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

9:50 AM ET, January 3, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Ezra Klein Is Said to Plan to Leave Washington Post — Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator who runs The Washington Post's Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the newspaper after failing to win support for a new website he wanted to create within the company …

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, TheBlaze.com and The Daily Caller

Jack Shafer:

The Times advances the NSA's amnesty-for-Snowden trial balloon — Of course the New York Times editorial page wants clemency or, at the very least, a generous plea bargain for National Security Agency contractor turned super-leaker Edward Snowden! The news pages of the New York Times …

Discussion: @saletan, BuzzFeed, Guy Fawkes' blog, WebProNews, VentureBeat, The Switch, The Daily Caller and Latest News & Headlines

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Weeks in the Making, an Editorial on Snowden May Go ‘Beyond What Is Realistic’ — Most newspaper editorials don't generate a great deal of heat. Even fewer can be considered newsworthy. — The exception was one in The Times on Thursday, calling for Edward J. Snowden to be offered clemency or a plea bargain.

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

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

How Netflix uses the 76,897 micro-genres it assigns to videos — How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood — If you use Netflix, you've probably wondered about the specific genres that it suggests to you. Some of them just seem so specific that it's absurd. Emotional Fight-the-System Documentaries?

Discussion: Daily Dot, @davidbauer, @manovich, @npetit, @sriramk, @errorjustin, @alexismadrigal, @alexismadrigal, Subtraction.com, @alexismadrigal, /Film, Deadline.com, @harrisj, WebProNews, The Verge and Gizmodo

Marc Tracy / The New Republic:

Weather Channel website chases storms, clicks — How a network went from chasing storms to chasing clicks — A couple days ago, the top piece on The Weather Channel's homepage was an article forecasting the “First Snowstorm of 2014” (which, if you live in the Northeast …

Discussion: NBCNews

Wall Street Journal:

Cox to Buy Back Stake in AutoTrader — Deal With Providence Equity Implies $7 Billion Value for Online Car Marketplace … Cox Enterprises Inc., the closely held media conglomerate, has bought back a stake in AutoTrader Group Inc. in a deal that implies a value of about $7 billion for the online auto marketplace.

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NetNewsCheck Latest and PR Newswire

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Daily News closes Desi News, a South Asian-centric vertical led by NewsCred — Daily News shutters South Asian site — The Daily News has pulled the plug on Desi News, a South Asian-centric vertical fueled by the New York-based content-licensing platform NewsCred.

Arti Patel / Folio:

Magazine shipping costs increase 6 percent — Magazine shipping costs increase 6 percent. — The United States Postal Service (USPS) delivered coal to magazine publishers to welcome the New Year. — The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) approved a two-year six-percent service rate increase …

Chris Martins / SPIN:

Warner Music Close to Settling With Artists Over Digital Royalties Dispute — Class action lawsuit says talent should be paid much more for downloaded music and ringtones — Warner Music Group has submitted a settlement offer of $11.5 million in a class action lawsuit filed by its own artists having …

Discussion: Music Times, AllAccess.com and Music Week

Peter Wilby / New Statesman:

Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain — He's the most successful and most feared newspaperman of his generation. But after a bad year in which he was forced to defend his methods, how much longer can Dacre survive as editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail?

Discussion: @ruskin147 and @mrianleslie

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

DreamWorks is set to launch a tablet for children with original and exclusive programming — A Tablet for Children That Comes With Its Own Penguins — GLENDALE, Calif. — DreamWorks Animation first captivated children in movie theaters. Then it branched into TV, piping cartoons based on hits like …

Discussion: The Verge, Softpedia News, @peterlattman, SlashGear, AndroidHeadlines.com, Gizmodo, Cult of Mac, Geeky Gadgets and Engadget

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Disney's Iger talks about the need for tech disruptors like Dorsey on his board — Disruption “In Our Face” — Iger on Why Disney Needs Tech Heavies on Board More Than Ever — Just before the end of 2013, Disney named well-known Silicon Valley player Jack Dorsey — he of the perfect selfie - to the board of the entertainment giant.

Brody Mullins / Wall Street Journal:

End exclusive early media access for unemployment data, Labor Department panel says — Labor Department Panel Calls for Ending Lockup for Jobs Data — First Formal Charge to Alter Practice of Releasing Numbers to Media — WASHINGTON—A Labor Department panel has called …

Discussion: Talking Biz News