Mediagazer: The SEC's weird newswire investigation (Felix Salmon)

10:20 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.

Adam Martin / New York Magazine:

Chinese Hackers Stole Every New York Times Employee's Password — On Wednesday night, after enduring four months of hacking, the New York Times finally reported its computer network had been infiltrated and that it had ousted its attackers, who it linked to the Chinese military.

Discussion: New York Times

Kate Holton / Reuters:

Sports and catch-up TV help BSkyB beat forecasts — (Reuters) - Pay-TV group BSkyB (BSY.L) added a better-than-expected 88,000 customers in the second quarter, drawing them in with a mix of good programming, sports and popular technology which helped the group to beat profit forecasts.

Discussion: Reuters, Agence France Presse, Sky News, BBC, Fox Business, London Evening Standard, The Next Web and Deadline.com

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
BSkyB to Offer Sky Sports Channels Online-Only for $15.80 Per Day

Discussion: Guardian, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Huffington Post UK

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Satellite TV Provider DirecTV Makes Strategic Investment In Video Ad Startup FreeWheel — Video ad company FreeWheel is announcing this morning a big new client, which is also making a strategic investment in the firm. Satellite TV provider DirecTV has chosen the startup to improve monetization …

Discussion: AdAge

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Philadelphia group launches campaign to save newspapers — A group called Save Philadelphia Newspapers has launched a petition drive “in support of the papers and the journalists and other workers who produce it,” a notice from the group on the Philly Guild page says.

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild …, Philly.com and Save the Philadelphia …

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

Shelby Grad / L.A. NOW:

Ring accused of burglarizing the homes of Times subscribers — Three men have been arrested on suspicion of burglarizing the homes of Los Angeles Times newspaper subscribers while they were on vacation, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Discussion: Guardian

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, Audience Development, Media & Entertainment, @tcarmody, The Wrap, The Wrap, New York Magazine, Adweek and The Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal:
Time Inc. Begins Staff Cuts

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

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 …

BuzzFeed: Al Jazeera America Has Received More Than 8,000 Applications

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Viacom Beats Profit Estimates on Higher Fees for Pay-TV Networks — Viacom Inc. (VIAB), owner of the Paramount film studios and cable networks such as Nickelodeon and MTV, narrowly topped analysts' profit estimates on higher fees from pay-TV operators and Internet services that carry its programming.

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline.com, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Variety and Fox Business

Felix Salmon:

The SEC's weird newswire investigation — A couple of weeks ago, the WSJ's Brody Mullins had a big story about the fact that the SEC was investigating a political-intelligence consultancy named Marwood. Marwood doesn't seem to have done anything wrong, but the very fact that it was being investigated was …

Peter Schorsch / SaintPetersBlog:

Poynter Institute reports a $3.8 million annual loss for 2011; a significant drop from year before — In November of 2012, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies hired Christine Martin to head its new foundation and to increase philanthropic support for the institute.

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.