Mediagazer: Google penalizes ranking of lyrics site Rap Genius for SEO practices, founders seek resolution (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

1:10 PM ET, December 26, 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: Channel 4, Gawker, Motherboard, New York Magazine, @pierre_lemieux, BBC, @dizzyshambles, TheHill, Guardian, Forbes, @liberationtech, UPROXX, bookforum.com, Gigaom, The Raw Story, @webstergtarpley, Kirk LaPointe's<br …, @ali_gharib, @jonathanalter, @dhh, @pierre, @johncusack, TIME, @csoghoian, @katrinanation, @princeton, @rj_gallagher, @kevin2kelly, @bruce_arthur, Mediaite, Online NewsHour, @occupywallstnyc, @kgosztola, Techdirt, @frankpasquale, @alexisgoldstein, @petersgoodman, Business Insider, @arusbridger, Mashable, WJLA-TV, Hit & Run, @jesselynradack, Boing Boing, CNN, Talking Points Memo, The Week, @shaunwalker7, @edbuscaglia, @marklittlenews, @a_greenberg, @glinner, @joshuahersh, BillMoyers.com, @ggreenwald, VatorNews, @newsbreaker, @tedeschini, Associated Press, @rsingel, The Verge, Digits, @tinyrevolution, The Next Web, @codinghorror, @carwinb, @jayrosen_nyu, @elanazak, Engadget, VentureBeat, @bartongellman, @washingtonpost, @bartongellman and The Wire

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:
Edward Snowden calls for a restoration of privacy in Channel 4′s Alternative Christmas Message

Discussion: New York Times, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, The Register, CNET and The Verge

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: Guardian, http://khpg.org, New York Times, @justhovensgreve, BuzzFeed, Reuters, DW.DE, @nycjim, @christopherjm, @newsbreaker, @kyivpost, @maksczuperski and kyivpost.com

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

Neda Ulaby / NPR:

A YouTube Powerhouse Looks Beyond Its Gamer Base … One of the most popular channels on YouTube is aimed toward people who play video games. It's got tons of content — thousands of game reviews, how-to videos of people gaming away enthusiastically, even little homemade movies that people have made using video-game software.

Hannah Karp / Wall Street Journal:

Scores of Music Services Stream Into Crowded Field — Many of the New Models Will Focus on Genre — The number of music-streaming services is set to explode next year, as record labels have warmed up to the idea of renting consumers access to a vast collection of tunes, rather than selling them individual albums or songs.

Discussion: @zseward

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, AllThingsD, Forbes, PandoDaily, Search Engine Land, FishbowlNY, Yahoo! News, The Verge, VentureBeat, hypebot, Business Insider, @carney, @mikeisaac, ANIMAL, Marketing Pilgrim, SEO Book and jmarbach.com

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Migrahack brings together journalists, programmers and community — Immigration stories usually have numbers. But immigration numbers have stories of their own. Many journalists work with these numbers — they gather them, use them and report them. But while the numbers get told, the stories behind them often don't.

Discussion: @poynter

Slate:

Tom Wheeler net neutrality: Is the new FCC chairman changing his tune? — This piece originally appeared in the New America Foundation's Weekly Wonk. New America is a partner with Slate and Arizona State University in Future Tense. — As the new Federal Communications Commission chairman …

RT:

Saudi blogger may face death penalty for apostasy — Saudi blogger and activist, Raif Badawi, currently serving his 7-year prison term for “insulting Islam”, may soon appear in a higher court on graver charges of apostasy. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.

Discussion: CNN, @amani_lebanon, MyFOX8.com, @rwwwb, carbonated.tv and Journal Of Turkish Weekly

Roberto A. Ferdman / Quartz:

The US now watches the majority of its online porn on mobile phones — Pornography has always been a pioneering industry online, pushing internet technology, business models, and usage forward more than is often acknowledged. — New data from video porn website Pornhub …

Discussion: ReadWrite, Complex, Gizmodo, hngn.com, Motherboard, TopNews United States, Daily Dot, Geek.com and Forbes

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

Steven Aftergood / Secrecy News:

Orgs Ask DNI to Preserve Access to World News Connection — More than a dozen professional societies and public interest groups wrote to the Director of National Intelligence last week to ask him to preserve public access to foreign news reports gathered, translated and published …

Discussion: @jonathanstray