Mediagazer: Former Civil Beat reporter tells what it's like to work with Pierre Omidyar (Adrienne LaFrance/The Great Debate)

10:05 AM ET, October 18, 2013

Top News:

Pierre Omidyar, Investigative Journalism's New Patron Saint — The Iranian-American founder of eBay plans to sink millions into a new investigative media project with journalist Glenn Greenwald. Friends and employees tell Lloyd Grove his big move into media is driven by his passion for American democracy.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's … and Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Henry Farrell / The Monkey Cage:

Why Glenn Greenwald's new media venture is a big deal — Glenn Greenwald, who has published many of the most important scoops from the Edward Snowden leaks, is leaving The Guardian and setting up a new media venture with long-time journalist Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill from The Nation.

Discussion: Jack Shafer, @ageis, @ethanz, @jayrosen_nyu, TheBlaze.com and Media Law Prof Blog

Adrienne LaFrance / The Great Debate:

Former Civil Beat reporter tells what it's like to work with Pierre Omidyar — The Omidyar way — People talk about billionaires the way bird-watchers point out rare sightings — wide-eyed and in hushed, anxious tones. — Speculation in media circles has been similarly breathless since …

Discussion: USA Today, paidContent, @ahmed, Big News Network.com, @sarahkay, Guardian, The Huffington Post, @mlcalderone, @raju, Corporate Intelligence, Christian Christensen, BBC and The Switch

Raju Narisetti / Digiday:

To Save Journalism, News Needs to Buy Into Data — Smart news organizations will move from a “tracking” mentality that simply lists what audiences are doing to focus on what any such insight could mean for both journalism and the business of journalism. Newsrooms need to embrace the kind of number-crunching more common to marketers.

Eric Newton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Eric Newton: Students can pull journalism schools into the digital age — Journalism education isn't evolving fast enough, and you should help change that — Editor's note: Last summer, longtime Knight Foundation executive Eric Newton issued a call for reform in journalism education …

Discussion: Politico, Knight Foundation, Mediashift, Poynter, FishbowlNY, @albertocairo, @raju, @niemanlab, Kirk LaPointe's …, Big News Network.com and IRE.org

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:
More code, more coders: Knight invests $4 million to expand Knight-Mozilla partnership

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Online News Association, Poynter, FishbowlDC, Knight Foundation, @dansinker and @a_l

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

YouTube Becoming a Mobile First Company — Remember last year, when the YouTube app disappeared from iPhones, then returned, as part of YouTube's effort to overhaul all of its mobile apps? — Now we can see why YouTube placed such high importance on controlling its mobile experience …

Discussion: Softpedia News, @newswhip and Yahoo! News

Press Gazette:

ITV News head of production Cristina Nicolotti Squires named editor of 5 News — ITV news head of output Cristina Nicolotti Squires has been named by ITN as the new editor of Channel 5 News. — She replaces Geoff Hill, who is leaving to join ITV News and has been editor of Channel 5 News since 2011 …

Discussion: Guardian

Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:

Journalist Sara Fritz dies at 68 — Sara Fritz, a Washington-based journalist who worked on early computer-assisted investigations, won awards for her coverage of the White House and Congress, and wrote searchingly about the suicide of her 12-year-old son, died Oct. 16 at George Washington University Hospital.

Discussion: @shelbygrad, @jamesvgrimaldi, Los Angeles Times, @palewire, Tampa Bay Times, @derekwillis and @derekwillis

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

Pragmatic Publishers Move Beyond the Great Paywall Debate — Starting next year, the New York Times will begin offering a pair of new digital-only subscription products at different rates in order to help it remain profitable and relevant. That will bring the various subscription options to more than the three it now has.

Evan Dashevsky / TechHive:

BitTorrent teams up with Vice to distribute original video content for hipsters — In a further bid to re-brand itself as a legit medium rather than a mere playground for content pirates, Bit Torrent has teamed up with Brooklyn-based youth culture juggernaut Vice Media to distribute original video content.

Discussion: The Wrap, Betabeat and Variety

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC Worldwide to take on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu with new strategy — Commercial arm to fold plans for global iPlayer into BBC.com, roll out digital store and boost programming spend by £30m — BBC Worldwide chief Tim Davie has unveiled his vision for the future of the corporation's commercial arm …

Discussion: Variety

Margaret Davis / The Independent:

Sun journalist Nick Parker faces charges linked to theft of MP Siobhain McDonagh's phone — Sun journalist Nick Parker and a member of the public are facing charges linked to the theft of a mobile phone belonging to MP Siobhain McDonagh. — Parker is accused of one count of receiving stolen goods …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Reuters, Guardian and BBC

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Former BBC boss Mark Thompson to face MPs over £100m DMI fiasco — Current New York Times chief executive to be asked if he misled parliamentary committee about Digital Media Initiative in 2011 — Former BBC director general Mark Thompson has been recalled to parliament …

Discussion: BBC and Financial Times

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

It's Official: Mike Hopkins Named CEO of Hulu — Interim CEO Andy Forssell exits — Hulu has announced Fox Networks distribution chief as CEO of Hulu. — Interim CEO Andy Forssell will be leaving the company. — “After an extensive search, Mike was simply the best candidate for the job.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, AdAge, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Home Media Magazine, @brianstelter, Hollywood Reporter, NetNewsCheck.com, Engadget, Business Wire, @xpangler and Broadcasting & Cable

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Breitbart News shakes up masthead — Breitbart News, the combative right-wing news and opinion network, will today announce “a fundamental restructuring” of its masthead that will leave the 27-year-old Alexander Marlow in charge of editorial operations, POLITICO has learned.

Discussion: @bankofkev, @dylanbyers and @noltenc

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Kim Dotcom's Mega ‘not being used for wide-scale copyright infringement’ — CEO Vikram Kumar claims cloud storage service is appealing less to pirates and more to ‘accountants, lawyers, financial advisers, architects...’ — Kim Dotcom may be seen as a villainous pirate-king by the creative industries …

Discussion: Plagiarism Today and Softpedia News

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

Cinedigm Pays $51.5M for Home Entertainment Player GVE — Cinedigm has acquired home entertainment company Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment (GVE) for $51.5 million, the company announced Thursday. GVE was a division of Gaiam, a health and wellness company, that became a player in the home entertainment space …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine and Variety

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

How entrepreneurial journalism is building a local voice in Egypt — Mandara Online, an Egyptian NGO, acts as a portal for news and content from across rural and disconnected Upper Egypt — Read more — Other top stories — Also on Journalism.co.uk...

Cassell Bryan-Low / Wall Street Journal:

British judge forbids WSJ from publishing names in Libor fraud probe — U.K. Prosecutors Win Injunction Amid Investigation — Cassell Bryan-Low … LONDON—British prosecutors on Thursday obtained a court order prohibiting The Wall Street Journal from publishing names of individuals …

Discussion: @johngapper, International Business Times, @raju, @scottmaustin, @murraymatt, @johnmcquaid, @charlesforelle, @bruceorwall, City A.M. Feed, @murraymatt, @samcoatestimes, @evanperez and @kevinjdelaney

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

FT says that following shift from print to digital it now employs more journalists than ever before — The shift from print to digital journalism can lead to an increase in editorial staff according to the Financial Times. — Mary Beth Christie, the title's head of operations …

Discussion: @raju