Mediagazer: DirecTV Invests in Two Digital Entertainment Startups (Todd Spangler/Variety)

6:10 PM ET, December 4, 2013

Top News:

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Martin Bashir Resigns From MSNBC — Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's (R-AK) mouth. Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast …

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Newsweek plans return to print in Jan-Feb next year as a subscription based 64 page weekly — Newsweek Plans Return to Print — Newsweek, the struggling weekly magazine that ceased print publication last year, plans to turn the presses back on. — The magazine expects to begin …

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Newsweek's editor-in-chief says subscriber revenues will cover expenses, “ads will be icing”

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Guardian, Mediaite and @justinjm1

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

News Corp. names Clinton White House vet as new communications chief — The new News Corp. is still getting its house in order, and has recruited a new executive to its senior team. — Jim Kennedy, a veteran of the Clinton White House, has been appointed chief communications officer …

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, News Corp and Variety

Jill Lawless / Associated Press:

Guardian: We have published 1 pct of Snowden leak — You are here — Home » Edward Snowden » Guardian: We have published 1 pct of Snowden leak … LONDON (AP) — The editor of the Guardian said Tuesday his newspaper has published just 1 percent of the material it received …

Discussion: USA Today, @sulliview, Guardian, Associated Press, Committee to Protect …, The Drum, TheHill, TheBlaze.com and The Daily Caller

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:
Editor Describes Pressure After Leaks by Snowden

Discussion: Guardian, Talking Biz News, Kirk LaPointe's …, @genn4dy, @timobrien, @alicedreger, @monahol, mUmBRELLA and Gawker

Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC News to introduce ‘NewsLabs team’ to drive innovation — Managing editor James Harding told staff that BBC News will assemble a NewsLabs team to establish ‘new formats’ for telling and sharing stories — Credit: By Horia Varlan on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Discussion: bbc.co.uk and Guardian

BBC:
BBC must tackle diversity ‘problem’ says news director

Discussion: @sunny_hundal, @narco_sam, @emmajtracey and @t_mcconnell

Dylan Byers / Politico:

CBS News chairman defends Lara Logan in staff meeting — CBS News chairman and ‘60 Minutes’ EP Jeff Fager held a meeting with CBS News staff on Tuesday and took questions about the fate of Lara Logan and Max McClellan, the journalists currently on a leave of absence in the wake …

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:

Joel Johnson named Gawker editorial director — Joel Johnson, founding editor of Kotaku, Gizmodo and The Consumerist, has been named editorial director of Gawker, Nick Denton told staff in a memo Wednesday. — Johnson, currently an editor-at-large of Gawker and contributing editor at The Wirecutter, will report for duty in January.

Discussion: The New York Observer, Poynter and FishbowlNY

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

U.S. says online ads should be clearly marked, undeceptive — The growing online usage of ads designed to blend in with the rest of a website's content, a practice known as “native advertising,” may be illegal in some instances, the Federal Trade Commission warned on Wednesday.

Discussion: @elanazak, @raju, @raju, New York Times, @raju, @ftc, @jeffjarvis and @rafat

IAB:
IAB Releases Native Advertising Playbook To Establish Common Industry Lexicon, Evaluation …

Discussion: Folio, AdAge, @michaelpilla and @raju

CNN:

Media outlets cautious as Newtown 911 recordings released — (CNN) — Wednesday's release of audio recordings of the 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings will force news organizations to make difficult — and probably unpopular — decisions about what to broadcast and what to hold back.

Discussion: TVNewser, New York Times, @brianstelter, @thedailybeast and Columbia Journalism Review

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:

Former Wall Street Journal reporter launches The Information, a tech news site with a $399 annual subscription — Letter From the Editor — Technology news needs a reboot. There are more stories and outlets than ever, but a troubling cycle is playing out:

Discussion: Business Insider, AllThingsD, Talking Biz News, Valleywag, @edmundlee and @benparr

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Daily Download founder confirms site has ended publication — “Ashburn Media Company has decided to stop publishing Daily-download.com,” Lauren Ashburn tells Poynter in an emailed statement. … Andrew Kaczynski wrote about the site's apparent demise Tuesday.

