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WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Arrested In London (Mashable)
British police arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on an arrest warrant from Sweden that stems from accusations of sexual assault by two women Assange had met in Sweden during a business trip. The charges of rape were initially dropped, but the case was reopened and an appeals court has upheld the original accusations. Assange surrendered to the police himself, stating earlier that he agreed to meet with the U.K. police with regard to the outstanding warrant. Yahoo!: The spokesman for WikiLeaks says Assange's arrest is an attack on media freedom and it won't prevent the organization from spilling secrets on the Web. Kristinn Hrafnsson declined to comment on Assange's state of mind prior to the arrest but confirmed that he has been in touch with the 39-year-old Australian over the past 24 hours. He says the arrest will not derail the release of more secret documents.

Some News Outlets Stop Calling WikiLeaks A 'Whistle-Blower' (Yahoo! / The Cutline)
News organizations have seemed unsure about how to describe WikiLeaks. The Associated Press, for one, used "whistle-blower" as recently as Thursday in describing WikiLeaks, but it has since opted against it. AP spokesman Paul Colford didn't say whether the AP considers whistle-blower to be inaccurate. He simply said, "We think we have a better, clearer description, and that's what we're using." Wired / Threat Level: Days after Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs caused an uproar by warning its students against linking to WikiLeaks or discussing the secret-spilling Web site's latest cache of diplomatic cables online, the prestigious training ground for future diplomats has changed tack and embraced free speech.

Why A Day Of Tumblr Down Time Matters To The Entire Web And World (ReadWriteWeb)
Fast-growing lightweight blogging service Tumblr had been down for most of the past day, and its users were being mocked for their concern. But one person's silly diversion is another person's life-changing communication channel to the world. The fact that many suffer withdrawal when their publishing tool of choice goes down isn't just a symbol of our civilization's decline from meaning -- it's an illustration of how much things have changed because of these new technologies that have democratized publishing.

NY Times, B&C Editorialize On Comcast-NBCU Merger As The Process Nears Its End (TVNewser)
With the proposed merger between Comcast and NBC Universal entering its final stages, The New York Times and Broadcasting & Cable have weighed in on the deal in dueling editorials. B&C said the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission ought to get going and approve the deal. In an editorial yesterday, the NYT took a decidedly different position: "Regulators do not need to rush. The combined company would have the ability, and the incentive, to hamstring online innovation."

Which TV Channels Can't Cord-Cutters Live Without? (paidContent)
Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin reported the results of a request she made of 300 respondents in October: "Please list which TV channels you must have available online for you to turn off your TV subscription." The Big Four finished 1-2-3-4. While it may not seem impressive that HBO finished behind all four broadcasters and three cable channels, HBO is in less than one-third the homes of those networks and requires an additional charge.

Did Gawker's Attack On Barry Diller Go Too Far? (Forbes)
"Meet Barry Diller's Hot Gay Facebook Friend" was a follow-up, of sorts, to a recent Gawker post, "Barry Diller's Sexy All-Boy Thanksgiving," which featured the photos from a Thanksgiving 2009 trip. That story was putatively about Diller's use of corporate resources: "[G]iven IAC's lackluster stock performance, shareholders must be wondering whether they should subsidizing Diller's holiday temptations?" wrote its author, Ryan Tate. The newer post, by Brian Moylan, makes no such claims to legitimacy.

Tina Brown Consults Ciro Scotti On Beast Transition (Mediaweek)
The Newsweek-Daily Beast merger isn't final yet, but editor Tina Brown is moving forward, tapping longtime Bloomberg Businessweek managing director Ciro Scotti to consult during the transition. It's unclear how long his gig will last; the deal, announced Nov. 12, is expected to close in late December, but no official date has been set. His hire isn't a formal one, but his role appears to be a critical one.

Washington Post Watching Online Pay Experiments (AFP)
The Washington Post is monitoring efforts by The New York Times to charge readers online, but it has no plans to do the same for now. "On pay models, obviously, what The New York Times is doing is of interest to us," chairman and CEO Donald Graham told financial analysts at UBS' 38th Annual Global Media & Communications Conference. "We'll be watching it and we wish them well," Graham said, adding that his newspaper was also monitoring paywall efforts by Rupert Murdoch's The Times.

The Messy Falling Out Between The AP And iCopyright (paidContent)
Back in 2008, The Associated Press and iCopyright talked excitedly about their new partnership, an early attempt to make bloggers license AP's content instead of simply scraping it. Now, the two aren't so friendly anymore. iCopyright has sued the AP, and a copy of the suit is finally available. The AP has claimed, "[T]he lawsuit brought by iCopyright is without merit. AP plans to defend its rights vigorously."

How Online Reading Habits Have Changed Over 2010 (ReadWriteWeb)
One of the more subtle trends of 2010 has been the way that people's reading habits have changed due to a convergence of other Web trends: mobile apps, real-time Web (mostly Twitter), and social networking as a way to track news (mostly Facebook). In the previous era of the Web, the so-called Web 2.0, RSS readers and start pages were all the rage. Over 2010, though, more people used tools like Twitter, Facebook, Instapaper, Flipboard, LazyWeb, and Feedly to track news.

Newsday Redesigns Web Site, Offers Free Access Through Jan. 7 (Poynter / Romenesko)
In a memo to staff regarding the site's redesign, Newsday editor Debby Krenek points to its new color scheme and faster loading time. One month of free access to the revamped site is sponsored by Radio City Christmas Spectacular. "Every enhancement was inspired by feedback from our users and advertisers -- all part of an effort to continue improving our customers' experience. We want to showcase these improvements for those people who might be missing out," said Krenek.

Dexter Filkins Leaves The New York Times For The New Yorker (WWD)
Middle East correspondent Dexter Filkins is leaving The New York Times and heading to The New Yorker. But Filkins may not just be limited to the Middle East. "The plan here is to send Dexter to a wide variety of foreign stories that we will work out mutually," said David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker. "I'm sure that he will get his fill of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but I'd also be very surprised if he didn't travel far and wide -- whether that's the Middle East or Africa or India."

Give Patch A Chance (AJR)
When is a company hiring 500 journalists in a year a bad thing for journalism? According to some, it's when that company is Aol. One key difference between Patch and others in the hyperlocal space is Patch's decision to invest in locally based reporters producing original content, rather than relying on aggregation. That sounds like something journalists would get behind, but as Patch has swept through small towns across the country, a litany of complaints and allegations has followed.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Wins Plagiarism Lawsuit (HuffPost)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck has won a lawsuit charging her with plagiarism. The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts found no evidence that Hasselbeck had plagiarized a book by author Susan Hassett. Hassett contended that Hasselbeck, a co-host on The View, had plagiarized a book she had written on coping with digestive disorder celiac disease. Hasselbeck, who suffers from the disease, wrote a book on the subject called The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide.

'Digital Death' Campaign Raises $1M; Celebs Allowed Back On Twitter (TheWrap)
Those celebrities who died a "digital death" to raise money for an AIDS charity last week are no longer dead. The organizers of Alicia Keys' "Keep a Child Alive" announced Monday that the campaign has reached the $1 million mark in donations -- meaning Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian, and the rest of those who vowed to stay off Twitter and Facebook until their goal was met are free to Tweet and update once again.