Mediagazer: New report exposes digital front of Syria's civil war (The Stream)

11:30 AM ET, December 27, 2013

Top News:

ESPN received $260M in tax breaks and credits over 12 years to remain in Connecticut — For ESPN, Millions to Remain in Connecticut — BRISTOL, Conn. — The governor of Connecticut arrived at ESPN's expansive campus here to celebrate the groundbreaking of the sports media giant's 19th building …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Deadspin, @richsandomir, @tomandersen, @pkafka, @davidfolkenflik, @romenesko, @dangillmor, @morningmoneyben and @pkafka

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Game of Thrones tops 2013 BitTorrent downloads as piracy debate continues within TV networks — ‘Game of Thrones’ Most Pirated TV-Show of 2013 — Game of Thrones has the honor of becoming the most downloaded TV-show for the second year in a row. — With 5.9 million downloads via BitTorrent …

Discussion: Business Insider, Comicbook.com, Quartz, Hollywood Reporter, @sims, Softpedia News, Variety, BGR, BetaNews, UPROXX, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, The Verge, PopWatch, TIME and ArtsBeat

Paul Carr / PandoDaily:

Look Who's Gawking: Inside Nick Denton's phony, hypocritical class war against tech workers … Last Friday morning, a shuttle bus transporting Google workers from Oakland to Mountain View was surrounded by a mob. A banner was unfurled - “F**k off Google” — and several of the protesters began hurling rocks …

Discussion: Business Insider, @weareyourfek, Capital New York, @ansciath, @chuckglp, @joshsternberg, @daweiner, @realmattforney, @jason_pontin, @glennf, @jonsteinberg31, @tolles, @paulcarr, @susie_c, @esten and @tomcoates

The Stream:

New report exposes digital front of Syria's civil war … Washington D.C. — Adults and children alike flock to the U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington, DC to see the model train display — A growing number of Americans don't identify with a religion. Some see Christmas as a cultural, not religious, holiday.

Jeremy Barr / Poynter:

As fewer people read newspapers, more share their front pages — Newspapers are dying. But their front pages aren't. — At a time when print advertising revenue continues to decline and publications are laying off staff in droves, newspaper covers are increasingly being shared digitally …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Upcoming DJX news offering and integration with WSJ newsroom make 2014 critical for Dow Jones — Dow Jones' ‘make or break’ 2014 — Dow Jones is gearing up for a potentially pivotal 2014. — The 131-year-old financial information and media company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal …

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

It's official: CBS News correspondent John Miller joining NYPD — CBS News correspondent John Miller has made it official: he is re-joining the NYPD in a high-level counterterrorism role. Miller announced the move on WCBS shortly after 5:30 P.M. — “If you take the L.A. experience …

Discussion: CBS New York, TVNewser, Variety, Associated Press, @charliekayecbs, Mediaite, Capital New York, @alexweprin, @alexweprin, @brianstelter, The Wire, Daily Mail and @kbandersen

Muhammad Saleem / VentureBeat:

Why ‘viral mills’ like Buzzfeed & Upworthy are content marketing at its worst — Original virus image via Peshkova/Shutterstock — Not a day goes by without another viral content mill popping up, or announcing how many millions of page views it has managed to accumulate within a short span of time.

Discussion: @smcdc

Merril Brown / Forbes:

Patch's Biggest Blunder: Ignoring Cities — Guest post by Merrill Brown, director of the school of communication and media at Montclair State University. A member of the founding team of Court TV and the founding Editor in Chief of MSNBC.com, Brown advises digital media start-ups and is a Venture Partner at DFJ Frontier.

Discussion: Street Fight

Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:

Dollar-and-Cents Secrets of Music Streaming — Staying Power Is More Important Than Bursting on the Scene — In the good old days of the CD boom, the music industry was all about the first week. Prime the pump with endless airplay on pop radio and MTV, blanket major markets with billboard ads …

Discussion: @billboardglenn and @alisternburg

Aleksandar Vasovic / Reuters:

Bomb targets Montenegrin newspaper critical of government — (Reuters) - A bomb blast overnight shook the offices of Montenegro's leading daily Vijesti in the latest attack on a newspaper known for its criticism of the authorities under the country's long-term leader Milo Djukanovic.

Antony Loewenstein / Guardian:

Reporters have a choice: to either continue being regarded as untrustworthy, or to be seen as willing to hold the powerful into account. — 2013 was the year of Edward Snowden. The former NSA contractor, voted the Guardian's person of the year (after Chelsea Manning the year before) …

Discussion: @ggreenwald and @antloewenstein