Mediagazer: University board approves St. Louis Public Radio merger with St. Louis Beacon (Andrew Lapin/Current.org)

12:20 PM ET, November 22, 2013

Top News:

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

Time Warner Cable Has Reached Out to Comcast to Discuss Deal — The Two Cable Firms Are Not in ‘Active Discussions’ … Time Warner Cable Inc. has reached out to Comcast Corp. to discuss a possible combination in recent months, in an effort by Time Warner Cable to head off a bid …

Discussion: CNBC

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Comcast reportedly seeking advice on potential Time Warner Cable merger — Comcast may be interested in merging with Time Warner Cable. The two sides aren't in active discussions, according to CNBC, but Comcast is reportedly seeking advice on potential antitrust concerns and other regulatory obstacles …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Capital New York, The Wrap and @backlon

Wall Street Journal:
Time Warner Cable's Suitors Lining Up Funds for Bid

Discussion: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Deadline.com, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, Bloomberg, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, BGR, @edmundlee, AllThingsD, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, MoneyBeat and Corporate Intelligence

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 …

Michael Depp / NetNewsCheck:

Behind Scripps' TV Paywall Strategy In Cincy — E.W. Scripps-owned WCPO in Cincinnati on Thursday announced that it will launch a digital subscription model around its premium content in January. The TV paywall is unprecedented and faces an uphill battle to win over consumers who align broadcast television content with being free.

Discussion: JackLail.com, WCPO-TV and Broadcasting & Cable

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Cincinnati TV station plans paywall on its website

Discussion: NetNewsCheck

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Time Inc. expected to file IPO offering documents today, revealing detailed financials — Time to lift its veil — Time Warner is expected to file its initial public offering documents for the spinoff of its Time Inc. publishing division Friday, sources said.

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...

Discussion: Medium and Gigaom

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: TechCrunch, Guardian, Financial Times, Techworld.com, Sky News, The Register, Inquirer, Telegraph, Reuters, Mirror.co.uk, Channel 4, Gizmodo, Malaysia Sun, ComputerWeekly, Associated Press, The Drum and The Independent

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

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: The Next Web, AdAge, blog.twitter.com, Variety, Business Insider, CNET, broadcastnow.co.uk, Digital TV Europe, Social News Daily, Digits, Mashable, The Drum and WebProNews

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: Politico and Guardian

Andrew Lapin / Current.org:

University board approves St. Louis Public Radio merger with St. Louis Beacon — The University of Missouri System's Board of Curators approved a merger Nov. 22 between St. Louis Public Radio and the St. Louis Beacon, a nonprofit news site. — Under the terms of the merger …

Joanna Sugden / India Real Time:

Tehelka Editor: I'll Cooperate With Police … Tarun Tejpal, the editor of one of India's most important investigative-journalism magazines Tehelka, said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that he will cooperate with a police inquiry into allegations of sexual assault.

Discussion: Outlook Blogs

Patrick Goldstein / Los Angeles Magazine:

Hollywood trades and the fierce competition to be first — Pulp Friction — Time was, Hollywood had two “trades” that covered all things entertainment. Now it has has four, and the competition for news, ads, and readers is down and dirty, 24 hours a day — Remember how simple it used to be to stay informed?

Discussion: @patrickbigpix, @coldplums, @akstanwyck, @la_mag, @msamywallace, @janicebmin, @ckrewson and @hunterw

Marwaan Macan-Markar / The Irrawaddy Magazine:

With Digital TV, End Looms for Thailand's Broadcasting Monopolies — Millions love it, but analog TV is set for a new era of competition in Thailand. (Photo: Reuters) — BANGKOK — Under the watchful gaze of Peerawat Chottitommo, a veteran broadcaster, a team of young Thais monitors programs unfolding …

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.

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:

Why Cable Networks Will Keep Paying Through the Nose for Broadcast Reruns — FXX's deal last week to show “The Simpsons” in syndication set a record for the market in TV reruns with a cost in the ballpark of $750 million. — Cable networks have never been shy to pay top dollar for broadcast hits.

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: The Daily Northwestern, ABC News and WGBH News

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: @ryanchittum and @jktrotter

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, BBC and 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.

Discussion: Washington Times and Poynter

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