Mediagazer: iBooks Author EULA restrictions invite antitrust concerns (Chris Foresman/Ars Technica)

11:35 AM ET, January 24, 2012

Top News:

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Gannett Buys Big Lead Sports Owner Fantasy Sports Ventures — Gannett has bought Fantasy Sports Ventures, a Web sports network best known for its Big Lead Sports site. Gannett invested in Fantasy Sports back in 2008. — Gannett doesn't disclose a purchase price in the press release announcing the deal …

Jim Hopkins / Gannett Blog:

Memo: GCI to reveal new model for weak USCP; plan could be biggest news revamp in five years — Corporate is poised to announce a revamping of its U.S. community newspapers next week, the latest since the launch of the digital-first Information Center model in 2006, according to a company memo.

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

ABC News and Yahoo! Launch New Political Web Shows — ABC News's partnership with Yahoo! has resulted in several new web shows launching this week. — Two of the shows are extensions of long-running blogs from George Stephanopoulos and Jake Tapper. “George's Bottom Line” …

Discussion: Media Buyer Planner

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter: How ABC News built a top social media presence with a small dedicated team

Staci D. Kramer / paidContent:

David Kenny Replacing Mike Kelly As CEO Of The Weather Channel Companies — In a surprise move, The Weather Channel Companies is swapping out CEOs. David Kenny is replacing Mike Kelly as CEO effective immediately; the Akamai-Digitas vet also will be chairman of the company owned by a consortium …

Discussion: AdAge, Adweek, Multichannel News, mediabistro.com, TVNewser and Broadcasting & Cable

Jay Yarow / Business Insider: Yahoo Board Member David Kenny Is Going To Be CEO Of The Weather Channel

Joel Gunter / Journalism.co.uk:

John Kampfner: Westminster lobby coverage ‘extraordinarily pliant’ — Index on Censorship chief tells Leveson inquiry that the UK media is ‘fundamentally weak’ and urges judge not to ‘go down the statutory route’ on regulation reform — John Kampfner, chief executive of free speech NGO Index …

Discussion: Guardian

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
More questions for Mahmood to answer at his Leveson recall

Discussion: George Galloway, allmediascotland, Future of Journalism and @skynewsbreak

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent:

Jon Miller, News Corp.: It's All About Video For Us Right Now — Jon Miller, the chief digital officer for News Corporation (NSDQ: NWS), described his company's digital strategy today as very “focused on video”, with a view that even properties that come from a print tradition should be producing more video content than they are today.

Discussion: Epicenter and CJR

Chris Foresman / Ars Technica:

iBooks Author EULA restrictions invite antitrust concerns — Apple's end user license agreement for the iBooks Author app has generated extensive controversy among authors and publishers. Namely, the agreement restricts paid distribution of “works” created with the software to the iBookstore only.

Discussion: Daring Fireball, more at Techmeme »

Jamie Condliffe / Gizmodo:

Julian Assange Is Getting His Own TV Show — Julian Assange has announced that he's going to have his own TV show, where he'll interview “key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries”, and it's going to be hitting the screens in spring. Is there anything this man won't do?

Discussion: CNET, Future of Journalism, WikiLeaks, Gawker, New York Magazine, The Next Web and New Statesman

Patrick Smith / TheMediaBriefing:

Has blogging queen Huffington really failed in the UK? — It's been a long-running discussion among UK online journalism enthusiasts over why blogging didn't develop the same way it has in the US. For all the Guido Fawkes and Mumsnets we have, there isn't much to match Gawker, Techcrunch …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Ingrid Lunden / paidContent: Updated: Can HuffPo Pull Off A Double Whammy With A New Video News Service?

Elaine Sciolino / New York Times:
Editor Is the Story as French Huffington Post Debuts

Discussion: Associated Press and paidContent

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales: MPAA CEO Christopher Dodd should be fired — Speaking about Wikipedia's blackout and further support to abolish the controversial SOPA and PIPA bills, Jimmy Wales went on record at the DLD Conference in Munich to call out Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) …

Discussion: Future of Journalism and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Public Petitions The White House To Investigate Chris Dodd & The MPAA For Possible Bribery

Discussion: WebProNews, PC Magazine, Media Money … and International Business Times

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

News agency chief: Why Google News doesn't work — A news agency has expressed unease over how Google News operates and criticised the search engine's reluctance to discuss the “closely guarded” criteria it uses to judge media organisations. — Michael Leidig, the founder and owner …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

The Deal Professor, the New York Times and M&A coverage — TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE — Last year, New York Times tech columnist David Pogue was criticized for agreeing to make an appearance at a paid event for a public relations firm related to the tech industry.

Discussion: Poynter

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:

Social TV Startup Bluefin Labs Lands $12 Million Investment — A Bet That Social Data Will Become Essential for TV Marketers — If there's any doubt that social TV is poised to become big business, Bluefin Labs is trying to put that to rest. The Cambridge, Massachusetts social-analytics startup …

Elana Zak / 10,000 Words:

Surprise As ProPublica Image Posted On Facebook Goes Viral — The next time you log onto Facebook to post your latest article, think twice about what you share. Instead of copying in the link, why not share an image from the story instead? — That method worked well for ProPublica.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, NetNewsCheck Latest and Future of Journalism

Jim Romenesko:

Chicago Tribune will keep endorsing candidates — We will keep doing election endorsements. It takes a lot of work to investigate these races and talk to the candidates and make an informed recommendation to readers, but I think endorsements are at the heart of what an editorial board does.