iMediaEthics publishes at least two stories on media ethics news each day called Daily Media Picks or Media Briefs.  See below the top ten most read daily media picks and briefs from 2011.

10. Did Pakistan’s The Daily Express Break Off-the-Record Agreement?  Malik Ayub Sumbal, who joined iMediaEthics as a Pakistan-based correspondent earlier this year, reported on a November issue in Pakistan’s press.  After the Daily Express newspaper published a sensational quote attributed to U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter, the U.S. Embassy denied the quote’s accuracy. Read his Nov. 21 article about on-the-record and off-the-record reporting and the quote in question here.

9.  Ed Schultz Apologizes on Air for Not Attributing Info to Yahoo News’ Chris Moody:  In early December, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz apologized on air for no properly attributing information from a previous night’s program to Yahoo News’ Chris Moody. Moody’s post reported comments made by Frank Luntz at a speech.  Schultz apologized to Moody on his program Dec. 2 and Moody told us by e-mail that “the MSNBC producers went above and beyond when they realized the mistake.” See this Dec. 5 story here.

8.  Toronto Star Explains Naming Elderly Rape Victim in Nursing Home Abuse Reports:  Toronto Star public editor Kathy English explained and defended the newspaper for naming an elderly woman who is reportedly the victim of a rape that happened in her nursing home, as we wrote. See our Nov. 21 article here.

7.  Was AP Pic Photoshopped for Political Ad?  An Associated Press photo of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was reportedly Photoshopped for a U.S. Chamber of Commerce “attack ad,” we wrote earlier this month.  See this Dec. 5 story here.

6.  NYT Corrects Maureen Dowd  Column on Penn State Scandal:  The New York Times corrected a Nov. 9 column by Maureen Dowd about the allegations against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky in which Dowd used the wrong abbreviation for the school.  We wrote about this correction and criticism of the language used in reporting on the allegations against Sandusky in this Nov. 10 story.

5.  Washington Post Publishes Christopher Hitchens Obit with Placeholder Text: According to a JSchoolBuzz post, the Washington Post apparently jumped the gun in its Christopher Hitchens obituary and published a version with placeholder text for details of Hitchens’ death.  We wrote about this issue and reported that the Washington Post says the placeholder text was only up for a few minutes before the newspaper was able to fix the error. See this Dec. 16 story here.

4.  Utah Newspaper Apologizes for Photoshopped Photo on Front Page: Also in December, Utah newspaper the Standard-Examiner apologized after publishing a Photoshopped image on its front page in November.  The newspaper’s editor explained that the image was a composite and that the newspaper won’t use the contributor’s work anymore.  See the Dec. 17 story here.

3.  South Carolina Newspaper Publishes Expletive in Associated Press Sports Story:  South Carolina newspaper the Greenville News published the f word in a Dec. 1 Associated Press sports story, we wrote. The Greenville News quickly apologized but didn’t offer any information on how the expletive made it to print. See our Dec. 1 story here.

2.  Why does NYT Coca Cola Ad look like News without Disclosure?  We criticized the New York Times in a Nov. 15 article for its Coca Cola ad which rolled over the Times’ homepage.  The ad, while only on the screen for a few seconds,included a mock New York Times homepage with fake stories.  The Times defended the ad in an e-mail to iMediaEthics because the fake news home page “only lasts for a second or two.”   See our story here.

1.  Patch.com Article Promotes Writer’s  Business, No Disclosure Originally on Article:  We questioned a Decatur, Georgia Patch.com article that seemingly served as free advertising for the writer.  The writer, Joe Thomas, works for a company called Renewal System Solutions that provides the same service the article promotes. which isn’t clearly disclosed to readers.  After our e-mail inquiry to the Patch.com editor, a note was added to the story explaining that Renewal Systems Solutions offers the service in question.  Still, our questions weren’t answered about how or why this story was published and readers aren’t fully made aware of Thomas’ relationship to the story, we find. See our Nov. 18 article here.