Rumors are in the air this morning of big job cuts to the news divisions of NBC and MSNBC, as Jeff Zucker hacks up his old colleagues and saves the company a sweet $20-40 million. In other well-timed holiday media layoff news, The Wall Street Journal is planning newsroom buyouts, a Santa Barbara copy editor is fired (way harsh!) for a harmless gag gone wrong, and Viacom tells  freelancers to take their “benefits” and go straight to hell.

Spotlight: Global media forecast                                                                                 

The sinister-sounding Group M, which is in ...