Top News:
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at AJ+, Al Jazeera's upcoming online news network — Across from San Francisco's AT&T Park stadium, a small group of news junkies is working on building a different kind of startup. — The first thing you notice when entering their building …
Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Twitter Adds Advertising Tool to Target TV Conversations — Twitter Inc. (TWTR) added a tool for advertisers that will let them target users who are posting about television shows, seeking to capitalize on the way people use its microblogging service. — The feature will allow networks …
Discussion:
AdAge, The Next Web, blog.twitter.com, Business Insider, broadcastnow.co.uk, Digital TV Europe, Variety, Social News Daily, CNET, Digits, Mashable and The Drum
Stuart Kemp / Hollywood Reporter:
James Murdoch Re-Elected to BSkyB Board — Chase Carey, president of 21st Century Fox, which owns a 39 percent stake in the U.K. pay TV giant, is also among the directors retaining their board seats. — LONDON - 21st Century Fox deputy COO James Murdoch is keeping his seat on the board …
Discussion:
Guardian
Alicia A. Caldwell / Associated Press:
Washington Times Sues Homeland Security Over Reporter's Notes — WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington newspaper has asked a federal judge to force the Coast Guard to return any documents and copies of records it seized from a reporter while searching her home last summer as part of a gun investigation involving her husband.
AFP:
After a year, no news of US reporter missing in Syria — File photo of US Journalist James Foley. — AFP pic — The family of US journalist James Foley, who today will mark the first anniversary of his disappearance in war-torn Syria, say they have not given up hope of welcoming him home.
Discussion:
ABC News, WGBH News and The Daily Northwestern
Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
NBCU May Invest in AllThingsD Journalists — Walt Mossberg, Kara Swisher Will Be Starting New Company Next Year … NBCUniversal is close to a deal to take a minority stake in a new company being started by technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, say people familiar with the situation.
Discussion:
New York Times, @edmundlee and @felixsalmon
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Barton Gellman Hits Back At Bob Woodward For ‘Insult’ About Snowden Coverage — NEW YORK — Barton Gellman fired back Thursday at Washington Post colleague Bob Woodward over Woodward's remarks that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden should have come to him first with documents …
Discussion:
Poynter, @tonyromm, @trevortimm, @noahshachtman, Hit & Run, Business Insider, Mediaite, Politico and @timkarr
Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:
Long-form publisher Matter stops charging for articles — Matter, which had adopted a micro-payments model when it launched a year ago, was bought by blogging platform Medium earlier this year — Read more — Other top stories — Also on Journalism.co.uk...
Tim Molloy / The Wrap:
Nate Silver on How to Build a Better News Site: Quality Over Clicks (Video) — ESPN President John Skipper says he hasn't given Nate Silver any traffic targets for his new blog, FiveThirtyEight.com. — In their first appearance together since Skipper hired Silver from the New York Times in July …
Discussion:
The New York Observer and Kirk LaPointe's …
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Jeff Stein / Newsweek:
The discredited ‘60 Minutes’ report on Benghazi has kicked off an intriguing game of Whodunit? — Nobody at 60 Minutes has been fired or even publicly disciplined for its odd, inflammatory and dead-wrong November 10 story on the Islamist assault in Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Discussion:
@jktrotter
BBC:
Tim Berners-Lee says ‘surveillance threatens web’ — Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee has warned that the democratic nature of the net is threatened by a “growing tide of surveillance and censorship”. — The warning came as he launched his World Wide Web Foundation's annual web index report, tracking global censorship.
Discussion:
Guardian
Todd Spangler / Variety:
How Bravo Is Crunching Facebook Data to Lift ‘Real Housewives’ Repeat Ratings — Cabler uses social giant's new keyword search feature to glean factoids for ‘social edition’ rebroadcasts — Bravo is one of the first TV networks to drink from Facebook's data fire hose …
Alexandra Steigrad / WWD:
Speculation Mounts for Hugo Lindgren's Successor — TIMES IN FOR A CHANGE: It's very rare when a slew of high-profile journalism jobs open up at the same time at arguably the highest-profile newspaper in the country. It's even more unusual when two of those jobs relate to fashion journalism.
