Mediagazer: “We Rattled Too Many Cages:” An Eyewitness Account of Journalist Marie Colvin's Death in Syria (AJ Vicens/Mother Jones)

3:10 PM ET, January 4, 2014

Top News:

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Ezra Klein Speculation Creates Delicate Situation In Washington Post Newsroom — NEW YORK — In fall 2006, John Harris and Jim VandeHei were growing restless at the The Washington Post. — So the two political journalists began meeting privately with potential investors to launch an online site …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @jayrosen_nyu, JIMROMENESKO.COM, American Spectator, The Week, Mediaite, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Rap Genius:

Rap Genius begins to recover its Google search ranking, details SEO strategies, apologizes — Rap Genius is Back on Google — It takes a few days for thiAnnotatengs to return to normal, but we're officially back! First of all, we owe a big thanks to Google for being fair and transparent …

Discussion: Gawker, VentureBeat, Forbes, @bhorowitz, @stevesi, @fredericl, @dannysullivan, SEO Book, The Verge, Search Engine Land, Yahoo! News, Business Insider, The Switch and Re/code

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

You don't tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them — You can't get scooped because competition gets tipped to a story when you tweet about it. Your tweets already scooped the competition. — A Digital First engagement editor who's been teaching colleagues how to use Twitter got these questions from a veteran reporter:

Discussion: @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu and @macloo

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: Electronista, MacStories, 9to5Mac, BetaNews, Engadget, AppleInsider, The Verge, The Wrap, Gizmodo and Financial Times

Jon Swartz / USA Today:

ESPN's behind-the-scenes tech wizardry at Candlestick Park — CANDLESTICK POINT, Calif. - It's three minutes before kickoff, and Chip Dean is frenetically orchestrating a phalanx of video, sound and graphics. — Like a composer leading a symphony, he conjured a national TV show that opened …

Matthew Lynch / Capital New York:

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 …

Brian Fung / The Switch:

How Netflix film categories are like BuzzFeed headlines for movies — Netflix is notoriously good at chopping up the films and TV shows in its online library into micro-categories that cater to viewers' every niche interest. In a brilliant deep dive on the practice, Alexis Madrigal …

Discussion: Daily Dot

Felix Salmon / Reuters:
Netflix's dumbed-down algorithms

Discussion: Mother Jones, Marketing Pilgrim, The FJP, Kirk LaPointe's …, @caseynewton, @reuters, @bendwilliams and @obsoletedogma

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: @motherjones and @ncaplanbricker

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.

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: The Wrap, @katie_roof, @katie_roof, @ajs, @evanasmith, @ckrewson, @pablor0bles, @stefanjbecket and @cgasparino

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