Mediagazer: Are You Qualified to Be a Journalist in China? Take the Test (New York Times)

7:35 PM ET, December 25, 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: Guardian, Forbes, The Raw Story, TheHill, @liberationtech, BBC, @dizzyshambles, @webstergtarpley, Gigaom, @ali_gharib, @jonathanalter, bookforum.com, @dhh, @pierre, @johncusack, @csoghoian, Mediaite, @katrinanation, @princeton, @rj_gallagher, @kevin2kelly, @bruce_arthur, Business Insider, Kirk LaPointe's<br …, Online NewsHour, Techdirt, @frankpasquale, @occupywallstnyc, @alexisgoldstein, DCist, Mashable, @arusbridger, @kgosztola, National Updates, WorldViews, @petersgoodman, WJLA-TV, Hit & Run, Boing Boing, CNN, @jesselynradack, Talking Points Memo, The Week, @shaunwalker7, @edbuscaglia, @marklittlenews, @a_greenberg, @glinner, @joshuahersh, VatorNews, @ggreenwald, The Wire, BillMoyers.com, TIME, Associated Press, @tedeschini, Gawker, @newsbreaker, @rsingel, The Verge, Digits, The Next Web, @tinyrevolution, DSLreports, @codinghorror, @carwinb, @jayrosen_nyu, @elanazak, @bartongellman, @washingtonpost, @bartongellman, VentureBeat and Engadget

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Edward Snowden calls for a restoration of privacy in Channel 4′s Alternative Christmas Message — Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked intelligence about the security agency's surveillance activities, has broadcast a Christmas message to the world.

Discussion: Channel 4, The Register, The Verge, The Huffington Post and CNET

Mariia Shamota / Kyiv Post:

Prominent journalist, civic activist Chornovol beaten near Kyiv (UPDATED) — Prominent Ukrainian journalist and civic activist Tetyana Chornovol was brutally beaten outside Kyiv just after midnight on Dec. 25. — hornovol is in reconstructive surgery now, opposition Batkivshchyna Party member of parliament Serhiy Pasynsky said.

Discussion: @christopherjm, kyivpost.com, BuzzFeed and @nycjim

New York Times:

Are You Qualified to Be a Journalist in China? Take the Test — What is the essence of the Chinese Dream? What did Marx and Engels ask of newspaper reporters? How do Chinese and Western views on journalism differ? — Those are some of the questions Chinese journalists can expect …

Discussion: @raju, @markmackinnon, @mountainrunner and @macloo

Reuters:
China To Media: Don't Report ‘Wrong Points Of View’

Discussion: Mediaite

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:

How the Media Would Have Covered the Birth of Jesus — Tomorrow, billions of people across the world will commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ 2000-ish years ago. The arrival of the messiah would have been a huge media event at the time had there actually been any media aside from the guy …

Discussion: @bethfertig, @danamira, @michaelbd, @keligoff and Mother Jones

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

White House's Jay Carney and ABC News' Jon Karl butt heads in press room — It doesn't take long, or take very much, for the Jon and Jay show to get rolling at the daily briefing — the ritual meet-the-media sessions in the White House press room. — “But, Jay,” starts Jonathan Karl …

Discussion: @itsdavidford, @dylanbyers, @laura_nelson, @jimryan015, @tvnewslab, @jayrosen_nyu, TheBlaze.com and TVNewser

Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:

Mobile photography magazine FLTR launches as iPhone-only app — Journalist Q&A: Olivier Laurent, editor of new digital magazine FLTR — Associate editor of British Journal of Photography and editor of recently-launched FLTR Olivier Laurent answers questions on the iPhone-only digital magazine dedicated to mobile photography

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

What can't you say on Twitter? Thanks to Courtney Love, Americans may soon find out — When do you defame someone on Twitter? Despite the platform's reputation for outrageous insults, American courts have yet to say when — if ever — users cross the line.

Discussion: MSN Music, @gigaom, Billboard, antiMusic, @sfiegerman, NME and @zimbalist

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Google penalizes ranking of lyrics site Rap Genius for SEO practices, founders seek resolution — Google Destroys Rap Genius' Search Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam, But Resolution In Progress — Google hit back hard today after it learned lyrics site Rap Genius had been using dubious SEO tricks …

Discussion: Valleywag, VentureBeat, PandoDaily, Search Engine Land, The Verge, SEO Book, Business Insider and jmarbach.com

Barbara Hollingsworth / CNSNews:

U.S. Will Spend $3.35M to ‘Improve the Quality of Media Content’—In Armenia — (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is planning to spend $3.35 million to “improve the quality of media content and strengthen the media's capacity to meet professional standards” …

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

Wuaki.tv hits 1m users for its on-demand movie and TV streaming service, 125k from the UK alone — Wuaki.tv has surpassed one million subscribers for its on-demand movie and TV streaming service, in part because of 125,000 new users in the UK that have signed on since it launched on the island in September.

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

Gawker lease foiled by potential building-mates — Gawker was close to signing a lease on a new office until other tenants in the building objected, Capital has learned. — Some of the tenants in the building were tech start-ups who apparently feared that Gawker reporters would overhear …

Discussion: @davewiner, @petersterne and Capital New York

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: @skidder, @kirabind, @joepompeo and Capital New York