Mediagazer: Content economics, part 4: scale (Felix Salmon)

3:50 PM ET, November 11, 2013

Top News:

Jessi Hempel / Fortune:

Vox Media acquires Curbed Network for $20-30M — Vox Media has taken on sports, technology and video games. Now it's getting into real estate. — FORTUNE — Fortune has learned that ambitious digital media startup Vox Media will acquire Curbed Network, a saucy trio of urban lifestyle …

Felix Salmon:

Content economics, part 4: scale — The big blog news of the day is that Vox Media has acquired Curbed Network. Why is the news so big? Because, until now, if a major blog property was sold, it was always sold to some media giant — more often than not, AOL — which wanted …

New York Times:

‘60 Minutes’ Airs Apology on Benghazi — Lara Logan was scheduled to deliver a report on Sunday's “60 Minutes” about disabled veterans who climb mountains. Instead, she appeared in front of the newsmagazine's trademark black backdrop and issued an apology.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

‘60 Minutes’ Benghazi Apology Leaves Key Questions Unanswered — NEW YORK — “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan apologized Sunday night for her discredited Oct. 27 report featuring an “eyewitness” account of the Benghazi terrorist attack that proved to be false. — But “60 Minutes” doesn't need to apologize anymore.

Discussion: Guardian, Politico, Capital New York, Columbia Journalism Review, Gawker, Pressing Issues, @azmatzahra, The Raw Story and The Wrap

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Home Sec suggests BBC must be curbed to protect local newspapers — Home Secretary Theresa May suggested today that the BBC may need to curb its activities at a local level to protect local newspapers. — She said: “If the BBC can provide all the locally-significant news, what reason is left for local people to buy a newspaper?

Discussion: Guardian, @pressgazette, @fleetstreetfox and @nickcohen4

David Carr / New York Times:

Marrying Companies and Content — On Thursday, Contently, a hot little company, held a buzzy conference at the Bowery Hotel on a very of-the-moment topic. — The conference, the Brand Publishing Summit, included clients, agencies and publishers, with a lot of chatter about brands going direct …

Discussion: @contently, @adamostrow, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, @kantrowitz, @annkirschner, @paulbogaards, Beyond Search, @carr2n and @jonathanwald

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘CJR’ preparing to name new editor-in-chief — Columbia Journalism Review, the media-industry bible whose top masthead slot has been vacant since the spring, is expected to announce a new editor-in-chief soon. — Sources familiar with the process told Capital that the search had recently focused …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yahoo Video Head Erin McPherson Heads for Maker Studios, the Giant YouTube Network — Erin McPherson, the Yahoo executive who has been in charge of the portal's video efforts, is leaving the company. She's going to Maker Studios, the giant YouTube network that's trying to build a business outside of the world's biggest video site.

Discussion: The Wrap, @karaswisher, Tubefilter, @pkafka, @rosslevinsohn and Variety

Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:

Who Killed Michael Hastings? — Reflexively distrustful, eager to make powerful enemies, the young journalist whose Mercedes exploded in Los Angeles one night couldn't possibly have died accidentally, could he? — At the end of his life, Michael Hastings, like many of the progressive journalists …

Discussion: LA Observed, @rachelsklar, @nickbaumann, @buzzfeedben, @joshuafoust, @clarajeffery, @sarahw, @mlcalderone and @clarajeffery

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Flipboard Debuts Catalogs, Shoppable Magazines Built By Brand Advertisers, Celeb Curators & Users, Too — Flipboard is inching into Pinterest's territory today with the launch of a new “shopping” category which allows e-commerce brands turn their online stores into flippable, shoppable catalogs …

Discussion: Folio, Fast Company, AllThingsD, Gigaom, Business Insider, Engadget, Fashionista, Forbes, VentureBeat and CNET

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Microsoft revamps Bing Music Video Search with inline results from YouTube, Vimeo, MTV, Artist Direct, and more — Microsoft today launched a completely revamped version of Bing's search section for music videos. The company says it has been built from the ground up to simplify exploring …

Discussion: Bing Search Blog, Search Engine Land, GeekWire and WebProNews

Daniel D'Addario / Salon:

The Thought Catalog revolution: How trolling took over the Internet — There's only hate-reading and trolling online. Can anyone find a new model? — They know they're making you mad. The website Thought Catalog sits at the intersection of the hauteur of the young and the privilege of the wealthy …