Media Bistro's GalleyCat blog gives their choices for publishing's darkest moments in 2009. They will follow up with a similar brightest moments article soon, and now are inviting suggestions.

Because of the brevity of GalleyCat's post, I'll mention only one of their five picks and suggest that you go to their site for links to articles about each event. Perhaps the most interesting (but least important) is the six-figure book deal that Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich received after his corruption scandal.

Flash Fiction Online reported on an earlier 2012 apocalypse reprieve. That reprieve merely gave us another eight years to live. Now, NASA is on crusade to debunk 2012 apocalypse myths. That Google link is more newsy-looking. This one (Ask an Astrobiologist) and this one are more NASA-like. And this Daily Mail (UK) one has better images.

Dude, that's like a total reprieve. Ew!

However, will 2012 be a disaster for the movie producers?

This story via SlashDot: you have to admire this guy. In Monrovia, Liberia, a place with poor access to news via the state-run media, a man uses a low-tech solution to broadcast news: a dry erase board. He watches the news and summarizes it on a publicly accessible "white board." He apparently has many appreciative readers of this analog blog. Here is the SlashDot article, which leads to one with a video.

News about the news:

RIP: Don Hewitt, creator of CBS's "60 Minutes" has died.

In a somewhat related story: Dan Rather is still suing "60 Minutes" over the contested document ("Memogate") that Rather used during then-President Bush's re-election campaign to question his military record : 2009 suit and 2007 suit.

Recently:
RIP: Walter Cronkite (who Dan Rather replaced upon retirement) has died. Cronkite is often linked to Rather in terms of the legacy of CBS.

Here is a piece that shows the tension among these people, but keep in mind that this is about comments made by Rather's biographer, not the journalist, so you'll have to consider the potential bias (more than usual).

Unrelated, another news icon:
RIP: Robert Novak, cable news commentator and news columnist has died.