Mediagazer: Snowden to Join Board of Press Freedom Foundation (Charlie Savage/New York Times)

8:40 PM ET, January 14, 2014

Top 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.

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

What you need to know about the court decision that just struck down net neutrality — The principle behind the phrase “net neutrality” is that internet service providers of all kinds should treat data flowing over the open internet equally, without giving preferential treatment to data from one provider or platform.

Discussion: The Switch, The Technology Chronicles, The Verge, Guardian, BuzzFeed, @dankennedy_nu and TIME

Tom Wheeler / Official FCC Blog:
Ensuring an Open Internet Now and for the Future

Discussion: @tomwheelerfcc

Brent Kendall / Digits:
Net Neutrality Ruling: What the Key Passages Mean

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Free Press Blog and PandoDaily

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Washington Post, Politico Editors To Meet After Bombshell Mike Allen Reports (UPDATE: Allen Speaks Out) — NEW YORK — Politico editor-in-chief John Harris and chief executive Jim VandeHei are expected to visit The Washington Post on Wednesday to discuss the paper's recent scrutiny …

Erik Wemple:

Politico's Mike Allen gives flattering coverage to Roger Ailes and Fox News — Politico's Mike Allen and Fox News PR — In Sunday's edition of “Playbook,” Politico's Mike Allen included a massive excerpt of the new biography of Fox News chief Roger Ailes by journalist Gabriel Sherman …

Discussion: Crikey, Politico, Capital New York and Mediaite

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: Politico, @daveweigel, @gabrielsherman, @mlcalderone, @timothypmurphy, @buzzfeedandrew, @jktrotter, @franklinh3000, @mikemadden, @aburnspolitico and New York Magazine

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: Media & Entertainment, Forbes, Fast Company, VentureBeat, @ataussig, @bobdavishcp, Bookseller news, Gigaom, TechCrunch and Capital New York

David Gelles / DealBook:

How Much Time Warner May Be Worth to a Suitor — Charter Communications says it is offering a full price for Time Warner Cable. At $132.50 a share, its proposal amounts to a 40 percent premium above where Time Warner Cable's stock was trading in June, before rumors of a deal surfaced.

Discussion: ZDNet

Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
Charter touts benefits of offer for Time Warner Cable

Discussion: @alexrubalcava, @deborahyao, @richbtig, @jbflint and @claireatki

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 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, Mediaite, Business Insider, The Technology Chronicles, @dylanbyers, Daily Dot and @holmesdm

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Skimping on Fees and Avoiding Journalists: Are Publishers Doing Native on the Cheap? — From publishers to creative agencies to writer networks, many seem to be making money from native advertising. But one group that doesn't always share equally in the booty is journalists.

Discussion: The Awl, @meredithob, @raju, Poynter and @butchward

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Snowden to Join Board of Press Freedom Foundation — Washington — Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks of secret documents set off a national and global debate about government spying, is joining the board of a nonprofit organization co-founded by Daniel Ellsberg …

Discussion: Freedom of the Press …, Guardian, The Huffington Post, @ggreenwald, The Switch, Boing Boing, @danielellsberg, @charlie_savage and @sullduggery

Caysey Welton / Folio:

B&N: Flat Bookstore Sales Overshadowed by Grim NOOK Returns — NOOK's overall revenue down 60.5 percent from 2012. — Barnes & Noble released its 2013 nine-week holiday revenues report, showing earnings of $1.1 billion—a 6.6-percent decrease when compared to the previous holiday period.

Discussion: Publishers Weekly

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

With Knight funding, Solutions Journalism Network wants to grow reporting on positive results in health reporting — The Solutions Journalism Network wants to help newsrooms change how they report on problems in the community. As its name would imply, it wants to outlets find ways to report on solutions …

Discussion: Knight Foundation, Columbia Journalism Review, Idea Lab, Poynter, @jsb and The Clinton Foundation

Erik Gruenwedel / Home Media Magazine:

Blockbuster Sells Mexican Subsidiary — Blockbuster LLC Jan. 14 said it has completed the sale of Blockbuster Mexico to Grupo Elektra, a company owned by Grupo Salinas, which itself owns businesses in the television industry, telecommunications, banking and financial markets.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Time Inc. hires CTO from Amazon, and in 2013 made offer of less than $200m for Forbes — As It Preps for Spinoff, Time Inc. Hires CTO from Amazon — As it gets ready to say goodbye to Time Warner, Time Inc. has brought in someone with digital chops to the top of the company's org chart …

Discussion: Capital New York, WWD Media Headlines and FishbowlNY

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Infographic-on-Demand Site Visually Gets $8.1 Million More — Visually, an online market for infographics and other visual content, has raised $8.1 million in Series A funding led by Crosslink Capital, a round that had been previously partially disclosed. The company says it has 100,000 creatives …

Discussion: TechCrunch and VentureBeat

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: BBC and Kirk LaPointe's …