Emma Bazilian / Adweek:
Magazine Readership Inches Upward — Despite a slight decline in overall magazine circulation in the first half of this year, the number of magazine readers in the U.S. is actually up slightly, according to the latest GfK MRI's Survey of the American Consumer, which tracks print and digital magazine readership.
Discussion:
@yappelbaum
Hadas Gold / Politico:
White House press corps spars with deputy press secretary over photo access — White House-media relations hit new low — White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest got aggressive with the White House press corps on Thursday as he defended the administration from allegations …
Discussion:
@chucktodd, @dylanbyers and The Huffington Post
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Dylan Byers / Politico:
Media urged to stop using WH photos
Media urged to stop using WH photos
Discussion:
Guardian, New York Magazine, The Wire and TheBlaze.com
Hiawatha Bray / The Boston Globe:
TVs get smarter, but not smart enough — It makes sense on paper: Add a microprocessor to a television set, throw in high-speed Internet, and you've got a TV for surfing the Web, playing video games, and streaming favorite shows. That's the idea behind the “smart TV,” …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Moby Not Just Giving Away His New Album For Free On BitTorrent, He's Okay With You Profiting From It — The musician Moby has long been an outspoken critic of the old recording industry. He's been a big fan of giving away works for free (and noting that he's made quite a bit of money …
Discussion:
TeleRead
Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:
Kieron Bryan freed this morning after two months in Russian prison cell — Kieron Bryan today vowed to never again do Soduku following his release from a Russian prison cell. — The 29 year old freelance journalist was arrested in September while filming a Greenpeace protest aboard …
Discussion:
Mirror.co.uk, The Independent, BBC, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Associated Press, Guardian and BBC
Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Cincinnati TV station plans paywall on its website — WCPO will introduce a paywall for much of its website content early next year, NetNewsCheck reports. … Paywalls are increasingly common for newspaper sites — 41 percent of U.S. dailies will have them after Digital First Media puts …
Discussion:
NetNewsCheck Latest, NetNewsCheck and Broadcasting & Cable
Justin Peters / Slate:
Winamp: The death of the iconic MP3 player says a lot about the tech world's vicious utilitarianism — I was distressed to read Wednesday afternoon that AOL plans to shut down its venerable music player Winamp come Dec. 20. (According to TechCrunch's Frederic Lardinois …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Firstpost, Corporate Intelligence, The Week, FishbowlNY, Us Vs Th3m, Mashable, PC World and CNNMoney.com
Gavin O'Malley / MediaPost:
Livefyre Buys Social App Provider Realtidbits — Marking its second acquisition this fall, social media software provider Livefyre just scooped up Realtidbits — a provider of enterprise-grade social apps. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. — Realtidbits specializes in real …
Discussion:
Adweek, TechCrunch and Digital Media Wire
Dana Cimilluca / Wall Street Journal:
Time Warner Cable's Suitors Lining Up Funds for Bid — Charter Communications Has Held Talks With Banks, Sovereign-Wealth Funds — Charter Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with banks to borrow money for a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc., according to people familiar with the situation …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter and Reuters
Paul Sandle / Reuters:
Technicolor expects to out-run market growth for TV set-top boxes — (Reuters) - Technicolor is bullish about its TV set-top box business for next year, and expects to outstrip growth in the market in Europe, Asia and North America, its chief executive said on Thursday.
Wall Street Journal:
Spotify Raises $250 Million, Valued Above $4 Billion — Swedish music-streaming company Spotify AB has secured nearly $250 million in new financing led by Silicon Valley firm Technology Crossover Ventures, valuing the company somewhere “north” of $4 billion dollars, according to multiple people familiar with the deal.
Discussion:
Mediashift, Gigaom, VatorNews, BGR, @synopsi, @geoffreyfowler, Electronista, Business Insider, The Wrap, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Digital Music News, The Verge, Mashable and hypebot
Andy Fixmer / Bloomberg:
Sony's Hirai Plans $250 Million in Entertainment Cuts — Sony Corp. (6758) will cut $250 million in costs at its entertainment units over two years, part of Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai's plan to boost profit and keep full ownership of the movie, TV and music businesses.
Discussion:
The Verge, Deadline.com and Variety
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Daniel Miller / Los Angeles Times:
Sony Pictures outlines budget cuts, trims film slate
Sony Pictures outlines budget cuts, trims film slate
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal