Mediagazer: Esquire's Paywall Experiment (Dan Trombetto/Folio)

4:40 AM ET, August 30, 2013

Top News:

Nora Caplan-Bricker / The New Republic:

A Guide to Syria's Best Citizen Journalism — Well before the United States weighed an intervention, Syria had become the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. Legacy media outlets have, understandably, sent fewer and fewer of their reporters into harm's way …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Kirk LaPointe's … and @millermena

Tom Fudge / KPBS San Diego:

How Do You Create A Free Media Culture In Syria? — SAN DIEGO — Americans get news every day out of Syria. But who is bringing news of the conflict to the Syrian people? — A handful of independent Syrian journalists visited San Diego this week, in a trip sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Committee to Protect Journalists / The Huffington Post:

In hopeful sign, two journalists escape Syria — Jason Stern/CPJ Middle East and North Africa Research Associate — It has now been an entire year since Al-Hurra correspondent Bashar Fahmi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, and freelancer Austin Tice, of the United States, went missing in Syria.

Dylan Byers / Reuters:

After Iraq, media skepticism on Syria — For a moment, it looked like the media were going to follow quietly along as America bombed Syria. — But then the Iraq War — the bad intelligence, the disastrous fallout, the regret — stretched its shadow over the span of 10 long years, and the press sprung into action.

Discussion: @politico and @professorjoe33

Quentin Hardy / NYT Bits:

Troubles Ahead for Internet Advertising — When it comes to advertising, the Internet is at war with itself. — Much of the Web relies on advertising income, but anti-ad technology could put a dent in that revenue. A recent report from the Web service PageFair said that on average 22.7 percent …

Discussion: @rga, @bobtheprguy and @niemanlab

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:

A Tale of Two Online Business Models — Over the weekend, the tech blogosphere was in a tizzy over a profile of Marissa Mayer, the chief executive of Yahoo. — While some readers slurped up the content in the piece, titled “The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography,” …

Discussion: @jamesrbuk, @hblodget, @slate, Digiday, @pkafka, @olivianuzzi, @davidsirota, @mikeisaac, @kevinroose, @tonymanfred and @davemorgannyc

Dan Trombetto / Folio:

Esquire's Paywall Experiment — Behind the brand's latest attempt at paid content. — Esquire made big news in the world of paid Web content in July, putting one of its magazine features behind a paywall. “The Prophet”—for sale on Esquire.com for $1.99—wasn't the title's first experience with a paywall though.

Ben Popper / The Verge:

HuffPost Live laying off staff and shuttering LA office as it expands internationally — According to several sources familiar with the matter, HuffPost Live will be laying off around 20 staffer from its Los Angeles office, not counting stagehands, cutbacks that will essentially shutter the LA outpost.

Discussion: @simonmarksfsn, @alexckaufman, The Wrap, FishbowlNY, @triercompany, TVNewser, Folio, Poynter, Media Week and AllThingsD

Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:

Tribune's operating profit drops — Tribune Co., parent to 42 local TV outlets and eight major newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, said today that second-quarter operating profit fell 28 percent to $90 million, from $125 million for the same period last year, as both broadcast and publishing revenue declined.

Discussion: PR Newswire

Alexander C. Kaufman / International Business Times:

Exclusive: Aereo To Launch On Android In September, Says CEO — Aereo uses tiny antennas to pick up over-the-air signals and beam them to subscribers' iPads and computers. Courtesy of Aereo — Aereo, the upstart television streaming service, plans to launch its product on Android devices in September …

Discussion: Softpedia News, Engadget, The Next Web, The Verge, CNET and GigaOM

Bloomberg:

Microsoft Is Said to Be in Talks to Invest in Foursquare — Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is in talks with Foursquare Labs Inc. about a potential investment in the social-media company, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. — The talks are at an advanced stage, said two of the people …

Discussion: GigaOM, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, @edmundlee, CNET, The Next Web, TechCrunch, @dcurtis, @amir, ZDNet, WebProNews and Digits

Nic Christensen / mUmBRELLA:

APN CEO Miller: Industry needs more women in senior roles — The CEO of Australia's third largest publisher APN News & Media Michael Miller has told a forum that there are not enough women in senior leadership position in the sector and urged them “to do more” about the issue.

Joseph O'Halloran / Rapid TV News:

Akamai dominates cloud video service market — Even though some retrenching is expected, the cloud video service market is expected to be worth $2.36 billion by the end of 2013 according to a new survey from ABI Research. — The analyst's Cloud Video and Video Hardware Research Service report described …

Lara Setrakian / Tow Center for Digital Journalism:

The Rise of The Single Subject Platform — The Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University — News has never been more readily available, to users and to the journalists who serve them. Any reporter with an Internet connection can set up a web-based media outlet, covering a unique beat.

Discussion: @syriadeeply and @digiphile

Jason Zaragoza / AAN:

Small Market, Big Storytelling: A Multimedia Opus for the Rest of Us — C-Ville Weekly is out to prove that even smaller-market publications without an in-house development team can produce digital journalism that is attractive, accessible, and affordable. — Yesterday the Charlottesville …

Discussion: Mashable, Thanks:@jzaragoza1

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

Domino to Relaunch as Quarterly Publication and E-Commerce Site — Domino, the decor magazine that Condé Nast folded in 2009, is staging a comeback. According to WWD, Project Décor — a social media platform for design fans — is relaunching the magazine as a quarterly print publication and e-commerce site.

Al Jazeera English:

Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt — Four-man team arrested on Tuesday, while two other staff members have been held for several weeks. — Al Jazeera correspondent Wayne Hay, cameraman Adil Bradlow, producers Russ Finn and Baher Mohammed are currently being detained by Egyptian authorities.

Discussion: Guardian, TVNewser, Big News Network.com, Slate, @claytonswisher, @syedazman, @ajelive, @monica_vv, @sosalam, @ajecathturner, @rosjordanaje, @thinink, @brianstelter, @afshinrattansi, @aymanm, @andrewchappelle and @erinmcunningham

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Upvote with your remote: Reddit gets a Roku app — Reddit, meet Roku: An Austin, Tx.-based Reddit user has launched a Roku app to access the site's posts on a TV. — The unofficial Reddit Roku app, which is available for $5 in the Roku channel store, works best to consume photo-heavy subreddits …

Discussion: AdAge

Alex Kantrowitz / AdAge:

Gawker Tries Native Ads in Comments, With Help From Bill Nye — The science guy will take your questions, on behalf of State Farm — Sometime next Wednesday, celebrity scientist Bill Nye will take a seat in front of a computer and invite the internet to ask him whatever it wants.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Gavin O'Malley / mediapost.com:

CBS Interactive Adds 40 Sites To MaxPreps Franchise — Just because AOL is gutting Patch doesn't mean every publisher is second-guessing its “hyper-local” media strategy. Take CBS Interactive, which plans to expand its high school sports coverage by adding 40 new metro areas to its MaxPreps franchise.

Discussion: @mtoney, @edelauna and @maxpreps

Terry Heaton / Street Fight:

Joe Trippi: Local TV's Biennial Political Cash Bonanza Is Going to Fall Off a Cliff — If there was one thing that newspapers could count on to keep their margins high while serving as a buffer against potential problems, it was classified advertising. This automatic and assumed cash cow …

Chris Morran / Consumerist:

Will Football Finally Bring An End To Time Warner Cable/CBS Standoff? — For 3 million Time Warner Cable customers in New York City, L.A., Dallas, and a few other pockets around the country, it's been almost four weeks since the cable company pulled CBS and Showtime from its lineup over the latest stupid fee dispute.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Times