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Must-reads of the week

Aaron Swartz's life and death, Deadspin's Manti Te'o blockbuster, The Atlantic's Scientology ad, Facebook's new Graph Search
January 18, 2013

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Culled from CJR’s frequently updated “Must-reads from around the Web,” our staff recommendations for the best pieces of journalism (and other miscellany) on the Internet, here are your can’t-miss must-reads of the past week:

Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend, the most heartbreaking and inspirational story of the college football season, is a hoax — Did a star athlete concoct a fictional dead girlfriend for publicity?

R.I.P. Aaron Swartz — Cory Doctorow remembers his friend, the Internet activist and co-creator of RSS and Reddit

The inside story of Graph Search — Facebook’s new personalized search engine

When advertorial bites back — Jack Shafer on The Atlantic‘s Scientology sponsored post

SPONSORED — The Taliban is a vibrant and thriving political movement

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White House responds to petition to construct a Death Star by 2016 — “Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?”

A Different World was the last black sitcom to be a hit — but why?

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The Editors are the staffers of the Columbia Journalism Review.