Mediagazer: Newsgames: Future media or a trivial pursuit? (Alastair Reid/Journalism.co.uk)

3:20 AM ET, October 9, 2013

Top News:

Alex Kantrowitz / AdAge:

Flipboard Hits 90 Million Users, Nearly Doubles Since April — Just two weeks after announcing a $50 million dollar round of funding, mobile news reader Flipboard revealed growth numbers that may explain investors' eagerness to get behind it. — The company now claims 90 million users …

Discussion: Fast Company and GigaOM

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Are Flipboard and Currents marketing partners or scams that take advantage of publishers? — Tablet-based reading services like Google Current and Flipboard — which says it has doubled its userbase to 90 million in the past six months — are a boon for anyone who wants to consume content quickly and easily in magazine-style format.

Discussion: @ia, @ryanvailbrown, @jeffdebalko and @mathewi

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Flipboard, Currents are “scams against publishers”

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @ia, @jakerome and @michaelroston

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

President Obama Shuns TV Reporters During Shutdown Press Conference — President Barack Obama blamed Republicans in Congress for putting the country on the brink of financial disaster in a Tuesday press conference about the government shutdown that clocked more than an hour …

Discussion: Politico and Erik Wemple

Politico:

No healthcare questions at Obama presser — President Barack Obama sustained an hour-long press conference today without a single question about his signature healthcare law and the glitches that continue to plague the insurance exchanges — a point that frustrated several conservatives.

Discussion: TVNewser, @tommyxtopher, @tommyxtopher, @ethanklapper, @ethanklapper, @tommyxtopher, @tvnewser, @ethanklapper, @ethanklapper, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, @whpresscorps and @allahpundit

Press Gazette:

Government presses on with Parliament-backed press regulation plan - but offers compromise on libel arbitration — The Government has rejected a press regulation plan put forward by newspaper and magazine publishers and is instead press ahead with the ratification of a Royal Charter …

Discussion: Guardian and Guardian

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Government gives press three days to get behind regulation plans

Discussion: BBC, @michaelwolffnyc, @lisaocarroll and @dbanksy

Fraser Nelson / Spectator:
Sorry, Maria Miller. We still won't sign

Discussion: @misterjorgensen, @alexmassie, @douglascarswell, @leshinton, @drwollastonmp and @make_trouble

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The Week Gets Its Third Publisher in Three Years — The Week, the offline/online news aggregator, has a new publisher. — Tim Koorbusch, who had been running U.S. sales for Say Media for the last year, has replaced Michael Wolfe, who joined the company at the beginning of 2012.

Discussion: Publishing Executive …

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Sports Illustrated Is Testing a New Type of Paywall — Sports Illustrated is testing a paywall that lets readers access its print articles early if they watch a 30-second video ad first. — The provider is Selectable Media, which has been testing consumers' willingness to watch video ads for free WiFi, music and games.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @larsalbright, Top Digital Journal News and Kirk LaPointe's …

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Video Networks Alloy Digital, Break Media to Merge Into Defy Media — Combined Company Projected to Rake in $100 Million in Revenue — In the latest sign of consolidation in online video, two major online video networks and production companies, Alloy Digital and Break Media will merge to form Defy Media …

Discussion: New York Times, VentureBeat, New York Business Journal and AllThingsD

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:

‘PBS NewsHour’ Looks to Change Ownership — WASHINGTON — MacNeil-Lehrer Productions will give up its ownership of the “The PBS NewsHour,” which has struggled financially in recent years, its two longtime co-anchors told the staff on Tuesday. — In an internal memo, the two co-anchors …

Ellen McGirt / Fast Company:

Twitter Defines Itself By What Facebook Isn't — Ask Twitter CEO Dick Costolo or any of his lieutenants what makes Twitter special and the answer is the same: “It's public, it's real time, it's conversational, and it's widely distributed.” It took Twitter a long time to find a message and get everyone on the same page.

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

More gadgets, more reading: Survey suggests e-reader and tablet owners read more books — A new survey from USA Today and book discovery website Bookish finds that U.S. adults who own a tablet or e-reader read more books than the device-less. The survey also found differences …

Discussion: Melville House Books and vook.com

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Newsgames: Future media or a trivial pursuit? — Interactives have become a regular feature of any large news organisation's digital output, but some outlets, particularly smaller ones, are taking this further, into games — Copyright: By Martin Lopatka on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Lauren Kirchner / Columbia Journalism Review:

Why journalists can still trust Tor — Despite the Silk Road bust, the Freedom Hosting attack, and even the latest Snowden scoop, it's still one of the most reliable tools for anonymity online — I'm not going to bury the lede. Yes, Tor is still the recommended method for journalists …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Hearst UK reports tripled profits — Hearst UK, the British arm of the US company that publishes magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Esquire and Good Housekeeping, has tripled its pre-tax profits to £17.4m, reports The Independent. — And it attributes part of that rise to digital sales …

Discussion: The Independent

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

BBC Launches Playlister, A Social Music Service With Spotify, YouTube And Deezer To Tag Tracks Heard On BBC — On the heels of the BBC ramping up its iPlayer on-demand video and music player as the go-to place for all its digital assets, the UK's public broadcaster is also gearing up to take its music service up another notch.