Mediagazer: BuzzFeed's Secret Weapon: Ky Harlin (David Oliver/American Journalism Review)

10:40 PM ET, January 3, 2014

Top News:

Neetzan Zimmerman to leave Gawker for social startup Whisper — Neetzan Zimmerman to leave Gawker — Gawker viral content mastermind Neetzan Zimmerman is leaving the company, according to editor John Cook who tweeted the news on Friday afternoon. — Reached by email …

Discussion: @johnjcook, The New York Observer, Mashable, @paleofuture, @mbradylynch, @sfiegerman, New York Magazine, @capitalnewyork, @fmanjoo, @sladehv, Business Insider, @fmanjoo, @craigsilverman, @thestalwart, @tmcgev and @jyarow

Brian Solomon / Forbes:

John Malone's Liberty Media Wants To Absorb Rest Of Sirius XM — Billionaire John Malone's Liberty Media announced late Friday a proposal to turn Sirius XM Radio into a wholly-owned subsidiary by creating a third class of Liberty shares. Liberty already owns a controlling stake in Sirius XM …

Discussion: DealBook, Reuters, Variety, Bloomberg and Reuters

Katie Roof / Fox Business:

Business Insider Turned Down $100M-Plus Buyout Offer: Source — BusinessInsider.com, an edgy financial and technology news website, may not technically be shopping itself, but that hasn't stopped potential suitors from calling, including one that recently offered more than $100 million …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @ckrewson, @cgasparino, @evanasmith, @pablor0bles and @stefanjbecket

Felix Salmon / Reuters:

Netflix's dumbed-down algorithms — Alexis Madrigal has a rollicking investigation into Netflix's movie genres — all 76,897 of them, from category #1 (African-American Crime Documentaries) to category #91,307 (Visually Striking Latin American Comedies). His story is titled …

Jeremy Barr / Poynter:

Photographer says Spokesman-Review's drone-shot video occurred in a ‘gray area’ — While the journalism community is buzzing about drones' potential to help report hard-to-reach stories, the Federal Aviation Administration still largely bans the use of unmanned aircraft systems for commercial purposes, journalism included.

Kevin Gosztola / The Dissenter:

Dear New York Times Editors: If Snowden Is a Whistleblower, What Is Chelsea Manning? — The New York Times Editorial Board is to be highly praised for finally publishing a strong defense of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, one which not only urges clemency but also labels him a whistleblower.

Discussion: CNN, CNET and TheBlaze.com

Kalev Leetaru / Foreign Policy: King Snowden and the Fall of Wikileaks

Jack Shafer:
The Times advances the NSA's amnesty-for-Snowden trial balloon

Discussion: Guy Fawkes' blog, The Dish, Taking Note, BuzzFeed and @saletan

Ed Christman / Billboard:

As streaming grows, digital music sales decreased in 2013, the first time since iTunes launch — Digital Music Sales Decrease For First Time in 2013 — For the first time since the iTunes store opened its doors, the U.S. music industry finished the year with a decrease in digital music sales.

Discussion: The Wrap, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, The Verge and Financial Times

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Discovery CEO Stands to Make $110 Million in 2014 Compensation — Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA) Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav stands to make more than $110 million in compensation in 2014, the first year of a new contract that keeps him at the cable-network giant through 2019.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, PR Newswire, bizjournals, Adweek, Wall Street Journal, Broadcasting & Cable, @bloombergtech, Deadline.com and Variety

Press Gazette:

Pakistani TV reporter becomes first journalist killed in 2014 — Pakistan journalist Shan Odhor has become the first media worker to die in 2014 because of his work, the International federation of Journalists (IFJ) said today. — The announcement came just days after the organisation reported …

Discussion: IFJ.org, The Eastern Tribune, The Drum, kuna.net.kw and The Express Tribune

AJ Vicens / Mother Jones:

“We Rattled Too Many Cages:” An Eyewitness Account of Journalist Marie Colvin's Death in Syria — Syria is the deadliest place in the world for journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday, with 29 killed in the country in 2013—more than the next five countries combined.

Discussion: @ncaplanbricker and @motherjones

Noelene Clark / Hero Complex:

‘Star Wars’ comics leaving Dark Horse, returning to Marvel in 2015 — “Star Wars” No. 12 by Brian Wood. (Hugh Fleming / Dark Horse Comics) — Marvel will publish new “Star Wars” comic books beginning in 2015, the company announced Friday. — The agreement between Lucasfilm and Marvel …

Discussion: Marvel.com, The Wrap and CNET

Dawn C. Chmielewski / Los Angeles Times:

Gracenote unveils new Internet radio technology — Gracenote unveiled a new Internet radio technology that will allow brands to create custom stations for customers. (Gracenote) — Gracenote, a Silicon Valley company whose name-that-tune technology is the backbone of some of the most …

Discussion: Gigaom, Music Ally, PR Newswire, Re/code, Speakeasy, VentureBeat, The Next Web and hypebot

David Oliver / American Journalism Review:

BuzzFeed's Secret Weapon: Ky Harlin — Ky Harlin, BuzzFeed's director of data science, runs simple tests on news stories, with extraordinary results. — For “The 35 Best Places to Visit Over the Summer,” one reader might see a picture of Paris. Another sees a picture of Tokyo.

Discussion: @albertonardelli and @amjourreview