Mediagazer: At Jake Silverstein's “amped up” Texas Monthly, water policy, immigration, and BBQ are all cover stories (Richard Parker/Columbia Journalism Review)

9:15 PM ET, December 8, 2013

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

The Thorny Challenge of Covering China — HOW do major American news organizations write about a Communist country with the world's second-largest economy — a country that doesn't believe in press rights and that punishes tough-minded coverage? — Aggressively? Cautiously? Fearlessly?

Discussion: @felixsalmon, @niubi, @jonathanshainin, @kgosztola, @blakehounshell, @dicktofel, @sarahkendzior, @raju, @jayrosen_nyu, New Yorker, GlobalPost and Prof Chris Daly's Blog

Kathy Chu / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Media Firms Stymied in China

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

How To Use The Media To Sell A Company — Recent stories about a potential sale of Time Warner Cable offer a master class in the subtle semiotics of dealmaking. A reader's guide. — Bloomberg — Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images — “Time Warner Cable's Next CEO Ready to Sell If Price Is Right …

Discussion: @jimpoco, @peterlauria3, Corporate Intelligence, @bloombergtech, Fortune, Bloomberg and Variety

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Politico, Hill Reporters Get Rare Access For Hillary Clinton Book — NEW YORK — When CNN recently canceled a Hillary Clinton documentary, Charles Ferguson, the film's director, lashed out at the former secretary of state's aides. — Ferguson suggested that longtime Clinton protector Philippe Reines …

Caitlin Dewey / WorldViews:

Of the 7,776 languages in use in the offline world, fewer than five percent exist online — How the Internet is killing the world's languages — Less than five percent of current world languages are in use online, according to a recent study by prominent linguist András Kornai …

Richard Parker / Columbia Journalism Review:

At Jake Silverstein's “amped up” Texas Monthly, water policy, immigration, and BBQ are all cover stories — At Jake Silverstein's “amped up” Texas Monthly, water policy, immigration, and BBQ are all cover stories — AUSTIN, TX — From his posh office on the 17th floor, Jake Silverstein …

Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:

Brian Stelter Officially Debuts as CNN's ‘Reliable Sources’ Host — The hour included a brief segment looking at the conflict of interest of CNN's Chris Cuomo interviewing his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. — Brian Stelter — Though he's appeared as a guest host since August …

Discussion: TVNewser, @brianstelter, @wolfblitzer, Inside TV and TVNewser

MG Siegler / Medium:

Let It Full-Bleed — On the importance of images and layout in writing. — Load up your favorite tech blog. Or almost any blog, really. There's a good chance it looks like s**t. There's a better chance that the reading experience is even worse. And we put up with it, day in and day out.

Discussion: @jess and @parislemon

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Jessica Lessin talks about paywalls, The Information and the virtues of knowing who your audience is — Former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin got some attention when she left the newspaper six months ago to start a new online news venture, and this week she launched the project …

Discussion: @theinformation, @jessicalessin, StartupBook, @garrettgoodman, @gabestein, @jayrosen_nyu and Daring Fireball

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Profile: Time editor Nancy Gibbs, an insider navigating declining revenue at an iconic brand — Her ‘Time’ — On a Thursday afternoon in October, Nancy Gibbs, who shattered a glass ceiling the previous month when she became the first woman to reach the top of Time's masthead …

Discussion: @cschweitz and @tmcgev, Thanks:@steverubel

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:

We Wrote a Heartbreaking and Terrifying Post about Viral Content without Lists or GIFs. Then You Clicked on It, and Magic Happened. … PinIt InstapaperPocketEmailPrint — As long as people have been publishing, they've been trying to figure out what will make large numbers of people burn …

Discussion: @jaredbkeller, @fivethirtyeight and The Dish

Reuters:

Once piracy havens, China's Internet video websites turn police — (Reuters) - The website of China's biggest Internet video company Youku Tudou Inc was once a haven for illicit Hollywood blockbusters and hit South Korean soap operas, until it realised piracy really doesn't pay.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Margaret Looney / IJNet:

Knight Lab's Joe Germuska: “We have to find room for the big experimental ideas” — What started as an idea for creating tools for local media in Chicago three years ago has evolved into an innovation hub for the global journalism and technology community. — The Knight Lab at Northwestern …

Tom Gara / Corporate Intelligence:

Behind the FCC's Intervention in a $985 Million Local TV Deal — The TV business has been on a furious consolidation drive this year, with billions of dollars worth of mergers and acquisitions snapping up the companies that bring broadcast TV to local markets across the country. But a letter from

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
FCC Asks Sinclair to Revise Plans to Use ‘Sidecar’ Companies

Discussion: TVNewsCheck.com

Jennifer Howard / Wired Campus:

Elsevier forces Academia.edu to take down research papers shared by their authors — Posting Your Latest Article? You Might Have to Take It Down — Guy Leonard received an unpleasant surprise in his inbox early this morning: a notice from Academia.edu saying it had taken down a copy …