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News Corp. Completes Takeover of Dow Jones (NYT)
Rupert Murdoch won his long-coveted prize Thursday when shareholders of Dow Jones & Company gave their blessing to a takeover by Mr. Murdoch's global media empire, the News Corporation. The vote gives Murdoch control over The Wall Street Journal, one of the world's most respected newspapers. AdAge: About 78 percent of the common shares voted in favor. Fortune: As Murdoch claims his hard-won prize, News Corp. is planning an unprecedented newspaper advertising campaign that at least two newspapers that usually have little in common have so far declined to run. Forbes: Louis Hau looks at a few items that Murdoch surely has on his to-do list.

Golden Globe Nominees Announced (Variety)
In television, the Globes have historically enjoyed getting a jump on the Emmys, and the latest round is no exception. Five first-year series that have yet to be eligible for Emmy consideration — Mad Men, Damages, Californication, ABC's months-old Pushing Daisies, and The Tudors — were extended series bids, accounting for nearly half the total.

Directors Offer Talks, Compounding Writers' Plight (NYT)
Movie and television directors said Thursday that they were prepared to begin bargaining toward a new contract with production companies after the New Year holiday, a move that could realign Hollywood's troubled labor front. The contract between the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is to expire on June 30. AP via WaPo: Union officials representing striking Hollywood writers said Thursday they have filed an unfair labor practices complaint claiming studios violated federal law by breaking off negotiations.

Defiant FCC Chief Refuses to Delay Vote (LAT)
Facing growing criticism of his agenda and tactics, a defiant Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, refused senators' requests Thursday to delay a vote next week on his plan to loosen restrictions on owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same city.

Years Ago, Baseball Writers Blew the Drug Scandal (E&P)
Yesterday's report by former Sen. George Mitchell on drugs in baseball quotes several newspaper articles from years ago to prove that this problem was not totally ignored. But in a lengthy probe last year, Joe Strupp found that, in fact, baseball writers mainly ignored the warning signs. TV Week: Networks not worried about steroid report's effect on fans.

What's the Frequency at The Atlantic? (NYP)
The Atlantic Monthly already had cut back to a publishing frequency of 10 times a year, but only now is the magazine getting around to dropping the word "monthly" from its corporate identity and officially changing its name to The Atlantic. The change comes as the magazine gets ready to uproot its sales and marketing staff in Washington, DC, and relocate 15 positions to New York.

Tom Freston on Axing: 'Sometimes You Need a Kick' (Portfolio)
If Sumner Redstone thinks Tom Freston is still kicking himself for not snapping up MySpace when he had the chance, he's in for some disappointment. Asked what he considers the biggest mistake of his career, Freston didn't even mention the social networking site — even though his failure to acquire it cost him his job running Viacom.

Discovery Holding to Become Public (NYT)
The owners of Discovery Communications, Advance/Newhouse, and Discovery Holding, have agreed in principle to combine their stakes and turn the company, an operator of cable TV channels, into an independent, publicly traded company. Discovery Communications oversees the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, and more than a dozen other American cable channels.

Is Gunn's New Gig OK!? (WWD)
Fashion guru Tim Gunn is one of fashion's newest ubiquitors, with several jobs including mentor on Bravo's hit reality series, Project Runway, and chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne. But the latter title seemed to create a conflict of interest with his role as a fashion advice columnist for OK!.

Permalancers, Unite! (The Nation)
The "MTV strike" has a resonance far beyond one company. The Warhol Economy, a new book by Elizabeth Currid, a professor of urban planning at USC, demonstrates that creative industries like art, fashion, design, and media are New York City's true economic engine.

Newsweek: Days-Old News, Competently Delivered (AdAge)
If something happens, Newsweek writes about it. Creativity rarely enters into the equation. That sounds like a knock, but there's a lot to be said for clarity of mission and execution, especially in this era of media diversamafragmentasaturation. Newsweek is nothing if not straightforward. You know precisely what you're going to get when you crack open an issue: the "news" of the "week," presented in a linear manner.

Is Monocle the Future of Magazines? (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: Monocle and Tyler Brûlé raise two key questions: Can rarefied information be sold like a luxury product? And why does some of the most out-there global coverage and trendspotting come from a tiny new magazine masterminded by a branding agency's creative director?

Dan Abrams' Surprise Caller: Drew Peterson (Eat the Press)
Rachel Sklar: Sometimes, you have to chase an exclusive down — and sometimes, it's waiting there for you on Line 1. That was the case Wednesday afternoon at around 5:30 pm when Abrams got an unexpected phone call from a surprise caller: Drew Peterson, husband of the missing Stacy Peterson, and widower of his deceased former wife, who was found dead in her bathtub.

Newspapers v. Facebook (Buzz Machine)
Jeff Jarvis: So should [Sweden's] Aftonbladet view Facebook as competition for attention — or its mission? I'm not suggesting that Aftonbladet should start its own social network; that would be the reflex of most media companies (we do it all ourselves). Instead, the question should be how to help the community where it is, doing what it does.

Polorization of the Extremes Online (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Cass Sunstein: As a result of the Internet, we live increasingly in an era of enclaves and niches — much of it voluntary, much of it produced by those who think they know, and often do know, what we're likely to like. This raises some obvious questions. If people are sorted into enclaves and niches, what will happen to their views? What are the eventual effects on democracy?