Mediagazer: Animal Planet! Team BuzzFeed Launches The Dodo With $2 Million and a Site Built by Rebel Mouse. (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

1:40 PM ET, January 14, 2014

Top News:

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Study shows decline in news quality at Times-Picayune since shift to digital, cut in print schedule — Tracking digital-era news quality declines — A Tulane student project tracks the Times-Picayune before and after a digital overhaul — When the New Orleans Times-Picayune announced …

Discussion: Poynter

Michael J. De La Merced / DealBook:

Oyster, a Start-Up for E-Reading, Raises $14 Million — With Netflix soaring, investors are betting that a start-up based on the same business model — but for e-books — will succeed as well. — Oyster, which gives customers access to more than 100,000 books for $10 a month, has raised $14 million in a new round of financing.

Discussion: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Capital New York, @ataussig, @bobdavishcp and Bookseller news

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Court strikes down FCC's net neutrality rules, agency may appeal — An appeals court in Washington on Tuesday ruled that the FCC's “net neutrality” rules, which prevent companies like Verizon from favoring some types of internet traffic over others, are invalid.

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Skimping on Fees and Avoiding Journalists: Are Publishers Doing Native on the Cheap? Could be moving toward an advertorial model By Lucia Moses — From publishers to creative agencies to writer networks, many seem to be making money from native advertising.

Discussion: Poynter, @butchward and @raju

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

Howard Kurtz Lied About Business Ties To Fox News Contributor — Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz has repeatedly claimed, most famously during a live interrogation on CNN, that his relationship with Fox News contributor Lauren Ashburn amounted to a “limited venture” for which the MediaBuzz host …

Discussion: @mikemadden, @buzzfeedandrew, @daveweigel, @mlcalderone and @jktrotter

Michael Berkens / TheDomains.com:

Chicago Sun-Times to test Bitcoin and Twitter paywall with startup BitWall — The Chicago Sun-Times, the 9th largest newspaper in the USA, is testing a social paywall that will accept both Tweets and Bitcoin in partnership with the content monetization startup BitWall.

Discussion: Poynter, Fast Company, @dylanbyers, @holmesdm and Business Insider

Jason Deans / Guardian:

BBC news chief: problems facing local newspapers ‘not our fault’ — James Harding responds to calls for BBC to rein in coverage, telling press to focus on web rivals such as Google or Facebook — James Harding, the BBC News director, believes the corporation has an obligation to deliver local news …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's … and BBC

Steve Volk / Philadelphia Magazine:

Inquirer Ownership Battle: “Darling ... Eliminate the Daily News” — According to an email leaked to Philadelphia magazine, Nancy Phillips, as her long-time companion Lewis Katz was contemplating purchasing a controlling interest in the city's biggest media company, made sweeping recommendations …

Catherine Taibi / The Huffington Post: Philadelphia Newspaper Staff Plan Joint Bid Against Feuding Owners

Michael Depp / NetNewsCheck Latest:

AP's Carvin: News Battle Near For Twitter, FB — Twitter and Facebook are setting themselves up for a battle for news supremacy among social media networks. Twitter, though, holds the upper hand, according to Eric Carvin, social media editor at the Associated Press.

Discussion: Capital New York, @marksluckie, @bbccollege and @columbiajourn

Jon Passantino / BuzzFeed:

DirecTV Drops The Weather Channel In Dispute Over Carriage Fees — The network was pulled from 20 million homes at midnight Monday and replaced with competitor Weather Nation. Updated 2 a.m. ET Tuesday. — The Weather Channel launched a website featuring a video message …

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Charter Makes $61.3 Billion Offer to Acquire Time Warner Cable — Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) offered to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) for about $132.50 a share, valuing the second-largest U.S. cable provider at more than $61 billion, including debt.

Emma McGarthy / Press Gazette:

Boston Globe's Jeff Moriarty joins UK's Johnston Press as chief digital and product officer — Johnston Press appoints new chief digital and product officer — Johnston Press has today announced the appointment of American born Jeff Moriarty as chief digital and product officer.

Discussion: Life Style Extra, lep.co.uk, VCPOST, UK Business news …, HoldTheFrontPage, RTTNews, thedrum.com and Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

AOL Sells Winamp And Shoutcast For $5-10M To Radionomy, Takes 12% Stake In Belgian Digital Audio Company — Returning from the brink of death, music services Winamp and Shoutcast are now officially with a new owner: Digital audio business Radionomy has acquired the both media player and radio platform from AOL.

Discussion: PR Newswire, The Next Web, FishbowlNY, Gizmodo, CNET, The Verge and Mashable

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

Daily Mail announces deal with talkSPORT radio — The Daily Mail has announced a partnership deal with talkSPORT radio which will feature several of the newspaper's journalists and columnists appearing on the radio station. — Chief sports writer Martin Samuel will be among the names giving …

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

The end of tabloid papers and the new quest for media respectability — As New York City's new mayor prepared to take office late last year, a local tabloid decided to show him who really ran the town. In a series of outrageous covers, the New York Post humiliated one of the mayor's longtime aides …

Discussion: @zimbalist, @emmamayalex and @niemanlab

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Financial Times launches Samsung Smart TV app — Financial Times videos are now available via an application to televisions viewers who have a Samsung Smart TV. — The app shows the latest FT video, including analysis and coverage of stories and issues in politics, business and finance.

Discussion: Financial Times