Mediagazer: Activists Flood Government Agencies With FOIA Requests in Tribute to Aaron Swartz (Kim Zetter/Wired)

11:25 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: Quartz and New York Times

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

See Al Squirm: Gore Faces Tough Questions on Al Jazeera Deal — Word to the wise: If you're going to strike a deal that you're maybe not entirely proud of, wait until after your book tour to announce it. — Al Gore did things the other way around and all this week he's been paying the price for it …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post

Nikolas Kozloff / The Huffington Post: Al Jazeera America: Time for a New Cable Model?

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

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

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: AllThingsD and AdAge

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

BSkyB to Offer Sky Sports Channels Online-Only for $15.80 Per Day — CEO Jeremy Darroch says that the planned offer targets people who don't subscribe to the company's pay TV service and is priced to avoid cord cutting. — LONDON - U.K. pay TV giant BSkyB said Thursday …

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

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

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

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, Fox Business and Variety

Kim Zetter / Wired:

Activists Flood Government Agencies With FOIA Requests in Tribute to Aaron Swartz — In honor of the transparency fights that coder and internet activist Aaron Swartz led while alive, an online records processing service has submitted more than 100 public records requests on behalf of members of the public.

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 …

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.

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.