Mediagazer: Pragmatic Publishers Move Beyond the Great Paywall Debate (Josh Sternberg/Digiday)

11:25 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.

Henry Farrell / The Monkey Cage:
Why Glenn Greenwald's new media venture is a big deal

Discussion: Jack Shafer, @ageis, @ethanz, @jayrosen_nyu and TheBlaze.com

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

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

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.

Discussion: @albertocairo

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: TechCrunch, Softpedia News, Yahoo! News and @newswhip

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

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Aereo comes to Detroit on October 28. Can it really hit 22 cities by the end of 2013? — Aereo is coming to Detroit and surrounding counties on October 28, the company announced Friday. — Detroit is the thirteenth city where Aereo has announced plans to launch this year.

Discussion: All Aereo, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Broadcasting & Cable and Softpedia News

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

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: GigaOM, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety

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, @albertocairo, @raju, FishbowlNY, @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: Online News Association, NetNewsCheck Latest, Poynter, FishbowlDC, Knight Foundation, @dansinker and @a_l

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

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.

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, @palewire, @derekwillis, @derekwillis, Tampa Bay Times and Los Angeles Times

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Disney once again considering sale of local TV stations — Walt Disney Co. is looking to hire an investment bank to explore a possible sale of its eight owned and operated television stations, a move that could reap billions, The Post has learned. — Disney's ABC-affiliated stations …

Discussion: TVSpy

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Don't go looking for a print copy of the International New York Times in Bangalore — When The New York Times retired the International Herald Tribune name earlier this week, the paper launched itself on a grand world tour to mark the global reach of the International New York Times.

Discussion: Poynter

Jim Romenesko:

McClatchy ‘avoids budgeting’ furloughs for 2014, but implements one-year wage freeze — McClatchy's CEO tells employees that “the company is working hard to avoid furloughs that are disruptive, discouraging and financially difficult to manage,” but wages will be frozen in 2014. — THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S MEMO

Discussion: bizjournals

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

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

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