Mediagazer: Pioneer Press paywall coming Nov. 1 (Andrew Beaujon/Poynter)

3:50 AM ET, October 22, 2013

Top News:

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Associated Press Fires Journalists Over Erroneous Terry McAuliffe Report — NEW YORK — The Associated Press has fired a reporter and editor over an erroneous Oct. 9 report that Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe lied to an investigator in a federal fraud case, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Discussion: WTVR-TV, Terry McAuliffe for Governor, @thefix, @jmartnyt, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and Pressing Issues

Erik Wemple:

AP owes public a better explanation of McAuliffe mistake — Per Huffington Post, the Associated Press fired longtime Virginia politics reporter Bob Lewis following his mistake of Oct. 9, when he erroneously reported that Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) …

Dylan Byers / Politico: Bob Lewis firing stuns Virginia media world

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Netflix's Q3 Beats Analyst Estimates With 1.3M New Domestic Subscribers, $0.52 Earnings Per Share — Netflix's third-quarter earnings report just came out, with the company beating analyst expectations on higher-than-expected subscriber numbers. For the third quarter …

Discussion: New York Times, AllThingsD, The Wrap, @efeng, VentureBeat, Forbes, MoneyBeat, @zseward, GigaOM, @jank0, @pkafka, @edmundlee, Bloomberg, @poniewozik, @pkafka, @brianstelter, ZDNet, The Verge, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Broadcasting & Cable, Bloomberg and ParisLemon

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz: Netflix now has more paying subscribers than HBO in the United States

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
The slow but inevitable decline of Netflix's DVD business

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Pocket-lint, Fast Company, Businessweek, DailyFinance, GDP Insider, MarketWatch and @jank0

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Yahoo To Launch Consumer Tech Site With Help Of New York Times' David Pogue — Yahoo is planning to launch a consumer tech website with the help of long-time NYT columnist David Pogue. — The news comes by way of Brian Stelter, long-time NYT writer, who reports via Twitter that Pogue announced …

David Pogue / A Note from Pogue:

Goodbye—and Hello — It's true: After 13 years at the New York Times, I've accepted a new job. Leaving The Times is a big deal. My years there coincided with the explosion of just about everything important in today's tech — the Web, social media, e-books, smartphones, tablets, duck-faced selfies.

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

BuzzFeed Hires Pulitzer Winner to Head Investigative Unit — BuzzFeed, the media Web site focused on viral content, announced on Monday that it was again expanding its reporting staff, this time to introduce an investigative unit. A new team of about half a dozen reporters will be led by Mark Schoofs …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @judybott, @stefanjbecket, Capital New York, @buzzfeedben, FishbowlNY, @jessicaplautz, @kkjschmidt, @sallykohn, @nickriccardi, @mattdpearce, @wblau and @add

Todd Wasserman / Mashable:

Facebook Average Referral Traffic to Media Sites Up 170% This Year — Flexing its muscles as a public-facing forum, Facebook reported Monday that the average referral track from Facebook to media sites jumped 170% last year. — Facebook also disclosed that from September 2012 to September 2013 …

Discussion: GigaOM, TechCrunch, @kantrowitz, Facebook, AllThingsD, @rubinafillion and @lavrusik

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Facebook Woos Media Companies With Tool to Post Stories

Discussion: Poynter

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Pioneer Press paywall coming Nov. 1 — Star Tribune reporter Rachel E. Stassen-Berger tweeted a picture of a letter she received explaining the changes: “On November 1, the Pioneer Press, like many other newspapers, will begin charging for our exclusive content on TwinCities.com, mobile …

Discussion: The Blotter

Ben Dimiero / Media Matters for America:

Fox News Reportedly Used Fake Commenter Accounts To Rebut Critical Blog Posts — NPR media reporter David Folkenflik writes in his forthcoming book Murdoch's World that Fox News' public relations staffers used an elaborate series of dummy accounts to fill the comments sections of critical blog posts with pro-Fox arguments.

Sam Gustin / TIME:

Google Unveils Tools to Access Web From Repressive Countries — The tech titan is introducing products to track Internet attacks and aid free expression — Google Ideas, the New York City-based “think/do tank” run by the Internet search giant, is launching several new technologies designed …

Discussion: The Official Google Blog, The Daily Beast, Motherboard, @thehackersnews, BetaNews, @mattcutts, CNET, Mashable and Mashable

John Naughton / Guardian:

Edward Snowden: public indifference is the real enemy in the NSA affair — Most people don't seem to worry that government agencies are collecting their personal data. Is it ignorance or apathy? — One of the most disturbing aspects of the public response to Edward Snowden's revelations …

Discussion: @asawinstanley and @yaliberty

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts — Investigation follows reports that Wiki-PR scored Viacom, Priceline as clients. — Wikipedia editors have disabled hundreds of paid Wikipedia editing accounts in recent weeks as part of a campaign against so-called “sockpuppetry.”

Discussion: VentureBeat, @marshallyoum, Fast Company, CNET, Digits, SocialTimes, BBC and WebProNews

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Taps IPG's Tim Spengler as Revenue Chief — A few years ago Tim Spengler called John Hogan out of the blue because he wanted to meet the Clear Channel exec. What started with a 30-minute sit-down in Mr. Hogan's office led to numerous meetings with clients over the years and, now, a job.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Roger Yu / USA Today:

Vox Media grows with focus on video — The company, which has sports, tech and video game sites, is pursuing high-end video advertising. — CONNECT — Vox Media's newsroom has all the trappings of a hip midtown Manhattan start-up — orange beanbags, a shuffleboard table …

Discussion: @voxmediainc and @chadmumm