Mediagazer: Circa Raises $750K From Group Including Lerer Ventures To Revolutionize Mobile News Delivery (Drew Olanoff/TechCrunch)

6:25 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: @jackshafer, @ckrewson and Poynter

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 Huffington Post, The Verge, emptywheel and United States Senator …

Tim Carmody / The Verge:

Wikileaks claims Aaron Swartz was an ally and possible source, breaking anonymity — Unsubstantiated statements implicate US Secret Service in his prosecution and break the organization's own rules by ‘doxxing’ Swartz — Aaron Swartz died a week ago, from suicide.

Discussion: emptywheel, @wikileaks, @tcarmody, emptywheel, @jason_pontin, @dangillmor and @wikileaks

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: Top Digital Journal News, @jswatz, @macloo, @rajunarisetti 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, Deadspin and The Huffington Post

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:

Circa Raises $750K From Group Including Lerer Ventures To Revolutionize Mobile News Delivery — We've learned today that mobile news-delivery company Circa has raised another $750K on top of the $900K raised previously. The company launched its app of the same name, which allows you to follow …

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 …

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

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

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

Guardian:

John Witherow named acting editor of the Times — Publishing directors refuse to endorse appointments amid a standoff with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp over merger plans — John Witherow has been named acting editor of the Times after a bizarre standoff between Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation …

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, Digital Spy, The Drum and Telegraph

Ben Webster / The Times:
John Witherow appointed as Acting Editor of The Times

Discussion: Telegraph and The Daily Beast

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.