Mediagazer: YouTube halts funding for WSJ and Reuters channels; Reuters cuts positions (Hamish McKenzie/PandoDaily)

2:50 PM ET, January 19, 2013

Top News:

Memo: The Atlantic president explains Scientology advertorial ‘screw-up’ — The Atlantic president Scott Havens sent this staff memo about the Scientology advertorial “screw-up” shortly after 6 p.m. Friday: — From: Havens, Scott — To: companywide.TheAtlanticMonthly — Dear Atlantic Staff,

Discussion: Poynter

Patrick B. Pexton / Washington Post:

The Post uses someone else's words — again — Has technology made us all plagiarists? The Internet and Google have enabled every reporter, blogger and columnist to have what amounts to a million encyclopedias at their fingertips. We can search for material on virtually any subject …

Discussion: @jswatz, @macloo, @rajunarisetti, The Wrap and Poynter

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

YouTube halts funding for WSJ and Reuters channels; Reuters cuts positions — YouTube has cut off funding to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters that formed part of its $150 million dollar plan to help launch more than 100 premium channels. The termination of the one-year deals …

David Folkenflik / NPR:

The Manti Te'o Story: Why The News Media Let Its Guard Down … One of the top collegiate football players in the country, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was lionized by the media amid stories of his perseverance on the field after both his grandmother and his girlfriend died.

Discussion: ESPN, L.A. NOW, SBNation.com and The Huffington Post

Jim Romenesko:

Gawker Media sets traffic record with Deadspin's Manti Te'o blockbuster — For the first time ever, Gawker Media drew more than 10 million U.S. visitors in one week. The memo to Gawker staff: … * Te'o story is still on top of the Gawker Media Big Board (gawker.com/stats)

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:
So the Manti Te'o Scandal Is Some Sort of Indictment of Online Culture? Nonsense!

Discussion: Deadspin, The Smoking Gun and L.A. NOW

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Senator John Cornyn Asks Eric Holder To Explain DOJ Prosecution Of Aaron Swartz — While we've seen some politicians in Congress speak out about the prosecution against Aaron Swartz, for the most part, it had been the “usual crew” of folks who had formed the core of the anti-SOPA alliance — Reps. Lofgren, Issa and Polis.

Discussion: Lessig Blog, v2, The Public Domain, The Verge, The Huffington Post, The Verge, emptywheel and United States Senator …

Nieman Journalism Lab:

Across the world, money to support journalism startups comes from a variety of sources — Editor's note: Late last year, a team of researchers put out a usefully comprehensive report on how digital journalism is being financed. The project was called Submojour — sustainable business models …

Hunter Walker / Politicker:

How Ed Koch Helped Make Nikki Finke a Reporter — Nikki Finke during her days in Mr. Koch's office as depicted in a 1974 New York Times engagement notice. — Former New York Mayor Ed Koch has had an influence in Hollywood as well as the Big Apple. Before coming to City Hall …

Discussion: @penenberg

Ann Friedman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Is the homepage dead? — A friend of mine who is a Web editor at a political publication recently complained to me that his outlet's clunky CMS made updating the homepage difficult, and he was worried this was hurting traffic to the top pieces of the day. I laughed at him!

Discussion: Garcia Media

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:

Time Warner Cable Bans Some Gun Ads — Company-wide Initiative Comes Weeks After Sandy Hook Tragedy — Just weeks after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Con., Time Warner Cable has initiated a company-wide ban on certain gun ads.

Discussion: Polygon, Mediaite and Deadline.com

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Armstrong Confession Draws 4.3 Million Viewers to Oprah's Network — The first part of Lance Armstrong's doping confession to Oprah Winfrey drew about 4.3 million viewers to OWN on Thursday night, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings released on Friday.

Discussion: AdAge, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, TVNewser, Chickaboomer and PressGazette

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Journal News removes gun map, citing New York's new gun law — Ed Tagliaferri, the executive vice president of DKC Media, forwards this statement from Janet Hasson, Publisher of the Journal News, the New York state-based newspaper that published the “gun map” featuring the names and addresses …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Raw Story and Gannett Blog

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Publicist sues FishbowlDC for libel — Washington, D.C., publicist Wendy Gordon has filed a lawsuit over a series of unflattering photos that the media-gossip site FishbowlDC ran of her, Zoe Tillman reports. … Gordon's complaint says she isn't a public figure, and the posts …

Discussion: Politico, The BLT, The Wrap, The Daily Caller and The Huffington Post