Mediagazer: On the Ground With Syria's News Smugglers (Matthew Shaer/The New Republic)

5:10 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

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, @zseward, GigaOM, @jank0, @pkafka, @efeng, @edmundlee, @poniewozik, @pkafka, Forbes, @brianstelter, ZDNet, MoneyBeat, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, The Verge, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, Business Insider, 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, @add and @laureni

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

Greg Toppo / USA Today:

Chalkbeat covers education as a non-profit news site — A handful of refugees from print journalism are providing an alternative model for covering state and local schools. — CONNECT — Here's a phrase you don't hear much: newsroom expansion. — That's the goal of a new non-profit …

Discussion: @joeygarrison, @chendrie, @anniekarni, @patrick_wall and @davidepstein

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

Reuters:

U.S. high court declines to hear privacy lawsuit against Thomson Reuters — (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether a unit of Thomson Reuters Corp can obtain and sell information on drivers provided by state agencies without violating a federal privacy law.

Discussion: @joshua_roberts_ and @antderosa

Associated Press:

Associated Press CEO: Press freedom v. security a ‘false choice’ — DENVER — Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a “false choice” that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach …

Jim Farber / NY Daily News:

Lady Gaga, One Direction among nominees for first annual YouTube Music Awards ahead of November concert — YouTube has announced that Eminem, Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga, M.I.A., Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, PSY and One Direction are among the stars up for YouTube Music Awards …

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, TIME, Engadget, The Verge and WebProNews

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

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Staff of Washington Post Bids Farewell to Grahams — WASHINGTON — The Graham family said goodbye to The Washington Post after eight decades of ownership with an emotional send-off reception on Monday night for roughly 650 current and former employees at its downtown headquarters.

Discussion: @pierrefitter, @steph_steinberg and @romenesko

Matthew Shaer / The New Republic:

On the Ground With Syria's News Smugglers — They go where professional journalists won't — From Antakya, the seat of the Turkish province of Hatay, it is a 40-minute drive to the town of Reyhanli, the last ten minutes of which follow the jagged line of the Syrian border.

Discussion: @matthewshaer

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.”