The media business, you may have heard somewhere, is in upheaval. Anyone with a stake in the production of content needs smart dissection of business models, careful parsing of data and, of course, pointed investigations that cut through the hype that always accompanies technological change. Too bad strong acts of journalism are few and far between, with most media writers chasing their own tails.

There have, however, been a few standout pieces of reportage and analysis of late, a few of which we’ve assembled below for your convenience.

Craig Mod on the iPad. Confused as to what impact the iPad, the technological innovation of the year, will have on the printed word? Then you should consult Craig Mod, a book designer/developer/writer/photographer who was inspired by the introduction of the Apple device to write one of the most insightful and useful bits of media theory I’ve seen of late.

Mod identifies a distinction between formless and definite types of content. Formless content includes paperback books and other texts that have the same meaning regardless of the container. As such, they’re just as happy on a Kindle or iPhone as they are on paper. Definite content, on the other hand, derives its meaning from the form in which it’s presented, meaning that it could either be in paper form (say, a photo-heavy book) or on a multimedia device like the iPad. Writes Mod, “Formless content goes digital. Definite content gets divided between the iPad and printing.”

That’s Mod’s single set of rules, a welcome moment of icy-cold clarity in a period of intense chaos and confusion.

Business Insider’s Investigation of Mark Zuckerberg. Way too long and accompanied by way too much back-patting, Nicholas Carlson’s probe of the Zuckerberg’s dodgy behavior during Facebook’s early days is still worth reading for the colorful details about the wunderkind mogul. Some of those deets, especially Zuckerberg’s hacking of the Harvard Crimson, foreshadowed the privacy storm Facebook is now enduring.

Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” Rant Against Apple. For years now, we’ve relied on Stewart to say aloud what mainstream media types are thinking but too afraid to utter. He didn’t let us down in the wake of Gizmodo’s possibly illicit purchase of the next generation of the iPhone. While his remarks were sparked by the criminal investigation into the scoop, the general sentiment could be applied to other aspects of Apple public acts: Its war on Flash, its control of the media, its arrogance about communicating with investors. Said Stewart, “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Microsoft was supposed to be the evil one. But now you guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitos.”

Felix Salmon’s “Blogonomics: On Monetizing Readers.” The Reuters financial blogger didn’t get everything right in his war of words with Business Insider’s Henry Blodget over the most sensible model for online journalism. But in a page view-obsessed age of link-baiting, slideshow-ambushing and content farming when quality is often sacrificed for quantity, Salmon’s was a much-needed source of reason. Also necessary was his send-up of digital publishing’s most desperate — and user-unfriendly — revenue grabs : “Reading a blog entry in a web browser shouldn’t turn into a game of Frogger where you have to make sure not to mouse over any word which has been underlined twice, for fear that it will open up an intrusive pop-up video ad.” (Breaking Media’s view on the issue can be found here.)

Matt Creamer is executive editor of Breaking Media. You can follow him on Twitter at @matt_creamer.