Mediagazer: Continuing Its Public Content Push, Facebook Acquires SportStream (Mike Isaac/AllThingsD)

6:55 PM ET, December 17, 2013

Top News:

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Media organizations meet with White House over access — Representatives of major media organizations met Tuesday afternoon with members of the White House press office for an hour at the White House to begin discussions on increasing press access to the president.

Discussion: @markknoller

Donald R. Winslow / NPPA:
Media Coalition Meets With White House Press Office Over Obama Access

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Huffington Post

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Brown Moses to launch site for open investigative journalism — The Syrian conflict blogger and munitions investigator Eliot Higgins, better known as Brown Moses, is set to launch a new website as a platform and resource for open, investigative journalism in early 2014.

Discussion: @antderosa, @brown_moses, @azmatzahra, @sunny_hundal and @niemanlab

Tom Phillips / BuzzFeed:

How The Media Will Report The Apocalypse — It's the end of the world as we know it. In early 2014, a series of devastating catastrophes bring about Armageddon. Papers of record like the New York Times soberly report this news. The Guardian tries to provide comprehensive live coverage of the end of days.

Discussion: @cosmos4u, @karaswisher, @dollyalderton, @nytopinion, @elanazak, @georgemonbiot, @penguingalaxy, @finsjesse, @laurakeeney, @louispeitzman, @bruce_arthur and @newsmary

John Paton / Digital First:

MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media to merge under Digital First Media — The First Step On The Rest of the Journey — Sometimes a press release just isn't enough to say what has happened. — Or can do justice on how important this new development truly is to our company.

Discussion: Digital First Media, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @jeffjarvis and NetNewsCheck Latest

Anneta Konstantinides / ABC News:

Mike Huckabee to Launch ‘Huckabee Post’ — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will launch a news publication “Huckabee Post” in January 2014, ABC News has learned. — The site will cover a range of topics from news and politics to sports and pop culture, according to the former governor's son, David Huckabee.

Discussion: Fox News, TVNewser, The Epoch Times, TheBlaze.com, Washington Post, FishbowlNY, TruthRevolt.org, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Politico, @gma, @abbydphillip, @mckaycoppins, @samsteinhp and The Huffington Post

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Snowden Not Renewing Request For Asylum In Brazil, Greenwald Says — Brazil has been one of the most outspoken opponents of NSA spying. Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden's letter to the people of Brazil has been “wildly misreported.” — WASHINGTON — Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden's letter …

Discussion: New York Times, The Switch, USA Today, Gawker, WorldViews, Techdirt, @rosiegray, @ggreenwald, NBCNews, Mashable, The Daily Caller, www.wnyc.org and New York Times

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:
Guardian whistle-blower Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate US spying in return for asylum

Discussion: USA Today, Latest News & Headlines, TechCrunch, Techdirt, The Verge, ZDNet, Telegraph, Reuters, @ggreenwald, CNET, Softpedia News and Guardian

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

Continuing Its Public Content Push, Facebook Acquires SportStream — Twitter may still be synonymous with real-time, in-the-moment discussion. But that's hardly stopping Facebook from moving in on the territory. — Natch, Facebook announced on Tuesday it had acquired SportStream …

Discussion: TechCrunch, facebook.com and The Next Web

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Lessons in the crowdsourced verification of news from Storyful and Reddit's Syria forum — One of the most powerful trends in media over the past year is the crowdsourced verification of news, whether it's the work of a blogger like Brown Moses or former NPR journalist Andy Carvin.

Discussion: Storyful Blog, Thanks:@mathewi

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

CNN Films adds an acquisition unit — CNN is making a further push into the documentary film business with the creation of an acquisition unit. The cable news channel, which last year launched CNN Films to make and finance documentaries, will now also buy older documentaries for the network through …

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline.com, Broadcasting & Cable, Realscreen, CNN, FishbowlDC and Capital New York

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

If Time Inc wants to survive, it should create its own ad agency — In the Darwinian battle between media, an in-house, clever advertising agency could save the flailing business — I keep thinking about the existential predicament of working for Time Inc in 2014, as it gets ready to spin …

Discussion: @jeffjohnroberts, @cotton, @zimbalist, @guardianus and mUmBRELLA

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Documentary on the downfall of Philadelphia's newspapers to air on Wednesday night — How the Newspaper Business Became a ‘F**king Disgrace’ — A new documentary chronicles the long, slow death of the American newspaper. It all begins with a testicle.

Associated Press:

Turkish journalist believed kidnapped in Syria … ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish newspaper says one of its photographers has been kidnapped in Syria by groups linked to al-Qaida. — Milliyet newspaper said Tuesday that 43-year-old photographer Bunyamin Aygun was abducted in Syria 21 days ago.

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

Now TV brings contract-free Sky Sports streaming to Apple TV in the UK; no Sky Movies for now — Now TV, the contract-free, pay-as-you-go television streaming service from British broadcaster Sky, is now available on Apple TV in the UK. Oddly, the service will only support the Sky Sports Day Pass …

Discussion: Telegraph, Broadband TV News, Engadget, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Crave, tech.uk.msn.com, @zseward and Digital Spy

Jennifer Van Grove / CNET:

Twitter to let you edit tweets? You wish — In the heat of composing a tweet, you'd probably love not to fret over getting every detail right before firing it off, but sadly you're out of luck — at least for the time being. That's because Twitter is not actively exploring introducing …