Discussion: Erik Wemple, Gawker, FishbowlNY, Slate and BuzzFeed

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Publishing Platform Medium Keeps Iterating With New Photo, Layout Tools And Collection Controls — Medium, the blog publishing platform from Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, has today released new features and a few design changes. — Medium has sprouted from a seedling to a full-fledged media tool …

Discussion: Medium, Fast Company, The Verge, @yurivictor, @designhawg and @evanatmedium

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

Disney Increases Annual Dividend by 15% to 86 Cents — Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the world's largest entertainment company, raised its annual dividend by 15 percent to 86 cents a share, the fourth straight yearly increase after posting record sales and profit.

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline.com and Hollywood Reporter

Todd Spangler / Variety:

DirecTV Invests in Two Digital Entertainment Startups — Satcaster takes stakes in second-screen app developer i.TV and video aggregator LiveClips — DirecTV announced that it has made strategic investments in two digital entertainment startups — video-aggregation provider LiveClips …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Andrew Berg / Wireless Week:

New Rules Hasten FCC Approval of Verizon's Vodafone Buy — The FCC Wednesday approved Verizon's petition for a declaratory ruling on its acquistion of Vodafone's 45 percent stake in the Verizon Wireless joint venture. — The ruling, which involved the International Bureau …

Discussion: PR Newswire and @eggerton

Jim Romenesko:

Alt-weekly publisher: I hear Aaron Kushner is losing millions on the Orange County Register — Stephen Mindich, who closed the Boston Phoenix in March, said at a panel discussion on newspapers Tuesday that he hears Aaron Kushner's investment in the Orange County Register and other publications isn't paying off.

Discussion: CommonWealth Magazine

Addis Ababa / Associated Press:

International rights group appeals for the release of Ethiopian reporter jailed for 18 years — ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - A rights group is making a global appeal for the release from prison of an award-winning journalist in Ethiopia. — Amnesty International this week is trying …

Discussion: allAfrica.com, afriquejet.com and ZegabiZegabi

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Analyst Says Unbundling Would Destroy TV Value — Needham & Co.'s Laura Martin says that TV unbundling would put $80 billion to $113 billion in consumer value at risk — With the price of pay TV rising, increasing consumer choice through replacing the current bundle of channels with an a la system becomes a more popular idea.

Discussion: MediaPost, Deadline.com, BuzzFeed and Los Angeles Times

BuzzFeed:

Dueling Arafat Reports Divide Palestinians — And Al Jazeera — Was the late Palestinian leader poisoned? “This is going to look biased.” — A new French report has found that contrary to recent Swiss findings, Yasser Arafat was likely not killed by polonium poisoning …

Discussion: @joshmitnick, @sheeraf and @miriamelder

Michael Weinberg / Policy Blog:

Did the FCC Chairman Just Endorse a Pay-for-Play Internet Fast Lane? — Chairman Wheeler endorsed both two-sided markets and net neutrality. There seems to be a conflict. — Yesterday, new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler delivered his first formal public address.

Discussion: Motherboard, @dweinberger, @notaaroncraig, DSLreports, @karlbode, The Verge, TheHill, Free Press Blog, Fortune and Light Reading

David Folkenflik / NPR:

OMG, BuzzFeed Is Investing In Serious News Coverage! Is It FTW? … Anyone who has hankered for a list of 10 of the most life-affirming dog rescue stories ever can rely on the social media site BuzzFeed. — That list of 11 classic horror films that should never have been remade? That's from BuzzFeed too.

Discussion: @wbur, @emilybell, @jayrosen_nyu and @sheeraf

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Beats Music Targeting January Launch — YouTube's music subscription service was supposed to launch this year, but will be delayed until 2014. Now, Beats Music is playing the same tune. — Beats, the project championed by music executive Jimmy Iovine and backed by $60 million in funding, was supposed to debut in 2013.