Mediagazer: For Media Now, ‘Talent Trumps All’ (Brian Morrissey/Digiday)

5:00 AM ET, August 14, 2013

Top News:

TIM ARMSTRONG: I Made An Emotional Mistake Firing That Guy — AOL CEO Tim Armstrong just sent out the following memo to AOL staff, which we've obtained from a source inside the company. — The memo is in reference to Armstrong's firing of Patch creative director Abel Lenz on an all-hands conference call last week.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Times, Valleywag, CNNMoney.com, @pkafka, CNET, Mashable, @charlesjb12, @ezraklein and @morningmoneyben

Jim Romenesko:

Patch ad sales down since it was announced that layoffs and site closings are coming — “Over the last 5 sales days, we have amassed our worst results of the year,” Patch director of U.S. sales Jim Lipuma tells his ad-sales force in a memo he put out today.

Discussion: Capital New York, Valleywag, Business Insider, @jyarow and @romenesko

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Apple acquires second screen TV startup Matcha.tv (scoop) — Updated at 6:01 p.m. (PST) with a response from Matcha.tv CEO Guy Piekarz. Update #2 at 7:35 p.m. with clarification on the acquisition price. — Apple's latest acquisition is the recently-shut down second-screen TV/video app Matcha.tv …

Discussion: TechCrunch, India's Technology News …, The Verge, @macformat, MacRumors, CNET, 9to5Mac, @awallenstein, Engadget, AllThingsD, Pocket-lint, AppleInsider, Variety, App Advice and MACé" blog

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

Bleacher Report Founder Responds to Fury Surrounding His New ‘Feminist Publication’ — Bryan Goldberg speaks to TheWrap about Bustle, his controversial $6.5 million women's website — Bleacher Report founder Bryan Goldberg revealed his new web venture on Tuesday, raising questions of journalistic integrity and sexism in the process.

Discussion: PandoDaily, @ajdaulerio, @mccarthyryanj, @calebgarling, @nicole, Forbes, @weareyourfek, @judyberman, @fraying, @ktheaney, @erikmal and Betabeat

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:
Bleacher Report Co-Founder Bryan Goldberg Raises $6.5 Million To Launch A Site For Women, Bustle

Discussion: @thestalwart, @carynrose, @carynrose, @lock, @emilybell, @mslopatto, Business Insider, @mikeisaac, @espiers, @lizgannes, @carynrose, @jamilsmith, FishbowlNY, Pulse 2.0, @antderosa and @bgoldberg

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Blacked Out in 3 Cities, CBS Still Wins Ratings Race — The 11-day old blackout of CBS on Time Warner Cable systems seems to be having a minimal effect on the network's ratings. — Last week, the first full week of blocked service for more than three million Time Warner customers …

Discussion: The Wrap and Los Angeles Times

Dseyler / Radio & Television Business Report:
California senators call for end to CBS-TWC sparring

Discussion: Variety, Forbes, voices.mydesert.com, IVCPOST, Home Media Magazine, TVSpy and USA Today

Jay Barmann / SFist:

S.F. Chronicle Finally Abandons Paywall? — It appears that the Chronicle's exclusive content, which has been locked behind that dreaded subscriber paywall since they launched it in late March, has magically appeared today again for free on SFGate, without much fanfare.

Discussion: SF Appeal, bizjournals, @caseynewton, The Snitch, @musicsf and CNET

Peter Maass / New York Times:

How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets — This past January, Laura Poitras received a curious e-mail from an anonymous stranger requesting her public encryption key. For almost two years, Poitras had been working on a documentary about surveillance, and she occasionally received queries from strangers.

Peter Maass / New York Times:
Q. & A.: Edward Snowden Speaks to Peter Maass

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

Journalism Has Entered A Golden Age — CNN host Brian Stelter was kind enough to have me on his show, “Reliable Sources,” over the weekend. In response to one question, I said that journalism has entered a “golden age.” — Judging from the Twitter reaction, many of Brian's viewers agreed.

Discussion: @martingiesler, @hamishmckenzie, @cayseyw, @davewiner and @mmasnick

Tom Ramstack / Reuters:

U.S. WikiLeaks judge overrules objections on classified testimony — (Reuters) - The judge hearing the court-martial of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks, on Tuesday overruled defense attorneys' objections over classified testimony against their client.

Discussion: @beingmyselfaok, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Guardian

Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:

Getty Museum's Open Content project makes 4,600 pieces of art freely available to download — Much of the world's great artwork is tightly controlled, but the Getty Museum just announced a significant initiative to open things up — its new Open Content Program has made some 4,600 pieces of art from the museum's collection free to use.

Discussion: @globalmoxie, Engadget, @karalee, @glennf, The Getty Iris and UnBeige

Canberra Times:

Public servants warned: watch what you say — Public servants have a “special job” and should be unsurprised if they are disciplined - even sacked - for criticising the government, an employment law specialist says. — Last week, the Federal Circuit Court rejected Michaela Banerji's application …

Discussion: Geekosystem and Sydney Morning Herald

Brian Morrissey / Digiday:

For Media Now, ‘Talent Trumps All’ — NBC News yesterday announced it acquired Stringwire. The purchase added a user-generated streaming video platform but also buffed up the media organization's tech ranks with Stringwire founder Phil Grossman, who will join NBC News as a product lead out of its San Francisco office.

Discussion: @digiday and @vouchey

Brian Ries / The Daily Beast:

Syrian Electronic Army Strikes Again, Hits SocialFlow, New York Post — You might want to change your Twitter password. On Tuesday, the Syrian Electronic Army hacked Twitter accounts belonging to SocialFlow and The New York Post, writes Brian Ries. — It seems no one's safe from the Syrian Electronic Army.

Discussion: Softpedia News, @saramorrison and @haroonmeer