Mediagazer: Time Inc. Cuts Some 500 Jobs, Biggest Layoffs in Years (Nat Ives/AdAge)

3:30 AM ET, January 31, 2013

Top News:

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:

Hackers in China Attacked The Times for Last 4 Months — SAN FRANCISCO — For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.

Discussion: Guardian, Gawker, Forbes, Reuters, CNN, New York Magazine, BBC, TechCrunch, Boing Boing, Wired, CNET, Quartz, @s_rabinovitch, @jacqui and @missxq

BuzzFeed:

Al Jazeera America Has Received More Than 8,000 Applications — Lots of competition for just 160 positions. — Within 24 hours of posting openings for the majority of their new positions, Al Jazeera America received 5000 applications for open positions, a number that has grown to 8,063 …

Nikolas Kozloff / The Huffington Post:

Al Jazeera America: Time for a New Cable Model? — In a witheringly condescending article, Guardian columnist Michael Wolff recently mocked the launching of Al Jazeera America, a new cable network that will compete with the likes of Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Hardly mincing words …

The Huffington Post:
Fox News Ratings Hit 12-Year Demo Lows In January Cable News Figures

Discussion: The Week, Politico, TVNewser and The Raw Story

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Matt Buchanan Leaving BuzzFeed For The New Yorker — In a move that is a reverse of the hordes of journalists leaving old school jobs for BuzzFeed, Matt Buchanan, the editor of FWD, the site's tech vertical, is leaving for the more august shores of The New Yorker.

Discussion: @gartenberg, @blam, @jwherrman, @lheron and @blam

Nat Ives / AdAge:

Time Inc. Cuts Some 500 Jobs, Biggest Layoffs in Years — Storied Publisher Resumes Reductions to Employee Rolls — Time Inc., the publisher of magazines including Time and Sports Illustrated, has begun eliminating about 6% of its head count — nearly 500 jobs — in the biggest round of cuts at the company since 2008.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, The New York Observer, @erik_maza, AllThingsD, mediabistro.com, WWD Media Headlines, Bloomberg, Audience Development, Media & Entertainment, @tcarmody, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, Adweek, The Wrap, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal:
Time Inc. Begins Staff Cuts

Discussion: Poynter, paidContent, Media Decoder, AllThingsD, @keachhagey and Politico

Jim Romenesko:

SPJ kills print edition of conference newspaper — Buried in the Society of Professional Journalists president's winter meeting notes is news that SPJ will no longer produce a print version of its Working Press newspaper at SPJ's annual conference. … SPJ will still offer …

Discussion: Freedom of the Prez

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Afghan Media Faces Uncertain Future As U.S. Withdraws — Danish Karokhel, like all Afghan journalists, couldn't report freely during Taliban rule in the 1990s. The Islamic fundamentalist regime allowed only a single, state-run outlet, Radio Sharia, on the air.

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Why Apple is the stumbling block in Amazon's ebook transition — Nobody can predict the future, but Amazon thinks that when it comes to ebooks the writing is on the wall. — “We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting,” CEO Jeff Bezos said in the company's fourth-quarter earnings report, released Tuesday.

Discussion: Softpedia News

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

After Scientology Debacle, The Atlantic Tightens Native Ad Guidelines — A little over two weeks after The Atlantic got egg on its face over a sponsored Web post by the Church of Scientology, the media brand has issued new guidelines for so-called native advertising. They're live on the brand's site now.

Discussion: Poynter and The Huffington Post

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Vimeo announces content ratings: Videos will now be marked for All Audiences, Mature, or Not Yet Rated — On Wednesday, Vimeo announced it is bringing content ratings to its videos. As of today, videos on Vimeo will have a little badge next to their title, labeled as one of three types: All Audiences, Mature, or Not Yet Rated.

Discussion: Vimeo Staff Blog, Engadget and The Verge

Matt K. Lewis / The Week:

Why I hate Twitter — The social sharing tool was once a vision. Now it's a prison — S — oren Dayton and Rob Bluey — two conservative tech geniuses — talked me into joining Twitter during a lunch Ed Morrissey organized at an Iraqi restaurant in Minneapolis during the 2008 Republican convention.

Discussion: The Awl, Daily Download, mediabistro.com, FishbowlDC, The Daily Caller, @mikeisaac, @mlcalderone and @juliemmoos

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Guardian CEO Andrew Miller on paywalls, mobile, and going global — The story of the news industry at the moment is the interplay between contraction and expansion. As publishers reduce the size of their operations, they're also looking outward to new products, new coverage areas — or new geographies.