Mediagazer: Barnes & Noble Reports Steep Drop in Holiday Sales (Julie Bosman/New York Times)

1:55 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: Gigaom, Barnes & Noble, Inc., CNET, The Verge, @jeffjohnroberts, MarketWatch and Reuters

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

Discussion: Businessweek, VentureBeat, Publishers Weekly, Digital Book World, Wall Street Journal, GalleyCat, 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, @jbenton, @pewjournalism, @alansmurray, Business Insider and The Huffington Post

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: Associated Press, Capital New York, TVNewser and Gawker

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Excerpt from the new biography of Fox News exec Roger Ailes, “The Loudest Voice in the Room”

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

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, @comradewong and @edmundlee

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

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks ‘protected from media’ after Dowler phone-hacking revelation — News International former security director tells Old Bailey that plan was also to help her deal with ‘police concern’ — News International put a plan into action to protect Rebekah Brooks from the media and help her deal with …

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.

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

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

Gail B. MacDonald / Poynter:

College papers dropping arrestee names from crime blotters — Those arrested on the University of Connecticut campus this academic year may not feel lucky, but actually they are catching a break. Their arrests are being published in the student-run campus daily newspaper as has been typical for decades …

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

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.

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 …

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

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.

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.

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Ipso, the new press regulator, is just the PCC with extra bells and whistles — Ipso is a creature of the publishers in which they will continue to hold the strings - including the purse-strings — At last, the new press regulator is emerging from the shadows.

Discussion: @michaelwhite

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