Mediagazer: Syrian opposition vows to help prevent journalists being kidnapped (Dasha Afanasieva/Reuters)

12:10 PM ET, December 16, 2013

Top News:

AOL's Tim Armstrong reluctantly lets go of Patch as shareholder pressures mount — AOL Chief's White Whale Finally Slips His Grasp — Tim Armstrong, the chief executive of AOL, is finally winding down Patch, a network of local news sites that he helped invent and that AOL bought after he took over.

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Update: AOL Says Its Hyperlocal New Network Patch Is Not Closing — Update: AOL says a report that Patch is winding down is “factually inaccurate.” We've asked the company for more information. A New York Times article stated that AOL is reportedly planning to dismantle Patch or sell …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …, @carr2n, SocialTimes, @tracewall and @ali

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The almost-post mortem for Patch

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu and @jeffjarvis

Sara Morrison / The Wire:

‘60 Minutes’: NSA Good, Snowden Bad — As if that whole retracted Benghazi report and the Amazon commercial/drone reveal didn't undermine 60 Minutes' credibility enough in the last few weeks, here's another gem: a report on how the NSA has simply been misunderstood by all those Snowden leaks and is a good guy, really.

Discussion: CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Nation, Gigaom, Gothamist, @paulxharris, @carr2n, @jeffjarvis, @martin_u, @carlmalamud, @davechensky and @ggreenwald

Richard Johnson / New York Post:

60 Minutes reporter John Miller currently negotiating new intelligence job with NYPD — CBS newsman John Miller is negotiating his exit as a senior correspondent to join his old friend Bill Bratton back at the Police Department, a reliable source tells me.

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline.com, Talking Points Memo, @antderosa, Business Insider, @csoghoian, @jeffreycarr, @dailynewshack, @onekade, @dandrezner and @moorehn

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

‘60 Minutes’ reporter didn't want NSA story to be ‘a puff piece’ — In an interview with “60 Minutes Overtime” producer Ann Silvio, John Miller talks about his intentions with “60 Minutes"' two-part NSA story, which ran Sunday. Miller said the disclosure that he used to work in the Office …

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:

NPR Gets $17 Million in Grants to Expand Coverage and Develop Digital Platform — NPR has amassed nearly $17 million in grants to increase substantially its coverage of education and global health and development, and finance creation of a new mobile and web platform that is expected to allow …

Discussion: The Wrap, Poynter, @goodberger, @lucasoconnor, @chuckatnpr, @vivianschiller, Los Angeles Times, @slcarothers, @rbole, @ibarguen, @nprmonkeysee, @nprglobalhealth, AllAccess.com, @nycjim, @romenesko, @j_schiff and @ceciliamarie

Lara O'Reilly / Marketing Week:

Guardian promotes chief commercial officer David Pemsel to deputy chief executive — Guardian promotes Pemsel as it sets sights on global expansion — Guardian-owner Guardian Media Group has promoted its chief commercial officer and former CMO David Pemsel into the new role …

Discussion: Guardian and @marketingweeked

Media Guido:

Guardian US Boss Out After a Year — CEO of Guardian US Michael Bloom has quit. He had only been in the job for just over a year but Guardian Media Group have today announced he “will leave the company to pursue other opportunities”. No replacement has been lined up so David Pemsel …

Capital New York:

The ‘Times Magazine’ problem — New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson had given herself until the end of the year to name a new editor for The New York Times Magazine to replace Hugo Lindgren, whose imminent departure was first reported by Capital last month.

Discussion: @joepompeo, @capitalnewyork and @drmabuse

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

New York Times Raises Subscription Prices — The New York Times is looking for more money from print subscribers in 2014 as it continues to contend with declining print and digital advertising revenues alike. — Home delivery subscribers received a letter with their papers over the weekend notifying …

Discussion: Capital New York

David Holmes / PandoDaily:

From Google Glass to Snowfalling: What will journalism look like in 2014? — If you want to peer into the future of journalism, do yourself a favor and look to Jay Rosen's Studio 20 journalism program at NYU. Sure, I may be biased: I graduated from the program in 2011.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu

Alexander Howard / Tow Center for Digital Journalism:

Data journalism MOOCs offer new options for distributed learning — One of the most common questions I've heard since I began investigating data-driven journalism has been “where can I go to learn more?” Every day, those options are expanding. Starting in early 2014, for instance …

Discussion: @rosental and @digiphile

Dasha Afanasieva / Reuters:

Syrian opposition vows to help prevent journalists being kidnapped — (Reuters) - Syrian rebel leaders said they would do all they could to protect journalists but were hampered by infighting, after international news organizations complained kidnappings were preventing full media coverage of the civil war.

Discussion: Capital New York, Latest News & Headlines and @joshuahersh