Mediagazer: New York Times Weaves Custom Ads Into 'Snow Fall'-Like ‘The Jockey’ (Michael Sebastian/AdAge)

12:35 PM ET, August 14, 2013

Top News:

Source: New York Times Website Hit by Cyber Attack — Developing: The corporate and media sites of The New York Times (NYT) were experiencing a major cyber attack on Wednesday afternoon, according to a source close to the matter. — The source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature …

Discussion: Deadline.com and @weldpond

Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:

New York Times Website Down — The homepage and article pages for what appears to be a large portion of the site became unavailable to users. On Wednesday, The New York Times website was down apparently due to technical difficulties. The website appears to have been unavailable …

Discussion: @foxbusiness, Associated Press, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, @nytimes, @emmagkeller, @fmanjoo and @edmundlee

Cordt Schnibben / Spiegel Online:

Circulation Declines Hit German Papers a Decade after America — It came to Germany almost a decade later than America, but the newspaper crisis is sweeping the country, with plummeting circulations and revenues. The German news media must reinvent itself in order to retain readers.

Discussion: @amonck and @jeffjarvis

Hannah Allam / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

U.S. journalist marks year in captivity as risks increase for war reporters — WASHINGTON — Tuesday marked a year since American journalist Austin Tice was detained while covering the civil war in Syria, one of at least 14 news media workers who've vanished or been seized in the past year, according to press advocacy groups.

Discussion: Poynter, The Huffington Post and @freeaustintice

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

New York Times Weaves Custom Ads Into 'Snow Fall'-Like ‘The Jockey’ — ‘This Time We Learned From Our Mistakes’ — “The Jockey,” The New York Times' new 10,000-word profile of horse racing legend Russell Baze, will draw comparisons to “Snow Fall” for its immersive web design and multimedia elements.

Discussion: VentureBeat, @brianstelter and @jayrosen_nyu

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Sorry, Craig: Study Finds Craigslist Took $5 Billion From Newspapers — For years, newspaper publishers have been saying Craiglist cut the legs out from under their industry by offering a cheap, easy online alternative to their classified advertising pages.

Discussion: MediaPost, Reuters, FishbowlNY, @abeaujon, @jackshafer and The Snitch

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Apple acquires second screen TV startup Matcha.tv (scoop) — Apple's latest acquisition is the recently-shut down second-screen TV/video app Matcha.tv, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who asked to remain anonymous. Matcha.tv was an iOS app that provided a comprehensive overview …

Discussion: Fast Company, Guardian, ZDNet, TechCrunch, The Verge, BGR, @macformat, India's Technology News …, TUAW, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Pocket-lint, MacRumors, FierceOnlineVideo News, WebProNews, CNET, Variety, @awallenstein, AppleInsider, App Advice, AllThingsD and Softpedia News

Wichita Business Journal:

Connecticut city council passes resolution opposing Koch buy of newspaper … The city council in Hartford, Conn., passed a resolution this week opposing the idea of a Koch brothers' takeover of their local newspaper, the Hartford Courant. — The Kochs are rumored to be among the interested buyers …

Discussion: Hartford Cityline

Jim Romenesko:

Where Boston Phoenix journalists landed after the alt-weekly closed in March — Peter Kadzis says of the gray day that the 47-year-old weekly paper closed: “At the moment — and still in retrospect — it had a dream-like quality. There was that pull between the unconscious …

Discussion: Media Nation, @vanyaland617, @kadzis, @wesleylowery, @dankennedy_nu and @phileil

Susan Page / USA Today:

Legendary political reporter Jack Germond dies at age 85 … WASHINGTON — Jack Germond, a curmudgeonly chronicler of American politics for a half-century, died early Wednesday morning at his home in West Virginia, according to his widow, Alice Germond. — “I think he was a great reporter,” she wrote in an e-mail to friends.

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, @rtmannjr, @mtomasky, @chucktodd, @jaketapper, @marianaatencio, @chrisgraffvt, @judywoodruff, @davidaxelrod, @lizzieohreally, @jmartnyt, @susanpage and @howardkurtz

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:

‘The Atlantic’ Makes Big Push Into Video With 3 Original Series — The Atlantic is making a big push into original video with the launch of three new series this month. — Two of those series are built around The Atlantic's younger, albeit well-known, editors: senior editor Alexis Madrigal …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @zimbalist, @magnifynet and Talking Biz News

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: eMedia Vitals, @martingiesler, @hamishmckenzie, @cayseyw, @davewiner and @mmasnick