including debates, the party conventions, and election night itself. AdAge / Campaign Trail Now that Rick Santorum is the latest not-Mitt candidate to bubble to the surface of the GOP primary race, he's being treated as such. Which means that Mitt Romney and associated groups are going to open up the negative nozzle all the way. Salon.com In his new TV ads, the Republican contender tries to be upbeat and nice, while splattering mud on Mitt. TVSpy President Barack Obama spent his afternoon Tuesday sitting down for interviews with a handful of local stations -- an activity that has become a regular part of the president's schedule. Those asking questions Tuesday included WAGA's Amanda Davis, KLAS' Paula Francis, WFLA's Keith Cate, and WBTV's Paul Cameron. CJR / The Swing States Project If KLAS-TV was hoping to break news, the station was likely disappointed. Still, Francis brought to the White House and queried the president on some of Nevadans' key concerns -- a mission arguably more important than unearthing a scoop. TechCrunch What if political candidates could see the public's reaction to their debate answers in real-time while they're on stage? That's the future laid out Wednesday at Stanford University during the Future of Media Conference by Twitter's director of content and programming, Chloe Sladden. CJR / Campaign Desk Talk radio and Fox News bully the GOP candidates into line -- and, in the process, offer a narrow vision of conservatism.

PMN Seeks To Reduce Newsroom Positions By 37 (Philadelphia Inquirer)
In a cost-cutting move, the parent company of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com said it will reduce the number of newsroom positions by 37 -- through buyouts, it hopes -- by the end of March. Poynter / MediaWire The company will offer buyouts first, and then begin layoffs if necessary. The three separate newsrooms are expected to merge when they move into their new location, scheduled for June. NYT Last week, Gregory J. Osberg, CEO and publisher of PMN, summoned the news organization's three most senior editors to his office. Over three hours, he told them that he would be overseeing all articles related to the newspapers' impending sale. If any articles ran without his approval, the editors would be fired, according to several editors and reporters briefed on the meeting who did not want to be identified criticizing the company's leadership.

Lawsuit Alleges Enquirer Layoffs Driven By Age (Cincinnati CityBeat)
As the Cincinnati Enquirer staff braces for another reduction in staff, the paper and its parent company might not yet have seen the full fallout of its decision to cut staff last year. Two of the newspaper's former editors, Joe Fenton and Cathy Ruetter, have filed an age-discrimination lawsuit against the newspaper and Gannett that soon could snowball into a much larger legal action.

CBS Posts Higher Earnings In 4Q (B&C)
CBS reported higher earnings despite lower revenues and a flat ad market. NYT For the fourth quarter, CBS' total profits were $370 million, or 55 cents per share, up from $283 million (41 cents). Revenue of $3.78 billion was slightly lower than analysts' expectations, partly because of unfavorable comparisons to the same quarter in 2010. At that time, the company benefited from political ad spending and a syndication sale of crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. LA Times / Money & Co. CBS offered a rosy outlook for its fiscal year, predicting that a bounty of political advertising dollars would flow to its local TV and radio stations as part of the already contentious presidential race. TheWrap.com Annual revenue increased just 1 percent, while profits jumped 41 percent to $1.32 billion. The company's adjusted earnings per share of $1.94 set a new record and marked a 74 percent increase over fiscal 2010. AllThingsD CBS makes about 20 shows at its own production facilities, primarily for itself. But the broadcaster may end up producing something for Netflix, CEO Les Moonves said Wednesday during the company's earnings call. TheWrap.com Moonves sees Netflix as a buyer, not a threat. Adweek Moonves Wednesday made a bold prediction about the broadcaster's Super Bowl prospects, telling investors that his sales team will set an all-time unit-cost record in 2013. Speaking on the media conglomerate's Q4 earnings call, Moonves said he anticipates landing "a potential $4 million per spot" in Super Bowl XLVII, which is scheduled to be played in New Orleans Feb. 3, 2013.

Murdoch Wedding Singer Charlotte Church Now His Phone-Hacking Nemesis (AdAge / MediaWorks)
Charlotte Church, the Welsh pop star who sang for free at News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch's wedding in 1999, when she was 13, is now his nemesis in the first civil trial over the company's U.K. phone-hacking scandal. NYT / Media Decoder News Corp. said Wednesday that it hired ad executive Hamish McLennan to oversee relationships with global brands, creating a new but non-specific position near the top of the company.

Is Politico Looking To Revive Politico TV? (TVNewser)
Way back in 2008, political newspaper and website Politico announced that it was getting into the TV news business with Politico TV.

Bon Appétit Releases Digital Edition (FishbowlNY)
Bon Appétit's new digital edition for tablets launches with its March Tastemaker issue.

Facebook Launches Verified Accounts And Pseudonyms (TechCrunch)
Facebook, a service built on real names and real identities, will start allowing prominent public figures to verify their accounts Thursday, and then opt to display a preferred nickname instead of their birth name.

Update: The Word 'Tweet' Is Still Not In The New York Times Style Guide (NY Observer)
In June 2010, New York Times associate standards editor Phillip B. Corbett issued a proclamation within the newsroom effectively putting the kibosh on the word "tweet" without technically banning it.

Is The AP Suing An Aggregator Or A Search Engine In The Meltwater Case? (Nieman Journalism Lab)
The Associated Press is heading into court to defend its copyright, but its leaders swear they're not on a crusade against aggregators. How the case evolves could pivot on how a court considers the site AP is suing -- as a news clipping service or as a search engine.

Should 911 Calls Be Broadcast On TV? (TVNewser)
Sometimes when the TV is left on after the news goes off, you pick up a piece of information that can become a story. That's what happened Wednesday morning when the doctors from The Doctors, a syndicated show seen in New York on WCBS at 9 a.m., made a bold declaration that the broadcasting of 911 calls should not be allowed.

AOL May Never Be Able To Patch Up Patch (Fortune)
It was supposed to be a savior. AOL's hyperlocal news venture, Patch, was created to fill the void left by the death of local newspapers around the country. Now, the savior of local news may need saving.

Facebook Accused Of Helping Sarkozy's Online Makeover (France 24)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has a brand new Facebook profile. On Wednesday afternoon, before he had even announced his candidacy, some of his opponents were openly accusing Facebook of deliberately helping him boost his online image. AllTwitter He has two tweets to his name, under 24 hours on the network, and over 40,000 followers: not bad for a first day on Twitter. Sarkozy signed up for Twitter in time for the official start of his re-election campaign Wednesday.