Newer Titles: While it didn't quite have the legacy of the above-mentioned titles, it would be a mistake not to mention Condé Nast's decision to close Condé Nast Portfolio in April. Launched in 2007 with a reported commitment of $100 million by Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, the magazine was described by more than a few commentators as "the last big magazine launch" (or some variation thereof). With its impressive staff and spectacularly hyped rollout, it's difficult to imagine any publisher attempting to undertake the creation of a title from the ground up in quite the same way ever again.

If you've made it this far, you're probably hoping for a little good news right about now. What follows is a partial list of media entities started this year.

Comcast-NBC: After a few weeks of rumors—beginning online via upstart Hollywood and media news site The Wrap—and months of back-and-forth negotiations (not to mention a cameo by News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch), cable provider Comcast took a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal. General Electric, former majority owner, retains 49 percent. It's still too soon to know what the partnership means, but NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker is reportedly overseeing the newly merged entity. What it may mean for Jay Leno is anyone's guess, but, thankfully, no one's talking about "synergy" anymore. Even if Conan O'Brien is singing and dancing in tribute to his new corporate overlords.

Tiger Woods: Sure, the golfer and pitchman has been a superstar since at least the mid-'90s, but with his recent marital troubles and attendant tabloid coverage, a new and entirely different Woods has been revealed. More than merely exposing his peccadilloes and poor choices, the tawdry coverage of Woods has shown the world someone messy and all too human, separate, and somewhat more relatable (though far from honorable) than the technically proficient golf champion and bland, personality-deprived corporate pitchman. In attempting to cover up his affairs by leveraging his celebrity—as revealed by the Wall Street Journal—Woods has exposed yet again the way celebrities and the media that cover their every success, failure, and Starbucks run are often in cahoots. Only the most naive among us don't know how celebrities and the media collaborate to construct fantastic narratives around these ordinary people who happen to have extraordinary jobs. This collusion sells product—be it a movie, a sports drink, a magazine, a consulting and accounting company, or a living, breathing brand. (In 2008, the New York Times' Brooks Barnes revealed similarly symbiotic relations between the tabloids and Angelina Jolie.) So while part of Woods definitely died this year—at least the part of him that many blue-chip companies wanted to sponsor—another part of him was born: A complicated, far from innocent, even pathetic figure. As Woods goes about reconstructing his image, whatever emerges on the other end of this very public embarrassment will be different from what we've seen before. It may also offer a how-to (or more likely, a how-not-to) for shamed public figures in the future.

Alternative Currency: As paying jobs have disappeared for media workers and the economic models upon which their (former) employers have traditionally relied fall away, new forms of currency have come to replace, well, currency. One such form is something media commentator Jeff Jarvis has taken to calling (as far back as 2008) "the link economy," which he explained in a YouTube video from January as follows: "Content is valueless without links. It's links that give it value. That's not to say that that content doesn't have value anymore, but if it's the tree that fell in the forest and no one heard it, did it really fall? Content must have links to have value." How that value pays for the content is unclear—besides in increased page views which prompt (in theory) higher ad rates. On the creator side, journalists who found themselves suddenly shut out of the real economy because of layoffs or the de-professionalizing of their industry have come to invest very seriously in an imaginary economy almost as worthless as the pretend gold in the multiplayer game World of Warcraft: the aggressive accumulation of followers on social-networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. The most absurd example of this eyeball hoarding was actor Ashton Kutcher's campaign to get 1 million followers for his Twitter feed, even going so far as to "race" CNN to this utterly arbitrary goal. What does one earn with 1 million followers on Twitter? It's unclear, but it's a million times what one earns with a single follower: Affirmation. This may also explain why so many current and former journalists are willing to write for free for the Huffington Post (and write about why they write for free, like Raymond Leon Roker): It keeps them in the conversation and maybe keeps the party invites and "review copies" of books flowing in. Thousands of professional writers may have lost their jobs, their publications, and their paychecks, but with Twitter, the Huffington Post, and Facebook, they get to still call themselves writers and can still feel like they have an audience of readers. That and a few billion in W.O.W. gold will earn you…well, nothing you can pay your mortgage with anyway.

New Titles: Even in the media's darkest hours, some brave souls went into startup mode. Former New York Times reporter Sharon Waxman launched The Wrap, which despite a shaky start, went on to break some major stories like the talks between Comcast and General Electric over NBC Universal. (Not a bad scoop for any news organization, much less one that was less than a year old.) This year also saw the creation of a small blog empire by Jay Penske's Mail Media Corporation, including the acquisition of Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood and the relaunch of Movieline and the hiring of former celebrity magazine editor Bonnie Fuller for Hollywood Life. Nonprofit news sites like the Texas Tribune and Bay Area News Project were launched and announced and both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal rolled out beefed-up San Francisco editions. Esquire and GQ each created iPhone versions of their titles, and a consortium of leading publishers including Time Inc., Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, and News Corp. announced a partnership for a digital newsstand to be unveiled sometime in 2010. On the actual newsstand, Afar, a San Francisco-based magazine dedicated to "experiential travel" launched with a splashy party and a serious commitment to both long-form journalism and the tactile potential of print. Will any of these be around in 2011? Stay tuned.

Snappy Comebacks: Finally, another birth deserving of special mention. Shortly after Condé Nast Portfolio closed in April, American City Business Journals purchased the title and relaunched the magazine as a standalone website. It may have a smaller staff and a slightly different emphasis than the magazine it replaced, but some people seem to like it. Full disclosure: You're reading it right now. And we thank you for it.