Mediagazer: Gannett to Add USA Today to Local Papers (Christine Haughney/New York Times)

1:45 PM ET, December 11, 2013

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Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

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Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Gannett to Add USA Today to Local Papers — Gannett Company, one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, will try to expand its advertising and circulation revenue by inserting parts of its flagship newspaper, USA Today, into its local newspapers. — The company is expected to announce …

Discussion: USA Today, Gannett Blog and @susanpage

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

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Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

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Todd Spangler / Variety:

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Todd Spangler / Variety:
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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, Capital New York, New York Times, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, Online NewsHour, The Atlantic Online and euronews

Stephen Totilo / Kotaku:

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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 …

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Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Beastie Boys countersue as fair use fight over “Girls” song escalates — A copyright case between the Beastie Boys and toy maker GoldieBlox just got nastier: the rap group claims in a court filing that rewriting its “Girls” song for a video commercial does not count as “fair use,” …

Discussion: TeleRead, Techdirt, Columbia Journalism Review, Gothamist, The Verge and @rga

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.

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

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 …

Discussion: @uk_radio and Financial Times

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.

Discussion: Associated Press and The Drum

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 …

Discussion: New York Times, AllThingsD, Media & Entertainment, Betabeat, TechCrunch, Reuters, Gigaom, Rolling Stone, @devindra, Bloomberg, App Advice, Variety, Spotify Blog, Softpedia News, CNET, Hollywood Reporter, Telegraph, The Verge, Mashable and Pocket-lint

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 …

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Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

NimbleTV Brings TV Everywhere to New York, Without Permission From the TV Industrial Complex — Want to watch the TV you've already paid for, anywhere you want to watch it, whenever you want to watch it? — You can't. * But NimbleTV says it can change that.

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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