Mediagazer: Toronto Star reporter serves Rob Ford with libel notice (Kristen Hare/Poynter)

9:50 AM ET, December 13, 2013

Top News:

Mary Ann Milbourn / Orange County Register:

Register owner to launch daily L.A. newspaper — The co-owner and publisher of the Orange County Register announced Thursday that the company will move broadly into Los Angeles County early next year and publish a new, seven-day-a-week newspaper, the Los Angeles Register.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, LA Observed, Los Angeles Times, Poynter, Hollywood Reporter, @margotroosevelt, Los Angeles Business … and Associated Press

Tom Balmforth / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Out Of Ukrainian Protests, A New Media Outlet Is Born — KYIV — A wave of panic grips protesters as rumors spread that tanks are bearing down on Kyiv to quell the revolt against President Viktor Yanukovych. — Several news outlets ran reports and word spreads like wildfire on Twitter.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Associated Press Held CIA Scoop For 3 Years At The Government's Request — NEW YORK — The Associated Press revealed Thursday that retired FBI agent Robert Levinson was working with the CIA at the time he went missing in Iran in 2007. The AP's explosive report on Levinson's CIA ties contradicted …

Discussion: Washington Post, @mightyobvious_ and Gawker

Paul Colford / The Definitive Source:
Why AP is publishing story about missing American tied to CIA

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Toronto Star reporter serves Rob Ford with libel notice — “On Thursday I served Rob Ford with a libel notice, the first step in the process of pursuing a defamation lawsuit,” Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale wrote in an article Thursday, explaining why he'd chosen to take legal action against Toronto's controversial mayor.

Discussion: National Post, Torontoist, Globe and Mail and Rehak/Stuebing Mostly Media

David Kravets / Wired:

AOL Tightens CrunchBase's Licensing to Block Competitors — AOL is legally locking down its crowdsourced CrunchBase database of tech companies, in response to a commercial iPhone app that used the database to compete with AOL. — The new CrunchBase license will continue to allow free use …

Discussion: The Switch, Info @ CrunchBase and TechCrunch

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Ken Li, once Reuters.com editor, leaving news organization — Kenneth Li, who had been the global editor of Reuters.com and is now an editor at large of the news organization, is leaving. — In a Twitter post, Li wrote, “Working on something hot/cool. Or whatever the millenials call it these days.”

Discussion: @nycjim, @shaneferro, @nytfridge and @kenli729

Kelly McBride / Poynter:

Newtown's media blackout forces journalists to do their jobs — The one-year anniversary of a tragic event is a significant moment. But for journalists, such moments too often become opportunities for emotional exploitation rather than real journalism. — The citizens of Newtown, Conn. …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Jack Shafer and Boing Boing

Javier C. Hernández / New York Times:

Educational Publisher's Charity, Accused of Seeking Profits, Will Pay Millions — The Pearson Foundation, the charitable arm of one of the nation's largest educational publishers, will pay $7.7 million to settle accusations that it repeatedly broke New York State law by assisting in for-profit ventures.

Discussion: Capital New York, @jenniferkates, Bookseller news, @scottpwaldman, @nikhilgoya_l, @katemessner and Metropolis

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

‘Invisible Child’: Behind the Scenes, Before and After — Andrea Elliott's moving and exhaustively reported five-part series, “Invisible Child,” was 15 months in the making. At 28,738 words, and accompanied by affecting images by Ruth Fremson, a staff photographer, this story of a homeless girl …

Discussion: @tedhartii, @mattapuzzo, @longreads, @palafo, @sulliview, @richarddeitsch and Politicker

Nellie Bowles / San Francisco Chronicle:

Jessica Lessin's startup courts broad audience for tech news — When former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin celebrated the launch of her journalism startup at a Pacific Heights mansion this week, the event attracted the tech A-list: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived in a gray hoodie …

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Q&A: Sarah Marshall on leaving Journalism.co.uk for the WSJ and the state of media across the pond — For three years, Sarah Marshall has held a job that's pretty similar to, well, my job. And I think she's pretty good at it! But Marshall is moving on, from Journalism.co.uk …

Discussion: @niemanlab and Talking Biz News

Parker Higgins / Mediashift:

WordPress Goes to Court to Defend Censored Bloggers — The blogging platform WordPress.com has taken the unusual — and welcome — step of going to court to defend its users against bogus copyright claims aimed at silencing their speech on the platform. Automattic, WordPress's parent company …

Discussion: @pbsmediashift, Thanks:@mediatwit

Stuart Elliott / New York Times:

Vanity Fair launches its first native ad effort — A Message That Tries to Blend In — AS Madison Avenue continues debating the pros and cons of a hot trend in marketing known as native advertising — digital pitches styled to look like the editorial content of the publications in which they run …

Thanks:@steverubel

James Bennet / The Atlantic Online:

Writers need a better term for “long-form”, which no longer signals quality — Against ‘Long-Form Journalism’ — I have had it with long-form journalism. By which I mean—don't get me wrong—I'm fed up with the term long-form itself, a label that the people who create …

Discussion: @mysecondempire, @theatlantic, @jackshafer, @stilgherrian, @paulvieira, @barryap1, @dvnjr, @sommermathis and @niemanlab

Jose Delreal / Politico:

White House press corps tees off on Jay Carney over access — A frustrated press corps sounded off Thursday against White House press secretary Jay Carney over lack of access to President Barack Obama. — Carney said the White House “is working” to address the concerns …

Discussion: TVNewser, @aprildryan and The Fix

Brian Resnick / NationalJournal.com:
White House Blames Internet for Lack of Media Access, and the Press Cries Foul

Discussion: Poynter, @stephieintexas, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

YouTube releases list of 2013's top videos — © Shohei Miyano / Reuters - YouTube has released its list of the top-trending videos of 2013. Above, visitors stand in front of a logo of YouTube at the YouTube Space Tokyo, operated by Google, in Tokyo February 14, 2013. REUTERS/Shohei Miyano

Discussion: Washington Post, The Next Web, Forbes and The Hairpin

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Aereo Won't Oppose Supreme Court Battle — The digital streaming company responds to broadcasters' attempts to interest the high court in a battle that could reshape the TV industry. — In papers filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, Aereo says it is ready for the high court to review its legality.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Gigaom, TechCrunch and @eriqgardner