Mediagazer: Video, verification, value: Why News Corp's purchase of Storyful deserves your attention (Craig Silverman/Poynter)

10:20 PM ET, December 23, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission's accomplished — MOSCOW — The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words. — “What time does your clock say, exactly?” he asked. — He checked the reply against his watch and described a place to meet.

Discussion: Business Insider, @newsbreaker, @bartongellman, @bartongellman, @washingtonpost and Boing Boing

Yasir Ghazi / New York Times:

As Violence Rises, Journalists in Iraq Face Renewed Risks — BAGHDAD — Journalists have not escaped the recent surge of violence in Iraq, and several have been shot dead at close range. On Monday, militants took a more fearsome approach: a sustained assault involving five suicide bombers …

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild

Al Jazeera America:

Gunmen kill five journalists in raid on Iraq TV station … Four gunmen attacked a local television station headquarters north of Baghdad on Monday, killing five journalists, a police source told Al Jazeera. — The dead - four men and a woman - were Salaheddin television's chief news editor …

Discussion: Associated Press, @mlcalderone, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, english.ahram.org.eg, presstv.ir, Times of India, Khaleej Times, CNN, @mlcalderone and Committee to Protect …

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Twitter Cofounder Jack Dorsey Is Joining Disney's Board — Jack Dorsey is joining the board of Disney. — Dorsey is one of the cofounders of Twitter, and the company's chairman. — He's also the CEO of Square, a mobile payments company. — Disney CEO Bob Iger is on the board of Apple, so he's no stranger to tech.

Discussion: Business Wire, @jack, Gigaom, AllThingsD, Forbes, Quartz, Fortune, @jyarow, VatorNews, Variety, @princebhojwani, Digits, The Verge, ABC News, TechCrunch, Hollywood Reporter and The Next Web

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Disney Adds to Board, Pares Iger's Bonus — Walt Disney Co. said it was adding Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey to its board. The entertainment company also reported that compensation for its chief executive, Robert Iger, fell 15% to $34.3 million in its latest fiscal year.

Discussion: New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Insight: AOL banks on HuffPost to turn profitable next year — (Reuters) - It's the holiday season and Arianna Huffington, the influential woman behind the popular news website that bears her name, is busy buying sweaters - some 700 of them - as gifts to her employees.

Discussion: @kirabind, Capital New York and @joepompeo

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Is Tim Armstrong the Lazarus of Aol.? — The CEO, used to favorable press, has found himself battered over the troubled Patch sites. He tells The Daily Beast why he's still in love with Aol.'s brands—including HuffPo. “I love the business we're in. I love the brands we have,” Tim Armstrong says.

Discussion: @bmorrissey

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

How Native Advertising Will Change in 2014 — Native advertising was all the rage this past year, as online publishers and marketers grappled for new (or repackaged) ways to get the attention of ad-weary consumers. Brands and publishers created entire divisions to produce the ads …

Discussion: @jackshafer, @adweek and Kirk LaPointe's …

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Hulu must face privacy lawsuit, U.S. judge rules — (Reuters) - Hulu has failed to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the video streaming service of illegally sharing users' viewing history with Facebook Inc and business metrics company comScore Inc.

Discussion: Electronista, @samschech and The Next Web

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Video, verification, value: Why News Corp's purchase of Storyful deserves your attention — I first met Storyful CEO Mark Little at the 2011 ONA Conference in Boston. We headed off to find a quiet corner so I could hear more about what exactly a “social news agency” was.

Discussion: One Man and His Blog, @jweb and SocialTimes, Thanks:@craigsilverman

Patrick Tutwiler / FishbowlDC:

Staffers puzzle over layoffs before promised online expansion at the Washington Times — Confusion Reigns at TWT — The newsroom at The Washington Times is suffering from low morale and a pervading sense of confusion about the future of the organization, say current and former employees …

Editor & Publisher:

Times-Shamrock Announces Sale of Four Alternative Newspapers to Euclid Media — Times-Shamrock announced today that it has sold the Cleveland Scene, the Orlando Weekly, the San Antonio Current, and Detroit Metro Times to Euclid Media of Twinsburg, Ohio. No terms of the sale were disclosed.