Mediagazer: The Year Of Kickstarter Journalism: Crowdfunding Is Doing What The News Industry Can't (Christopher Zara/International …)

5:20 PM ET, January 13, 2013

Top News:

John Schwartz / New York Times:

Aaron Swartz, Precocious Programmer and Internet Activist, Dies at 26 — Aaron Swartz, a wizardly programmer who as a teenager helped to develop a computer code that provided a format for delivering regularly changing Web content and in later life became an unwavering crusader …

Alex Stamos / Unhandled Exception:

The Truth about Aaron Swartz's “Crime” — I did not know Aaron Swartz, unless you count having copies of a person's entire digital life on your forensics server as knowing him. I did once meet his father, an intelligent and dedicated man who was clearly pouring his life into defending his son.

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

MIT Responds to Death of Activist Aaron Swartz, Begins Internal Investigation — Two days after Internet activist Aaron Swartz took his own life, the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has issued a public response, and will launch an internal investigation looking …

Discussion: @biellacoleman and Pastebin.com

Micah Allen / Neuroconscience:

Researchers begin posting article PDFs to twitter in #pdftribute to Aaron Swartz — Yesterday, as I was completing my morning coffee and internet ritual, @le_feufollet broke the sad news to me of Aaron Swartz's death. Aaron was a leader online, a brilliant coder and developer …

Discussion: Science Citizen, @drjaxon, @jayrosen_nyu, @sarahkendzior, @venturejessica, @youranonnews, Aid Economics, Gizmodo and New York Magazine

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Eugene C. Patterson, Editor and Civil Rights Crusader, Dies at 89 — Eugene C. Patterson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of The Atlanta Constitution during the civil rights conflicts of the 1960s and later the managing editor of The Washington Post and editor of The St. Petersburg Times in Florida …

Discussion: Poynter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Poynter and Tampa Bay Times

Christopher Zara / International Business Times:

The Year Of Kickstarter Journalism: Crowdfunding Is Doing What The News Industry Can't — As the publishing industry struggles to figure out a sustainable business model in the digital age, crowdfunded journalism projects have been taking off in droves on Kickstarter, where more and more …

Liz Alderman / New York Times:

Journalists in Greece Are Becoming Targets — The Greek police on Saturday were looking for the people responsible for detonating makeshift bombs at the homes of five journalists in Athens, the latest in a series of actions taken against reporters in Greece that have raised questions about a deteriorating climate for media freedom.

Discussion: RTÉ, BBC, Reuters and Big News Network.com

Chris O'Brien / Los Angeles Times:

Fred Wilson hints that Twitter is profitable — Hints that Twitter might be profitable could fuel IPO talk. (Fred Tanneau/ AFP/Getty Images) — Thursday night, I responded to a tweet by Howard Lindzon, chief executive and co-founder of Stocktwits, about newspapers and Twitter.

Discussion: @obrien, @fredwilson, @fredwilson, @fredwilson and Business Insider

Jim Romenesko:

Publisher: A set of stand-alone neighborhood news sites can't make it in Chicago — Mike Fourcher, who served as Journatic editorial director for a few months last year, is quitting his three-year-old Chicago neighborhood blog, Center Square Journal, and offering it to anyone who wants to run it as a non-profit.

Discussion: Street Fight

Jason Schmid / Daily Dot:

The rise of the channel, or the Bright Young Things of YouTube — When we think of “media empires,” we tend to think about the big dogs, most of whom—for whatever reason—also seem to be complete asshats. Murdoch. Cuban. Turner. — But now there's a new generation …

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of the digital-only paywall parade — Folly. Gigantic mistake. Rearview-mirror strategy. — Paywalls have taken their share of abuse since The New York Times reopened the digital circulation debate three years ago. But in those three years, my, how things have changed.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:

This is why WikiLeaks is important, and why the NYT should be defending it — Ever since WikiLeaks first emerged on the scene in 2010, there has been a debate about whether the organization should qualify as a media entity, and if so what duty we owe it. Many journalists have preferred …

Discussion: The Week

Matt Williams / Guardian:
Key witness in Bradley Manning WikiLeaks trial defends Reddit webchat

Discussion: SocialTimes

David Griner / Poynter:

How KKK rally image found new life 20 years after it was published — Buried on Page B1, alongside the hum-drum headline “KKK march calm,” a powerful image of race relations in the southern United States was nearly lost. In fact, it almost wasn't published at all.

Discussion: BAGnewsNotes

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Keeping Environmental Reporting Strong Won't Be Easy — Those who care deeply about environmental issues were understandably concerned Friday after learning that The Times was dismantling its special team - or “pod” - of seven reporters and two editors. — Beth Parke, executive director …

Discussion: Capital New York, The Politics of Poverty and kottke.org