Mediagazer: Joel Johnson named Gawker editorial director (Johana Bhuiyan/Capital New York)

5:25 AM ET, December 5, 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 …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Twitter Is About To Officially Launch Retargeted Ads — Twitter is ready to roll out retargeted ads fueled by browser cookies, sources confirm. Twitter could make the announcement as soon as tomorrow, expanding retargeted ads beyond the “experimental” phase that started in July.

Discussion: Telegraph and AdExchanger

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: Gigaom, Fast Company, Medium, @yurivictor, @designhawg, @saila, The Verge, @dangillmor and @evanatmedium

Alex Kantrowitz / AdAge:

Arguments Fly During FTC Workshop on Native Advertising — Ad Industry Mounts Vigorous Defense in D.C.; Detractors Including Bob Garfield Blast Practice — The advertising industry descended on Washington, D.C. today, mounting a vigorous defense of so-called “native” …

Discussion: Forbes, New York Times, WWD Media Headlines, @petersontee, @kantrowitz, @raju, @ftc, @rafat, @raju, @raju, @carr2n, @jeffjarvis, @rafat, @elanazak and Reuters

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Media Insiders Are Laughing About New Site ‘The Information,’ But Founder Jessica Lessin Will Laugh Last — Former WSJ tech reporter and editor Jessica Lessin officially launched a tech news site this morning. — It's called The Information. — According to a letter from the editor …

Discussion: @realdanlyons, @bencasselman, @amir, @rafat, @thestalwart and The Michael Report

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:
Former Wall Street Journal reporter launches The Information, a tech news site with a $399 annual subscription

Discussion: AllThingsD, PandoDaily, @mathewi, @moorehn, @edmundlee, Silicon Valley Watcher, @karaswisher, @benparr, Talking Biz News and Valleywag

Sophie Woodrooffe / Sparksheet:

Making Music Multiplatform: Q&A with Pitchfork's Chris Kaskie — Pitchfork began as a bootstrapped blog back in 1996. Now it's a bona fide, award-winning media outlet, complete with a video channel, music discovery app and festival. How do you define yourselves now?

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:

White House taps PolicyMic to engage millennials on A.C.A. — The White House is participating in a project with local media company PolicyMic as part of its outreach effort to millennials, seen as a crucial element in the success or failure of the Affordable Care Act.

Discussion: The Hill

Erik Gruenwedel / Home Media Magazine:

Study: Low Consumer Interest in Transactional VOD — Consumer demand for renting movies and TV shows on connected devices, including television, remains low despite home entertainment's transition to digital distribution, according to a new study. — Just 10% of 1,200 respondents …

Discussion: @milesmaker

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

How NPR lures younger digital audiences — The people who listen to NPR are a lot like those who read newspapers. They tend to be wealthier, better educated and more thoughtful than the population as whole. And, like newspaper readers, they are older than the broader population, too.

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

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, Gawker, New York Magazine, News Corp, Variety and The Wrap

Bloomberg:

Nine Entertainment Raises A$643 Million in Australian IPO Rush — Nine Entertainment Co. and its owners plan to raise about A$643 million ($582 million) in Australia's second-biggest initial public offering this year as first-time share sales in the country surge.

Discussion: The Age

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

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

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

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, @benfritz, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.com

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: @eggerton and PR Newswire

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, @emmajtracey, @narco_sam 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 …

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: afriquejet.com, ZegabiZegabi and Al Jazeera English

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: @sheeraf, @joshmitnick and @miriamelder

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: @sulliview, Guardian, New York Times and Associated Press

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: Gawker, Erik Wemple and FishbowlNY