Mediagazer: Afraid of Free Speech, on Many Fronts: PEN, Google, China, Goliath (James Fallows/The Atlantic Online)

5:40 AM ET, December 9, 2013

Top News:

Where Freedom of the Press Is Muffled — In China on Thursday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. spoke plainly about the role of a free press in a democratic society. — “Innovation thrives where people breathe freely, speak freely, are able to challenge orthodoxy, where newspapers …

Discussion: @carr2n and Naked Security

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 and New Yorker

Robert Mahoney / Committee to Protect Journalists:
A chill over British press

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, TechCrunch, TheHill and Free Press 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: @peterlauria3, @jimpoco, Corporate Intelligence, @bloombergtech, Bloomberg, Fortune, Variety and Radio & Television …

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Afraid of Free Speech, on Many Fronts: PEN, Google, China, Goliath — Free societies depend on free-swinging critiques, even those that are “unbalanced” or “go too far.” — On Wednesday afternoon, as previewed earlier, I got to serve as moderator for a panel of four very eminent writers …

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

The not-so-quaint charm of the email newsletter — In spite of today's obsession with social networks, the email newsletter remains a potent vector for the dissemination of news and for driving traffic back to websites. It comes with one condition, though: reintroducing a human touch.

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 …

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 …

Dan Caterinicchia / Poynter:

College websites seeing mobile migration, but not all are ready — Website traffic at the University of Oregon's Daily Emerald was less than 1 percent mobile in 2010. This year, it's 39 percent and growing. And while visits on desktops have more than doubled to 951,000 since 2010 …

Discussion: @doughaddix and @elanazak

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 …

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 and Inside TV

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: @parislemon, @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 and @jayrosen_nyu