Mediagazer: Fortune Writes Articles Exclusively for Advertisers (Lucia Moses/Adweek)

5:00 PM ET, March 7, 2013

Top News:

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Facebook Is Making The World's ‘Best Personalized Newspaper’ — Facebook is making a major News Feed announcement today. — The changes will be the biggest in News Feed's 7-year history. They'll make News Feed easier to sort through and more personalized.

Discussion: Facebook Newsroom, The Verge, Forbes, Forbes, VentureBeat, Poynter, CNET, TechCrunch, PC World, Los Angeles Times, The Next Web, @jguynn, @fmanjoo, @mbaratz, @fmanjoo, @thestalwart, @jguynn, @mbaratz, @willmcavoyacn, @davidlidsky and @jguynn

Ryan Tate / Wired:
With News Feed Overhaul, Facebook Delivers Your ‘Personalized Newspaper’

Discussion: Facebook and VentureBeat

Josh Halliday / Guardian: Facebook overhauls news feed to give more space to music, games and ads

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale to Al Jazeera (Exclusive) — A $5 million lawsuit claims Gore was “adamant” about not selling his network to oil-rich Qataris but had a “change of heart,” then stiffed the man who came up with the idea for the deal. — Current TV's $500 million sale …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, UPI, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Chickaboomer, The Daily Caller, TVNewser, thehindubusinessline.com and New York Magazine

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

AOL's Tim Armstrong: If I Had My Druthers, I'd Buy Time Inc. — The merger that brought AOL and Time Inc. together under the same roof 13 years ago is widely regarded as the single worst deal in corporate history. If he had the means, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong would love to recreate it — in part.

Discussion: NYConvergence.com and Media Decoder

Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch said to have voiced doubts about corporate ‘clean-up’ unit — Mogul said to have questioned his decision to set up unit that provided information to police, leading to arrest of Sun journalists — Rupert Murdoch is said to have privately voiced doubts about his decision …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: Rupert Murdoch seeks to reassure bailed Sun journalists

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

Pandora Shares Jump 18% After Better-Than-Expected Earnings, Mobile Revenue Up 111% To $80.3M — Veteran streaming radio platform Pandora released its fourth quarter earnings today, in which it saw its fiscal 2013 revenue of $427.1 million, representing a 56 percent year-over-year increase …

Discussion: MarketWatch

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Record labels object to Apple's proposed low royalty rate for streaming service — Apple has opened talks with record labels about getting rights for a music-streaming service — but has gotten plenty of push back because its offer is seen as way too cheap, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Media Decoder, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNET, Pocket-lint, 24/7 Wall St., 9to5Mac, AllAccess.com, The Verge, Music Week, MacRumors, FMQB, Clickmusic, Electronista, Gizmodo and hypebot

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Fortune Writes Articles Exclusively for Advertisers — Advertisers looking to escape the dreaded advertorial trap and give consumers content they'll actually read has helped create the boom in native advertising or branded content. At the same time, publishers continue to seek ways to make their editorial work harder for them.

Discussion: 10,000 Words, @pkafka, @pkafka and @jayrosen_nyu

Washington Post:

Doug Feaver Named The Washington Post's First Reader Representative — The Washington Post today announced Doug Feaver as its first reader representative. Feaver will serve as an advocate for readers, responding to their questions and concerns. He will work closely with Alison Coglianese …

Discussion: Poynter and Politico

Matthew Lynley / Wall Street Journal:

Recommendation Engine Outbrain Acquires Editorial Data Startup Visual Revenue — Outbrain, a content-recommendation startup based in New York, is acquiring Visual Revenue, a startup that gives editors of news sites tools and data to help with decision-making when setting up page layouts online.

Discussion: Beet.TV, VentureBeat, MarketWatch and Globes Online

Richard Engel / Vanity Fair:

Richard Engel Reveals a Diary of His Syrian Kidnapping—and How His Captors Terrorized Their Victims — NBC News's Richard Engel was dispatched to cover Syria's civil war last December when he lived every war correspondent's nightmare: he and his crew were dragged from their car at gunpoint …

Discussion: Politico, @richardengel and TVNewser

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Movie Sales Increased With Shutdown of Piracy Sites — Shutting major piracy websites can increase online revenue for movie studios, a new study has found. — In research to be released on Thursday, a pair of academics found the closure of the “cyberlocker” site Megaupload and its sibling Megavideo …

Discussion: Deadline.com and Home Media Magazine

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Alloy Digital, Owner of YouTube's Top Channel, Raises $30M — Alloy Digital, which operates the most subscribed channel on YouTube, secured a $30 million Series A investment from ABS Capital Partners, the company announced on Thursday. — The new money arrives after two years …

Discussion: AllThingsD, NetNewsCheck Latest, VatorNews, Tubefilter and Deadline.com

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

Time Inc out of time as Time Warner gets out of ink — You know the show's over when their parent company has lost interest in four of the greatest US magazine titles ever — So far, everybody seems super-respectful about the spin-off of Time Inc from Time Warner, eerily unmindful of what an astounding calamity the process has been.

Discussion: cjrogers.com, Folio, Media Week and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jason Del Rey / AdAge:
Time Warner to Spin Off Time Inc.; CEO Laura Lang to Exit

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Radio & Television …, Forbes, Media Decoder, FishbowlNY, Media News, The Daily Beast and Bloomberg

Jonathan Skillings / CNET:

Nook Media signs up for more Hollywood content — The Barnes & Noble unit unveils new content licensing partnerships with major studios and content providers including Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, National Geographic, and Little Pim. — The Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ — The Nook is stocking up on video.