Mediagazer: Observer Names CEO (Keach Hagey/Wall Street Journal)

10:50 PM ET, January 21, 2013

Top News:

Lionel Barber's email to FT staff outlining digital-first strategy — Editor's email to staff outlines detailed proposals for reshaping the paper for the digital age — In my New Year message, I said 2013 would test our resolve to move further and faster to support top quality journalism in a rapidly changing media landscape.

Discussion: Crikey, paidContent, NetNewsCheck Latest and Talking Biz News

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Financial Times editor announces digital-first strategy — Lionel Barber to cut 35 jobs in ‘big cultural shift’ for business daily — The Financial Times editor, Lionel Barber, has announced plans to move the title to a digital-first strategy in a move he described as a “big cultural shift” for the business daily, and cut 35 jobs.

Discussion: Crikey

Katherine Rushton / Telegraph:

The Financial Times to axe staff in digital shift — The Financial Times is to axe 35 jobs as part of plans to make “a big cultural shift” from a traditional print news organisation to a digitally focused “networked business” in a bid to compete with social networks and information-gathering services like Google.

Discussion: Politico

Danny Yadron / Wall Street Journal:

Meet Ethan Sattler, 13 Years Old, White House Reporter — Perhaps no reporter faced more scrutiny from guards at the White House gate Monday morning than Ethan Sattler. — Mr. Sattler, 13 years old, does not have a driver's license. His Virginia child ID card lists his height at 4 feet 3 inches …

Julie Moos / Poynter:

Inauguration front pages combine Obama's second term, Martin Luther King Jr. legacy — President Obama's inauguration on Monday, January 21, 2013 coincides with the federal holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Many inauguration front pages combined the two.

Discussion: Forbes, Capital New York, New Yorker, The Daily Beast, VentureBeat and The New Yorker Blog

Jim Romenesko:

Sinclair Broadcasting ‘owns’ social media accounts of its on-air talent — WHAM-TV (Rochester, NY) reporter Rachel Barnhart tells her followers that Sinclair Broadcasting, which recently acquired WHAM, has a policy of “owning” the social media accounts of its on-air talent.

Noam Cohen / New York Times:

How M.I.T. Ensnared a Hacker, Bucking a Freewheeling Culture — In the early days of 2011, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology learned that it had an intruder. Worse, it believed the intruder had been there before. — Months earlier, the mysterious visitor had used …

Discussion: emptywheel and Media Nation

Simon Dumenco / AdAge:
Why the Prosecution of Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Matters to You, Personally

Discussion: Betabeat

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Random House's new Facebook app: If you liked Evelyn Waugh, you'll love the Berenstain Bears — Online book discovery doesn't work very well. Random House is attempting to address that problem with a new Facebook app, BookScout, that gives users book recommendations from multiple publishers, not just Random House.

Leslie Kaufman / Media Decoder: An App to Sift Through Books

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Observer Names CEO — Jared Kushner has tapped his brother-in-law, Joseph Meyer, to be the first chief executive of the Observer Media Group, the Kushner-owned entity that houses the New York Observer and other publications. — The move comes as part of a broader overhaul of the leadership of Observer Media.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Amazon Children's Publishing expands with more books for younger kids and teens — Amazon is expanding its children's publishing footprint with two new imprints based out of New York, the company announced ahead of the American Library Association's annual meeting this week.

Discussion: PublishersWeekly.com

Gina Hall / L.A. Biz:

Dish takes shot at CBS in new ad for Hopper — Some see controversy, others see marketing opportunity. The recent scandal over Dish Network being denied the Best of CES award has yielded a unique advertising concept for the company, which involves calling out the apparent bad guy in the situation, CBS.

Discussion: MediaPost and Mashable!

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Myspace Is Accused of Using Music Without Permission — Last week, Justin Timberlake's new song, “Suit & Tie,” did double promotional duty. Not only was it a teaser for Mr. Timberlake's latest album, but it also served as an introduction for a revamped version of Myspace, the once-mighty social network and music site.

Discussion: VentureBeat, WebProNews, Mashable! and The Verge

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Google vs. the press: avoiding the lose-lose scenario — Google and the French press have been negotiating for almost three months now. If there is no agreement within ten days, the government is determined to intervene and pass a law instead. This would mean serious damage for both parties.

Discussion: Guardian

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Searching for Relevance: Yahoo Aiming to Be the “Google of Content” — Earlier today in Germany, new Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro pretty much told a crowd at the DLD conference in Munich that the portal — which he is now responsible for helping run — needs a drastic overhaul.

Discussion: TechCrunch

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

NI chief to hold meeting with Times directors over new editors — Mike Darcey to meet six directors after they failed to endorse Rupert Murdoch's choice to edit Times and Sunday Times — The chief executive of News International is to talk with the independent directors of the Times …