Mediagazer: Is This a Preview of Medium's Business Model? (Brian Braiker/Digiday)

12:45 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, Hit & Run, @jeffjarvis, @martin_u, @carlmalamud, @paulxharris, @davechensky, @carr2n 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, TVWeek.com, NewsMax.com, Talking Points Memo, Gothamist, @antderosa, @csoghoian, Business Insider, @jeffreycarr, @dailynewshack, @dandrezner, @onekade 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, @lenkendall, @goodberger, @lucasoconnor, @chuckatnpr, Los Angeles Times, @slcarothers, @vivianschiller, @rbole, @ibarguen, @nprmonkeysee, @nprglobalhealth, AllAccess.com, @nycjim, @romenesko, @j_schiff and @ceciliamarie

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Guardian U.S. C.E.O. out after short stint — Guardian Media Group's U.S. boss is leaving the company's American arm after just a little more than a year on the job. — Michael Bloom, C.E.O. of Guardian U.S., the British newspaper's American-facing digital website, “will leave the company …

Discussion: Media Guido

Lara O'Reilly / Marketing Week:
Guardian promotes chief commercial officer David Pemsel to deputy chief executive

Discussion: Guardian and @marketingweeked

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

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Viggle Tries to Bulk Up its Social TV Business By Buying Wetpaint — Viggle, the company that rewards people for watching TV shows, has bought Wetpaint, a Facebook-centric publisher that specializes in writing about TV shows. — The deal, which is costing Viggle $30 million in cash and stock …

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: @themediaisdying and Capital New York

Brian Braiker / Digiday:

Is This a Preview of Medium's Business Model? — In a move that suggests possible monetization plans for the future, blogging platform Medium has teamed up with ESPN's soccer network to build a new place for fans to write and read about the sport in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup.

Denise Lu / Mediashift:

Freedom of the Press Foundation Steps Up Encryption Efforts for Journalists — With the NSA constantly popping up in headlines this year, it's important to look into how to protect journalists who need to communicate with confidential sources. The Freedom of the Press Foundation aims …

Discussion: @pbsmediashift

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