Mediagazer: The New York Times now boasts 668,000 paying digital subscribers, Q4 revenue rises to $575.8m (Robin Wauters/The Next Web)

3:50 PM ET, February 7, 2013

Top News:

Farewell, neighbors — We're sorry to report that EveryBlock has closed its doors. — It's no secret that the news industry is in the midst of a massive change. Within the world of neighborhood news there's an exciting pace of innovation yet increasing challenges to building a profitable business.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, paidContent, NetNewsCheck Latest, Adweek, Chicago Business, Lincoln Square, IL Patch, @pelletk, @dancow, @dancow, @romenesko, @digiphile, @dancow, @jkocherhans, @jamesrbuk and Kirk LaPointe's …

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

NBC closes hyperlocal, data-driven publishing pioneer EveryBlock — NBC News has shut down EveryBlock, one of the early pioneers of data-driven hyperlocal community news and information. — The decision took effect today. Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and chief digital officer of NBC News …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Street Fight, Gawker, TechCrunch, @scottros, The Verge, @tomcoates, @ryansholin, @dancow, @a_l, @chanders, @sdkstl, @adrianholovaty, @kevindgrant, @amyhoy, @iandees, @elisharene and The FJP

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Shuts Down Hyperlocal Web Site — EveryBlock, a pioneering Web site for hyperlocal data-driven journalism, was shut down by its owner, NBCNews.com, on Thursday, disappointing long time fans of the site. — Hundreds of its users posted comments bemoaning the closure and wondering why it happened without warning.

Discussion: @ejacqui

Adrian Holovaty:

RIP Everyblock — I'm very saddened by today's news that EveryBlock has been shut down by NBC News. — I founded EveryBlock in 2007 after receiving a grant from the Knight Foundation. It was launched in January 2008 by an original team of four (Wilson Miner, Dan O'Neil, Paul Smith and me) and was acquired by msnbc.com in 2009.

Discussion: ReadWrite, GeekWire and @lheron

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

News Corp. Admits 'World's Worst-Kept Secret': It's Planning ESPN Clone — Quarter after quarter, analysts have asked News Corp. executives about report that the media conglomerate intended to start its own national sports network to compete with ESPN, and the executives have duly played it coy.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:
Phone-hacking scandal: News Corp costs rise to $360m

Discussion: Management Today, The Week UK, The Independent and Guardian

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
News Corp. says its split-up is on track

Discussion: Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest, Media Week, Crikey, New York Magazine and Bloomberg

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:
News Corp. Posts Gain on Strength of Cable Channels

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, AdAge, Home Media Magazine and The Wrap

Robin Wauters / The Next Web:

The New York Times now boasts 668,000 paying digital subscribers, Q4 revenue rises to $575.8m — The New York Times Company today reported strong earnings for the fourth quarter of and full year 2012. — The publisher's total revenues increased 5.2 percent to $575.8 million from $547.4 million in Q4 2011 …

Discussion: Poynter, New York Times, Newsonomics, mediabistro.com, @edmundlee and The Wrap

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

New York Times posts ho-hum numbers, slow digital growth [updated] — This story was updated at 12:05pm with details from the company's earnings call, including the state of its dividend. — The New York Times Company posted earnings on Thursday morning that show the company's ongoing struggle …

Discussion: The New York Times Company, AdAge, Guardian, @jackshafer, CNET and Forbes

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: ‘Times’ C.E.O. Mark Thompson promises a ‘new strategy,’ details in April

Rick Edmonds / Poynter: At New York Times, 65% of digital-only subscribers are ‘entirely new’

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Coming Soon: A Juniors' Edition of The New York Times? — A new CEO is supposed to bring a new way of looking at problems. So how's this for some new thinking from New York Times Co. chief Mark Thompson: He's looking at launching an edition of the paper just for youngsters.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and @jeffjohnroberts

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

What would a New York Times for the youngs look like? — The New York Times is considering some kind of “entry-level” product aimed at a younger audience. What would this product look like and what should it cost? As a (late) twenty-something, I felt qualified to speculate.

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Digital magazine sales doubled in second half of 2012, as newsstand sales dropped — The number of U.S. consumer magazines sold on tablet devices and other mobile platforms in the second half of 2012 more than doubled from the same period a year earlier, according to the latest figures released today …

Discussion: Adweek, Media Decoder, MinOnline, The Wrap and FishbowlNY

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
Digital magazine sales still tiny overall, but titles like Reader's Digest see huge growth

Discussion: Alliance for Audited Media and Folio

Neal Ungerleider / Fast Company:

How Jihadists Use Twitter, And Soon Even Instagram — A new research paper tracks how and why Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organizations and their sympathizers use social media. — Violent jihadists prefer foreign-language online web forums for their online social networking …

Discussion: The FJP

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

US media yet again conceals newsworthy government secrets — The collective self-censorship over a US drone base in Saudi Arabia is but the latest act of government-subservient ‘journalism’ — The US media, over the last decade (at least), has repeatedly acted to conceal newsworthy information …

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Download, TIME, Politico, The Daily Beast, @sulliview and BBC

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Circulation and ad revenue down at McClatchy — McClatchy's circulation revenues were down in the fourth quarter of 2012, the company said in an earnings report released Thursday morning. Circulation revenue fell 1.9 percent, and advertising revenue was down 6 percent.

Discussion: Sacramento Bee and PR Newswire

Ben Sisario / Media Decoder:

Warner Music Group Buys EMI Assets for $765 Million — 12:02 p.m. | Updated The Warner Music Group, the smallest of the three remaining major record companies, said on Thursday that it had reached an agreement to pay $765 million for the Parlophone Label Group, a package of divestments …

Discussion: BBC, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Billboard