Mediagazer: ‘Rise of the Drones’ Is Mostly a PBS Infomercial for the Military Defense Industry (Kevin Gosztola/The Dissenter)

5:00 PM ET, January 25, 2013

Top News:

John P. Falcone / CNET:

Updated Aereo app adds improved live TV streaming to Roku — Aereo's streaming TV service gets an upgraded app that allows for live and recorded local television viewing without the need for an iPad or iPhone, as it gears up to expand beyond New York City. — The Aereo app on Roku boxes …

Discussion: @pkafka, @learmonth and @sdkstl

Tim Carmody / The Verge:

CNET forbidden from reviewing Aereo following CBS-Dish controversy — Editorial policy after CES Awards nightmare leads to fancy footwork by news team — This week, live-TV startup Aereo released an update to its Roku app, adding a new visual interface and enabling full control with the Roku remote.

Discussion: The Consumerist

Jim Romenesko:

At CNET, ‘morale is plummeting and people are pissed off’ — A disclosure attached to a CNET story posted on Thursday. — There had been hints around CNET that the edict might be overturned. During a meeting last Friday, Reviews editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine sounded optimistic.

Discussion: Techdirt and plus.google.com

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

New York Times' Pilhofer: 'There's a lot of institutional memory walking out the door' — The New York Times' round of buyouts that ended Thursday landed heavily on some of the organization's digital leaders: Jonathan Landman, who took charge of the paper's digital newsroom in 2005 …

Discussion: Politico, @joepompeo and The Awl

Michael Calderone / Huffington Post:
New York Times Buyouts Push Veteran Journalists To The Exits

Discussion: New York Post, mediabistro.com, Capital New York, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer and Poynter

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:
New York Times editor to take 75,000 Twitter followers out the door with him

Discussion: SocialTimes, @antderosa, @michaelroston, ZDNet, @palafo, eMedia Vitals, VentureBeat and Politico

New York Business Journal:

American Media teams with USA Today on magazines — American Media Inc., publisher of “National Enquirer” and “Men's Fitness” is joining with newspaper USA Today to publish 12 special magazines using a “Best Of” theme in 2013. Editorial will be developed by both companies with the goal of providing …

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD: Timehop Hooks Up With USA Today to Deliver Stories From the Past

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Why publishers should follow the Verge-HuffPost aggregation dustup — It might be hard to understand why staffers at tech site The Verge complained so loudly about a Huffington Post “linkout” that sent readers to a Verge feature. After all, isn't the Web built on such selfless acts of curation?

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's … and BuzzFeed

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Ex-Officer for C.I.A. Sentenced to 30 Months in Leak Case — ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The first Central Intelligence Agency officer to face prison for disclosing classified information, was sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison by a judge at the federal courthouse here.

Discussion: Associated Press, BBC, The Raw Story, Politico and Boing Boing

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

What Kind of Anchorman Will Jake Tapper Be? 'They Don't Want Me to be Ron Burgundy' — Former ABC ace Jake Tapper, who debuted on CNN Tuesday, says that his being passed over — twice — as ‘This Week’ anchor was not the reason he left the network. — When ABC chose CNN's Christiane Amanpour …

Discussion: mediabistro.com

Jim Romenesko:

Boston Globe considers stand-alone digital subscription to Ideas section — A Romenesko reader sent the above screenshot of a Boston Globe survey. The paper's Ideas section was launched in 2002. Founding editor Alex Star described its mission this way in 2003: “The section is trying …

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

For interested buyers looking at the numbers of Tribune newspapers, one bright spot will stand out: the price. — Soon, the next act of the Tribune newspaper agonies will play out. That's agonies, as in a Biblical passion play. The Tribune papers have endured a special kind of agony …

Discussion: LA Observed

Kevin Gosztola / The Dissenter:

‘Rise of the Drones’ Is Mostly a PBS Infomercial for the Military Defense Industry — The widely-acclaimed PBS program, NOVA, premiered a documentary on unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. The documentary, “Rise of the Drones,” was produced to explore how the technology is revolutionizing warfare …

Digits:

Could Cord Cutters (and Lena Dunham Fans) One Day Get a Crack at HBO? — It's a cord-cutter's dream: the chance to get HBO without having to pay for the full television package. Comments by HBO's new chief executive, Richard Plepler, on Thursday night suggest that while a standalone HBO broadband offering …

Discussion: The Consumerist

Erik Wemple:

Roger Ailes biography sparks an Internet shopping spree — Gabriel Sherman should be flattered. People seem to believe that the New York Magazine writer's pending, unauthorized biography of Roger Ailes will be a big deal. Look at all the attention that's come his way since he started working on it: