Mediagazer: Sales of Digital Movies Surge (Ben Fritz/Wall Street Journal)

12:35 PM ET, January 9, 2014

Top News:

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Barnes & Noble Reports Steep Drop in Holiday Sales — Barnes & Noble, the nation's last remaining major bookstore chain, experienced steep sales declines in its digital division during the nine-week holiday period, the company announced on Thursday. — Revenue in the Nook division …

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, @jeffjohnroberts, MarketWatch and Reuters

Jeremy Greenfield / Forbes:
Why Michael Huseby For Barnes & Noble CEO Job?

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, Digital Book World, GalleyCat, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, CNET and Los Angeles Times

Rob Suls / Pew Research Center:

Who is this man? Many Americans don't recognize top news anchor — Can you identify today's top news anchors? For many Americans, matching names with news faces is tougher than it was roughly 30 years ago. FT_anchor-recognitionIn an online survey about Americans' knowledge …

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, @pewjournalism, @alansmurray, Business Insider and The Huffington Post

William Wan / Washington Post:

China renews Western journalists' visas after months-long standoff — BEIJING — Several Western journalists who faced expulsion from China were issued renewed visas by the Chinese government Thursday, ending a months-long standoff with the government. — But China is still on track …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @edmundlee and @comradewong

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

Roger Ailes Fights Back: CNN ‘Out of News Business’; Megyn Kelly Critics ‘Jealous’; Dismisses New Book (Q&A) — Roger Ailes, like his Fox News Channel, is as divisive as he is successful. The chairman and CEO of the de facto victor in cable news' ratings war, whose colorful professional past includes …

Discussion: Capital New York, TVNewser and Gawker

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix's Monopoly - Hulu, Amazon, & More Studios Still Won't Let It Happen — Netflix is the big cheese of subscription VOD. There's no argument that Reed Hastings and company have built a huge lead in the sector, with more than 40 million global subscribers.

Discussion: GeekWire

The Canadian Press:

Postmedia posts first quarter loss of $11.8M as ad revenues decline — TORONTO — The company that owns the National Post and other big-city Canadian newspapers has reported an $11.8-million net loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. — Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (TSX:PNC.B) …

Discussion: Financial Post, Globe and Mail, Financial Post and J-source.ca

Agence France Presse:

Bangladesh editor jailed for seven years over Israel visit — DHAKA: A Bangladesh court Thursday jailed a newspaper editor for seven years for trying to travel to Israel more than a decade ago to speak about a rise in Islamic militancy. — Salahuddin Shoaib Choudhury, 48 …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders and The Times of Israel

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Last pink Observer to be published in March — The New York Observer's radical redesign, first reported by Capital, is now scheduled to debut in late March. — The makeover was originally scheduled to debut next month, but sources familiar with the plans told us it's been pushed back.

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

NYT redesign: an end to page breaks in articles and a focus on tablets and subscribers — ‘New York Times’ Website Redesign Goes Back to the Future — The New York Times has rolled out its largest website redesign in seven years, but readers familiar with the newspaper might feel like it's a step back in time

Discussion: Open, Slate, ZDNet, @ianadelman, @ianadelman, @jbenton, @nathan_ford, @dangillmor, @womenjournos, Poynter, SND, CNN Money and Fast Company

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Times Designers Are Monitoring Reaction to the Redesign, With Adjustments Possible

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider, PandoDaily, Beet.TV, The Huffington Post and Journalism.co.uk

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Pirate Bay unveils ambitious new software scheme to foil anti-piracy measures — The Pirate Bay has announced a surprising new tool to foil copyright enforcers, moving the entire site to a distributed network accessible only through Pirate Bay's own unique software.

Discussion: SPIN

Patrick Frater / Variety:

Warner Brothers and Lukup Media partner for Indian on-demand channel — Warner in Digital Link Up With India's Lukup — MUMBAI — Bangalore-based digital content platform Lukup Media has partnered with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution to launch an as-yet-unnamed on-demand channel in India.

Discussion: CIOL and Rapid TV News

Daniel D'Addario / Salon:

Post-Stelter, has the New York Times changed its tack on Lauer's “Today”? — “Presumed,” says very strange N.Y. Times piece — The New York Times, on Monday, published the most stunning piece of meta-journalism since Janet Malcolm met Joe McGinniss. And it's all about the newspaper's former punching bag Matt Lauer.

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

Arianna Huffington teams with Berggruen Institute, will launch global news site during Davos — Arianna Huffington announces launch of World Post news website — The 1% are about to get their own publication. The digital media titan Arianna Huffington and the billionaire investor Nicolas Berggruen …

Discussion: Financial Times, @justsikko, @jlllow, @rossalynwarren, @aliabunimah, @paulxharris, @dellcam, @jonathanhaynes, @urrutiadelpozo, @philipoltermann, @nathanlfuller, @wikileaks, @blakehounshell, @maura and PR Newswire

Nic Hodges / Press Gazette:

Australia: Media buyer warns that if ‘clickbait’ replaces great stories - advertisers will move elsewhere — Head of innovation and technology at MediaCom Australia Nic Hodges looks at the rise of paywalls Down Under and explains why ‘clickbait’ tactics from publishers could be a turn-off for advertisers.

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

Glasgow's Herald trumpets success of metered paywall with more subscribers online than in print — Digital subscriptions for the Glasgow based Herald & Times group now outstrip those in print, the publisher has claimed. — The newspaper group began charging for access to the HeraldScotland website …

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Excerpt from the new biography of Fox News exec Roger Ailes, “The Loudest Voice in the Room” — Citizen Ailes — When the head of Fox News moved to Garrison, New York, he bought a little newspaper and tried to instill his own brand of American values. Guess what happened next?

Discussion: @stevesilberman, @reedfrich, @longform, @nymag, @juliebosman, The Wrap and Gawker

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Roger Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman strikes back: The book is fact-checked

Discussion: TVNewser, Erik Wemple, @jackshafer, Mediaite, @joehagansays and New York Times

Bridie Jabour / Guardian:

Nauru to increase visa cost for journalists from $200 to $8,000 — The new fee, which is not refundable if an application is rejected, will come into force in the next few days — Journalists will be charged $8,000 to apply for a visa, even if it is rejected, to visit the island of Nauru …

Discussion: The Global Mail, The Stream, Al Jazeera America, The Age, Reuters, TIME, @rightnowinc, @kenroth, @ecre, GlobalPost, ABC and mUmBRELLA

David S. Cohen / Variety:

FCC Chairman Voices Clear but Cautious Support for Net Neutrality — CES 2014: Tom Wheeler says commission will act if markets get out of balance — Speaking at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler offered cautious but clear support for net neutrality.

Olzhas Auyezov / Reuters:

UAE frees American jailed for YouTube parody video — (Reuters) - An American citizen was released from jail in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after serving nine months for posting a parody video on YouTube, his family said. — Shezanne Cassim, 29, was sentenced to a year in prison …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press and NY Daily News

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

Nat Geo to Air Live Special From International Space Station (Exclusive) — The cable network, focusing more on event programming, has also ordered a second outing for “Inside Combat Rescue” and scheduled “Miracle Landing on the Hudson” for summer. — Nat Geo's Howard T. Owens

Discussion: Guardian, Digital Spy, Cult Hub, The Evening Times and mirror