Mediagazer: In Russia, Conflating Journalism and ‘Hooliganism’ (Steven Lee Myers/Lens)

7:55 AM ET, October 31, 2013

Top News:

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:

New press regulation system ‘entirely voluntary’, says Nick Clegg — Deputy PM dismisses claims of end to press freedom as ‘wild hyperbole’, saying no media outlet will be required to sign up — Newspapers will not be required to enter into the new system of press regulation agreed by the privy council ,Nick Clegg has said.

BBC:

Press regulation: Privy Council grants royal charter — A new cross-party royal charter on press regulation has been granted by the Privy Council, the government says, after the newspaper industry lost a last-minute court challenge. — Court of Appeal judges refused newspaper publishers …

Discussion: Telegraph, @patrickwintour, The Huffington Post, UK - The Huffington Post, Sky News, Press Gazette, Guardian, Hacked Off, @bbcnews and Big News Network.com

Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Newspapers' bid for injunction against press regulation royal charter fails

Discussion: @marksweney, Telegraph, Telegraph and Kirk LaPointe's …

Erik Wemple:

Just who is meddling with the Philadelphia Inquirer? — George E. Norcross III, part owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, likes data. He is a prominent insurance executive and a massive force in New Jersey Democratic politics, not to mention the chairman of the board of trustees …

Dave Davies / NewsWorks:
Katz rejects buyout offer, open to outside management of Inquirer

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

FT teams up with Japan's Nikkei — The Financial Times is forging close links with Japan's leading business media group, Nikkei, according to a memo on its website by the FT's editor, Lionel Barber. — He writes that the pink paper's latest Japan Special Report marks the start …

Discussion: Financial Times

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Digital subscriptions up 24% at Financial Times

Discussion: AdExchanger, Pearson and Guardian

Matt Buchanan / New Yorker:

Waiting for the Next Great Technology Critic — For well over a decade, the two most influential voices about consumer technology have been a sixty-six-year-old man who lives just outside of Washington, D.C. and a fifty-year-old man who resides in Westport, Connecticut.

Discussion: @stewartmader, @fmanjoo, @laurengoode, @fmanjoo, @jasonkincaid and @samfbiddle

Jim Romenesko:

‘Change is hard’: Consumer Reports restructures to survive in the digital era — Consumer Reports and Consumers Union, the policy and action division of the magazine, showed a hefty profit of $21,414,103 for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2008. The next two years were profitable, too …

Discussion: @1bobcohn

Umberto Bacchi / International Business Times:

Saudi Journalist Tariq al-Mubarak Arrested over Support for Women Drive Ban Protest — About 60 women in Saudi Arabia openly flouted the law by driving through the streets (Reuters) — Human rights activists have urged Saudi authorities to release a local journalist who was arrested …

Discussion: FP Passport, BuzzFeed and Associated Press

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

“We're still babies at it”: BuzzFeed Video's strategy relies on identity, emotion, and sharing content as communication — A year ago, Ze Frank — Internet “virologist,” creator of the beloved the show with zefrank, and online video pioneer — was tapped to head BuzzFeed's video department …

Discussion: @peretti, @niemanlab and @dskok

Liana B. Baker / Reuters:

Comcast could license tech to other U.S. cable operators: executive — (Reuters) - A top Comcast Corp executive said on Wednesday that the company is in talks to license its latest technology, called X1, to other cable operators, which would help the industry better compete with telecom and satellite rivals.

Discussion: FierceCable

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Comcast downplays Netflix talks, still adding broadband subscribers

Discussion: Capital New York

Steven Lee Myers / Lens:

In Russia, Conflating Journalism and ‘Hooliganism’ — MOSCOW — “It was just a usual business trip for him,” Alina Zhiganova said, describing how her husband, the photographer Denis Sinyakov, set out in September to document Greenpeace International's voyage to protest oil exploration in the fragile environment of the Arctic Ocean.

Vicky Gan / Smithsonian:

The Phone That Helped Andy Carvin Report the Arab Spring is Now in the Smithsonian — Andy Carvin is a man of many titles—"digital media anchor," “real-time news DJ” and “online community organizer,” to name a few—but the one he is most comfortable with is “storyteller.”

Discussion: @cheeky_geeky and @jilliancyork

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Random House acquires Figment, the teen writing site founded by Condé Nast vets — Random House Children's Books has acquired Figment, the teen reading and writing online community founded by Condé Nast's Jacob Lewis and Dana Goodyear in 2010. Lewis has worked at Random House since July.

Discussion: PublishersWeekly.com and Good E-Reader

Dan Primack / Fortune:

IPO roadshows should be open to media for transparency, greater reach of company's message — Why Twitter shouldn't have kicked out Buzzfeed — Twitter (and all other IPO candidates) should let media into their IPO roadshows. — FORTUNE — Earlier today a reporter from Buzzfeed attempted …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @peterlauria3, @ampressman and @joshconstine