Mediagazer: News organisations plead with Syrian rebels to stop abducting journalists (Roy Greenslade/Guardian)

2:10 PM ET, December 11, 2013

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Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

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Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

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Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

News organisations plead with Syrian rebels to stop abducting journalists — Thirteen news organisations, including The Guardian, have signed a letter calling on rebel groups in Syria to desist from kidnapping journalists and asking for the release of those currently being held hostage.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, New York Times, FishbowlNY, Capital New York, New York Times, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, Online NewsHour and euronews

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

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Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:

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Todd Spangler / Variety:
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Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

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Stephen Totilo / Kotaku:

YouTube Channels Crippled By Copyright Claims — Numerous video game-related YouTube personalities have spent the last day digging through piles of copyright claims suddenly filling their inboxes, claims that they say are messing with their ability to produce and profit from videos they post online.

Discussion: Forbes, Polygon, @simonhoupt, Tubefilter, @jerryandharry, VentureBeat, Plagiarism Today and Marketing Pilgrim

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Apple TV gets live news programming with Bloomberg TV — Bloomberg TV launched an app on Apple TV devices Wednesday morning that includes a live feed of the cable networks financial news programming as well as access to on-demand videos. The live feed is available without authentication …

Discussion: TechCrunch, AllThingsD, @brianstelter and 9to5Mac

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Paywalls Boost Ad Rates for Some Magazines and Newspapers, OPA Study Finds — It's All About the Subscription Data (and What You Do with It) — Online paywalls are helping some newspaper and magazine websites increase the ad rates they charge, according to a new report from the Online Publishers Association.

Guardian:

BBC to axe more than half of its management boards — Review of corporation's governance also includes appointment of two new non-executive directors and changes to trust's remit — The BBC will on Wednesday announce a series of changes to its system of governance and the appointment …

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Erik Wemple:

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to write Washington Post column — The journalistic bond between The Post and MSNBC just grew a bit stronger, as the paper's opinion section announced that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will be writing a monthly column. “We expect that she will bring to Post readers the strong arguments …

Discussion: WashPost PR, Poynter and The Huffington Post

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

New York Times Expects Digital Ad Growth in 2014 — New York Times CEO Mark Thompson intends to restore growth to the company's digital advertising revenue next year after recent declines, he told a meeting of investors Tuesday. — To spur growth, the Times is introducing branded content solutions …

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Press Association:

Hacking trial: Piers Morgan told Rebekah he knew her splash after ‘listening’ to her messages — Former Mirror editor Piers Morgan told Rebekah Brooks that he knew what her splash was in January 2003 because he had been “listening to messages”, the Old Bailey was told today.

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Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Spotify brings free music to all devices (with caveats); snags Led Zeppelin — NEW YORK CITY — In its quest to entice more users, Spotify is finally bringing its free music service to more devices — though they won't all get the same free content. — A new ad-supported offering …

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Comcast:

Comcast Plans to Add New Networks and Distributors to SEEiT Platform — ABC Entertainment Group, A+E Networks Group, AMC Networks Inc., Cablevision's Optimum TV, Charter Communications, Crown Media Family Networks, Discovery Communications, Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable are expected …

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Lauren Kirchner / Columbia Journalism Review:

Jana Winter's victory — On Tuesday, The New York Court of Appeals overturned a subpoena that's been hanging over investigative reporter Jana Winter's head since March, and resolved a legal battle that lasted over a year. The subpoena had called on Winter to appear in the James Holmes criminal trial …

Discussion: New York Times, FishbowlNY, The Wrap and The Desk

Sapna Maheshwari / BuzzFeed:

Growth Of Video Ads On Tablets, Cell Phones And Smart TVs Is Exploding — Total video ad views grew 31% in the third quarter, Citigroup analysts said in a note today. — As many know, people are increasingly consuming video on devices other than their televisions — and that's making for a booming video ad market.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

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Hadas Gold / Politico:

Conservative consolidation: New ‘Twitchy’ owner in talks to buy RedState, Regnery — Salem Communications, the parent company of right-wing sites HotAir.com and Townhall.com, is considering a series of acquisitions that would consolidate several of the conservative blogosphere's …

Discussion: @johntabin