Mediagazer: Letter From the Editor — Technology news needs a reboot. (Jessica E. Lessin/The Information)

9:20 AM ET, December 5, 2013

Top News:

John McDermott / Digiday:

The Information founder Jessica Lessin discusses subscription models, ads, and aggregation — Why New Tech Site The Information Spurns Ads for Subscriptions — The Information, former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin's new tech news site, debuted today with a seemingly …

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
Media Insiders Are Laughing About New Site ‘The Information,’ But Founder Jessica Lessin Will Laugh Last

Discussion: Businessweek, @thestalwart, @amir, @realdanlyons, @bencasselman, @rafat, @moorehn and @mathewi

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:
Letter From the Editor — Technology news needs a reboot.

Discussion: AllThingsD, NetNewsCheck Latest, Nieman Journalism Lab, Talking Biz News, @karaswisher, Silicon Valley Watcher, Valleywag and The Michael Report

Christina Chaey / Fast Company:

With Medium 1.0, Ev Williams Tackles The Platform's Identity Crisis — “What is Medium?” — I'm far from the first to ask Ev Williams this question. Since he launched the blogging site with fellow Twitter cofounder Biz Stone a little more than a year ago, many others have wondered …

Discussion: PandoDaily and The Verge

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, Medium, @yurivictor, @designhawg, @saila, @dangillmor and @evanatmedium

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: Business Insider, SocialTimes, Telegraph, @aulia and AdExchanger

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, @sulliview, @raju, @petersontee, @kantrowitz, @rafat, @raju, @raju, @carr2n, WWD Media Headlines, @raju, @ftc, @jeffjarvis, @rafat, @elanazak and Reuters

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Biden Faults China on Foreign Press Crackdown — BEIJING — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sharply criticized the Chinese government's crackdown on the foreign press, telling an audience of American business people Thursday that the United States had “profound disagreements” with its “treatment of U.S. journalists.”

Discussion: @scottbix, @greatfirechina, @comradewong and The Verge

Thomas Stackpole / Foreign Policy:

Here's How the British Government Is Planning to Come After the Guardian — Every day, the National Security Agency's massive surveillance apparatus hoovers up nearly 5 billion records drawn from the location data of cell phones around the world. That's according to the Washington Post's latest installment …

Discussion: The Week, BBC and Guardian

Jill Lawless / Associated Press:
Guardian: We have published 1 pct of Snowden leak

Discussion: @sulliview and New York Times

Associated Press:

Sohu to stream Nickelodeon programs in China — You are here — Home » Viacom, Inc. » Sohu to stream Nickelodeon programs in China — BEIJING (AP) — “SpongeBob SquarePants” and other Nickelodeon children's programs will be dubbed into Mandarin and available to watch free online …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter and Campaign Asia

Stuart Kemp / Hollywood Reporter:

Yahoo Movies, U.K. Anti-Piracy Site Team Up — Findanyfilm.com strikes a deal with the online giant to help users find legitimate sites to view films and buy movie theater tickets for current releases. — LONDON - U.K. anti-piracy site Findanyfilm.com has partnered with Yahoo! …

Discussion: Variety

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: Gigaom and The Hill

Ivan Verstyuk / Columbia Journalism Review:

Ukraine's deep-rooted media problem — As the country is roiled by protest, a Kiev-based journalist looks at a long-standing problem in the media business, where fake, paid-for “news” stories are routine — KIEV—For Ukrainian journalists, “jeans” is not just a pair of denim pants …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times and kyivpost.com

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?

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

Parliament hears call for UK Bill of Rights to secure press freedom from Government intrusion — A leading Tory MP and former journalist has called for a UK Bill of Rights to secure press freedom to replace the Government's planned Royal Charter backed regulator.

Discussion: Guardian

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

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: Hollywood Reporter, VCPOST, The Age and mUmBRELLA

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

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.

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 and @brianstelter

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