Mediagazer: Why Netflix Would Face Resistance Breaking Into France (Elsa Keslassy/Variety)

7:00 AM ET, November 29, 2013

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Lessons from journalism startup Matter: Paywalls make growing readership difficult — When journalism startup Matter launched a year ago, it was one of the most highly-funded media projects on Kickstarter, having pulled in more than $140,000 in donations — almost three times what it initially set out to raise.

Discussion: Medium, @raju, @stevebuttry and Poynter

Robert Andrews / Beet.TV:

The Guardian Now More Popular In US Than UK — LONDON — It started out as The Manchester Guardian in 1821 and had since become a national newspaper. But, this fall, The Guardian crossed another geographical rubicon - it became more popular in the US than its native UK.

Thanks:@steverubel

Andy / TorrentFreak:

Paris court orders Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to remove 16 video streaming sites from search — Court Orders Google, Microsoft & Yahoo to Make Pirate Sites Disappear — Last week turned out to be yet another hectic seven days for the copyright enforcement obligations of Google.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Harding hires former Times deputy as managing editor of BBC news — Keith Blackmore was deputy editor of Times under Harding, who has also hired Jonathan Munro of ITV News — James Harding has hired his former Times deputy, Keith Blackmore, to be managing editor of BBC news and current affairs.

Discussion: broadcastnow.co.uk

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

Why Netflix Would Face Resistance Breaking Into France — The market reportedly ripe for the streaming service's next invasion boasts huge barriers to entry — A nation packed with cinephiles and avid consumers of U.S. drama imports, France seems like a natural fit for a service like Netflix.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BT to add music service to TV offerings — Music streaming and karaoke offering backed by Universal Music — BT is to launch a music streaming and karaoke service backed by the world's largest music company, Universal Music. — The service will initially offer the equivalent …

Discussion: Financial Times, NME, Music Ally, Music Week and Variety

Matt Katz / Politico:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close — “How'd you draw the short end of the stick?” Chris Christie asked me the first time I walked into his office for an interview. — By this point in early 2011, Christie was barely a year into his New Jersey governorship, and I'd been covering him for just six weeks.

Discussion: @zekejmiller and @mollyesque

Andreas Whittam Smith / The Independent:

How the Leveson Report stopped the press in its tracks: One year on, the forensic cataloguing of media bullying retains its power to shock — It's a year since Lord Justice Leveson delivered his verdict on British newspapers. The implications are still sinking in, says Andreas Whittam Smith

Discussion: @nujbelfast and @mscott

John Plunkett / Guardian:

'BBC should open more shows up to indies if it doesn't subsidise Channel 4' — Up to 75% of BBC's shows should be available to independent sector if it wants to defend licence fee, says All3Media chairman — All3Media chairman Steve Morrison has said the BBC should make up to 75% …

John Plunkett / Guardian:
BBC chief wants corporation to be ‘less British’ defending the licence fee

Discussion: @toddlerlex, @jamescridland and bbc.co.uk

Paul Steiger / ProPublica:

Why Reporters in the U.S. Now Need Protection — Last night, ProPublica founder and executive chairman Paul Steiger received the Burton Benjamin Memorial award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Here are his remarks. — In recent days I thought a lot about the 16 previous recipients …

Discussion: Poynter, @florianklenk, @rantaramic, @raju, @franklomonte, @jcstearns and @davidbarstow

A. O. Scott / New York Times:

The Big Picture Strikes Back — Like a character who develops a discreet but noticeable cough at the end of the first act, the movies have been dying for a long time. The latest chapter in their decline — which began, depending on who is telling the story, with the introduction of sound …

Discussion: @hutchesonnick, @timocity and @sternbergh

Megha Rajagopalan / Reuters:

China's rumor crackdown has ‘cleaned’ Internet, official says — (Reuters) - China's campaign against online rumors, which critics say is crushing free speech, has been highly successful in “cleaning” the Internet, a top official of the country's internet regulator said on Thursday.

Discussion: Softpedia News and @meghara

Andy / TorrentFreak:

Unpublished Salinger Books Leaked to Private File-Sharing Site — From very early in its life the Internet became a mine of amazing things, but while accessing information was relatively easy for most, becoming a publisher was a different matter. — Soon enough regular people learned …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, CNN, The Verge, ArtsBeat and Daily Dot