Mediagazer: Facebook and Twitter Blocked Again in Iran After Respite (Thomas Erdbrink/New York Times)

11:10 AM ET, September 17, 2013

Top News:

For Twitter, Key to Revenue Is No Longer Ad Simplicity — SAN FRANCISCO — When it comes to making money, Twitter is all about keeping it simple. There are no banner ads, no dancing animations, no ads inserted between screens that you must click to get past.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Business Insider and @mathewi

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Twitter's Third Act: A New Design to Court the Mainstream

Discussion: Business Insider, Mashable, VatorNews, @pkafka, AppleInsider, Yahoo! News, @mercerccj, Fast Company, @vvbellur, App Advice, @niemanlab, MacRumors, @crowdbooster, CNET, VentureBeat, Pocket-lint, GigaOM and @miriamgottfried

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

News outlets often stumble in quest for speed and accuracy — So much was misreported in the first few hours after the shooting rampage at Washington's Navy Yard. — Initial reports said that as many as three gunmen were involved. Then two. Then one. Then back to three. That four people were dead.

Discussion: @jswatz, @jayrosen_nyu, @jfdulac, USA Today, @farhip, @romenesko, @mg_thereporter, @tanyavea and PandoDaily

Will Oremus / Slate:
NBC, CBS Remind Us You Don't Have to Be on Reddit or Twitter to Misidentify a Mass Killer

Discussion: Erik Wemple, GigaOM, TVNewser, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, The Switch, Politico, CNET, Poynter, @timkarr, SocialTimes, Mediaite, Mashable, USA Today and @willoremus

John Herman / BuzzFeed:

What Ever Happened To GOOD? — Remember GOOD magazine? Its parent organization has a new partner. The military. — This press release arrived in my inbox with a clang. — GOOD, an organization most commonly associated with its short-lived, ultra-conscious, proudly left-wing magazine …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @carr2n, @laurahazardowen, @ariellacohen, @normative, @daveweigel, @rosiegray, @clarajeffery, @jcstearns and @felixsalmon

Jasper Jackson / TheMediaBriefing:

How does the music industry get people to pay for digital content? — Music and news are very different businesses, but the digital age presented them both with a very similar problem: how do you get someone to pay for something they can get for free? — It's a question the music industry …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and @rajunarisetti

Paul Sloan / CNET: Major labels want iTunes radio to succeed; streaming is more lucrative than broadcasting

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

In a year, Netflix's competition shifted from Hulu to HBO to everything — Netflix recently updated its “long-term view,” the company's refreshingly candid assessment of its place within the internet video industry. Which means, if you care about Netflix, you should go read it now.

Discussion: @theatlantic, @zimbalist, @nickblunden, @jeremyzilar, @jessicalessin, The Verge and Netflix

Barry Levine / CMSWire.com:

Adobe, Major Magazines Release New Industry-Standard for Digital Readership — As magazines go digital, how is readership measured? This week, Adobe, the Association of Magazine Media (MPA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) is answering that question with the announcement …

Discussion: Folio, NetNewsCheck.com and Talking New Media

Thomas Erdbrink / New York Times:

Facebook and Twitter Blocked Again in Iran After Respite — TEHRAN — Internet users in Iran lost access Tuesday to Facebook and Twitter, a day after they were surprised to find that they could get on the sites without having to evade a government's firewall that had blocked direct access to the Web sites for years.

Discussion: CNET, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, qz.com, The Verge, Guardian, WorldViews, @miafarrow, The Week, BBC, @israelinusa, Mashable, @mixedberry, @zenjournalist, GigaOM, Business Insider, BuzzFeed and New York Magazine

Lizzie Widdicombe / New Yorker:

Bryan Goldberg's adventures in women's publishing. — This spring, Jenny Hollander, a twenty-three-year-old Columbia Journalism School student, sent out her résumé for summer internships. “Where didn't I apply?” Hollander, who is from the U.K., said recently.

Discussion: Salon, The New Republic, Gawker, @monikabauerlein, @tasneemraja, @tcarmody, @alexhern, @mbaratz, Mashable, @nicknotned, @scalzi, @mbaratz, Betabeat, @whet, @newyorker and The Huffington Post

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

Former Facebook editor launches Beacon, a platform that pays journalists — Former Facebook managing editor Daniel Fletcher and the two founders behind the Backspaces storytelling app have launched the beta version of a platform that aims to help independent journalists get paid for their work.

Discussion: @cschweitz, @joshuafoust, @noahchestnut, @danielfletcher and @jamietarabay

Geoffrey York / Globe and Mail:

Why China is making a big play to control Africa's media — When one of South Africa's biggest newspaper chains was sold last month, an odd name was buried in the list of new owners: China International Television Corp. — A major stake in a South African newspaper group might seem …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @felicityduncan, @digitaldjeli and @rajunarisetti

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Time Out chief executive Aksel van der Wal to stand down — Van der Wal, who led major restructuring of business, replaced on acting basis by Time Out London editor-in-chief Tim Arthur — The owner of the Time Out magazine franchise is to part company with chief executive Aksel van der Wal …

Online News Association:

2013 Online Journalism Awards finalists announced — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Finalists for the 2013 Online Journalism Awards, many pushing the envelope of innovation and excellence in digital storytelling and distribution, were announced today by the Online News Association and its academic partner …

Discussion: 10,000 Words, @joykliu, @niemanlab and The Wrap

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Instead of shoehorning it in, NowThis News is building video content that fits in where the audience lives — If you were being lazy, you might call NowThis News the BuzzFeed of web video. After all, it's a born-online media company, going after digital natives with a strategy heavy on social and mobile.

Discussion: @thebeff, @aaronmedwards, @niemanlab, BuzzFeed and SocialTimes