Top News:
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
He Was Fired: Here's Marissa Mayer's De Castro Buh-Bye Memo to Yahoo Staff — Here it is, the internal memo to Yahoo staff about the sudden — though it was not sudden, by any means — leave-taking today of its COO, Henrique De Castro, courtesy of one of my 10,563 sources left at Yahoo!
Discussion:
VentureBeat, @danprimack, @ashleymayer, @alexia and Business Insider
RELATED:
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro, Mayer's No. 2, to depart after failing to move lagging ad business — “Dead Man Walking” Walks: COO Henrique De Castro Out at Yahoo — As has long been rumored, Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro is departing Yahoo. — I had reported last week that he was in big trouble …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, AdAge, GeekWire, Media Wire Daily, Adweek, CNET, Los Angeles Times, Valleywag, Business Insider, The Wrap and Quartz
Tim Wu / The New Yorker Blog:
FCC's Wheeler can preserve net neutrality by taking back its authority over broadband — Closing Time for the Open Internet — Since 1970 or so, carriers like A. T. & T. and Verizon have been barred from blocking or degrading whatever is transported over their lines.
RELATED:
Josh Stearns / Free Press Blog:
Net Neutrality and the Future of Journalism — Tuesday's court decision, which struck down the FCC's Open Internet Order and threatened the future of Net Neutrality, has huge implications for the future of journalism and press freedom. — According to the Pew Research Center …
Discussion:
Gigaom and Consumerist
Helienne Lindvall / Guardian:
Will Beats Music trump Spotify with its artist charm offensive? — Dr Dre and Trent Reznor are launching a US streaming service - but artists are likely to lose out again due to labels' royalty deals — The music streaming market is becoming a crowded place, but that hasn't stopped Beats Music getting in on the game.
Discussion:
Pocket-lint
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Casey Newton / The Verge:
Spotify introduces unlimited free music on the web just days before Beats Music launch — The nice thing about raising $250 million is that it lets you offer your customers services that few competitors can match. Spotify, which is riding high after completing a massive fundraising round in November …
Discussion:
Spotify Blog, TechCrunch and The Next Web
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
AOL hands over control of Patch to investment fund Hale Global, keeps small stake — AOL Finds a Home — Off Its Books — For Patch — Patch isn't dead, and AOL isn't officially done with it. But Tim Armstrong's big bet on local news has come to an end: The AOL CEO is handing over Patch …
Discussion:
New York Times, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Forbes, Poynter, Business Wire, @pkafka, Capital New York, CNET, Reuters, @poynter, AdExchanger, Wall Street Journal and @edmundlee
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Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
Capital New York to Introduce Monthly Print Magazine — Capital New York, the Politico sibling that covers politics and media in New York, is rolling out a small monthly print magazine starting this month, according to parent company Allbritton Communications.
Discussion:
@joepompeo
Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:
Top editors at Washington Post, Politico talk after Wemple scrutinizes Mike Allen's Playbook — Washington Post and Politico Talk About a Rift — Top editors at The Washington Post and Politico tried on Wednesday to mend a rift between the two news organizations.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Poynter, @buzzfeedandrew, @ravisomaiya, @erik_hayden and Politico
Ira Teinowitz / The Wrap:
Rep. Waxman on Tribune Meeting: ‘My Concern About the Fate of the Los Angeles Times Was Not Alleviated’ — Rep. Henry Waxman said Wednesday that his staff had a “helpful meeting” with the general counsel and the chief financial officer of the Tribune Co., but his concerns remain …
Discussion:
LA Observed and Politico
Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:
How a free email newsletter turned a computer programmer into a Newsweek columnist — Being on Twitter can sometimes feel a little like being in a high school cafeteria. — There's chatter all around you, and there's always a joke you're not in on. On Twitter, everyone's always mad about something …
Discussion:
Business Insider, @mattbuchanan and Fast Company
Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The New York Times' R&D Lab is building a quantified-self, semantic-analysis tool to track web browsing — Let's say you work in a modern digital newsroom. Your colleagues are looking at interesting stuff online all day long — reading stimulating news stories, searching down rabbit holes you've never thought of.
Discussion:
Co.Labs
Michael Wolff / Slate:
The new Roger Ailes biography isn't just poorly written. It's telling the wrong story. — Gabriel Sherman is part of a group of young media reporters—many starting out at the New York Observer under the tutelage of then-Editor Peter Kaplan, an avowed media nostalgist—who have seen their subject …
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Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Q&A with author of book on Fox's Roger Ailes
Liz Goodwin / Yahoo! News:
Why isn't the media allowed to talk to Guantanamo detainees? — GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — It's now been more than 12 years since the first terror suspects arrived at what was then a makeshift, open-air military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Since then, thousands of journalists …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, @yahoonews, Latest News & Headlines, TheBlaze.com, @brianstelter, @lizcgoodwin and @stuartmillar159
Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Start small, plan big: How two nonprofit education sites came together to build a network — What started out as two independent nonprofit news sites is now a network of four — with aims to grow larger. — Chalkbeat, the nonprofit education reporting partnership that grew out of GothamSchools …
Discussion:
@stanforded, @chalkbeat and @matthewshaer
Merrill Knox / TVNewser:
Jana Winter Voices Support for Bill Seeking to Strengthen Colorado Shield Laws — FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter has submitted a written statement of support to the Colorado Senate Judiciary committee for a bill that would strengthen the state's media shield laws.
The Wrap:
TheWrap Beats Deadline Hollywood and Variety's Web Traffic in December — TheWrap is pleased to announce that it has achieved its highest traffic month in the history of the site, surpassing both industry trades Variety and Deadline. — According to comScore, TheWrap scored 3.4 million unique visitors …
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Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Viddy, the “Instagram for Video” That Wasn't, Acquired by Web Video Startup Fullscreen — Remember Viddy? — Back in 2012, the video-sharing app was growing like a weed, and lots of smart money bet that it would become an “Instagram for video.” Then Facebook, which had been fueling Viddy's rise …
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter and The Verge
Nicole Levy / Capital New York:
Vanity Fair launches Hollywood vertical — Last year, Vanity Fair hired Mike Hogan from The Huffington Post as digital director, and charged him with a familiar task at many legacy magazine publishers these days. — “The idea was to grow VanityFair.com over the course of the next year …
Discussion:
Columbia University …, @ceodonovan, @anastasiaashman, FishbowlNY, Capital New York and @jbenton
Mark Stone / Sky News:
China Defends Blocking Some Western Websites — Video: Chinese Ambassador: ‘China Is Open’ — China's ambassador to the UK has defended his country's long-standing decision to block some Western media companies, in an interview with Sky News. — Speaking to Sky's Jeff Randall …
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
Google brings Play Movies and TV to iOS — Google has been bringing more and more of its services to iOS over the years, and a new one just launched today: users can now play back movies and TV shows they've purchased from Google Play on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Journalism graduate laments the industry's shift to digital — The reality of digital newsrooms: ‘copy thrown online with a photo’ … It isn't just the old school, such as Brian MacArthur and Phil Moger, who lament the passing of the roar of the presses after the transition to the new digital world.
Discussion:
@emilybell and @josephstash
Alex Leo / Newsweek:
The New New Newsweek.com — I know the past couple years have been confusing—it seems like every time you turn around there's a new Newsweek.com. When IBT Media purchased Newsweek last year, it inherited a beautiful site designed by Huge that was launched less than a year ago.
Discussion:
@niemanlab