Mediagazer: Goodreads enlists its 100,000th author (Carolyn Kellogg/Los Angeles Times)

8:00 AM ET, January 17, 2014

Top News:

Bumps on a Road to Revival for Yahoo — SAN FRANCISCO — It looks as if the Google pixie dust isn't so easy to spread around. — Marissa Mayer's arrival at Yahoo as chief executive a year and a half ago was widely hailed as an opportunity to infuse the struggling Internet pioneer …

Discussion: @karaswisher, @om and @deanemurphy

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Exclusive: Yahoo's Editor-in-Chief Jai Singh Departs Company — According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo's Editor-in-Chief Jai Singh has quit the company, a major departure which comes in the wake of changes made to its media unit after the firing of COO Henrique De Castro yesterday.

Discussion: Capital New York, Softpedia News, TechCrunch, @mhelft, VatorNews, @karaswisher, @jpodhoretz, Business Insider, @ivanthek, @rafat, @awallenstein, @mathewi, DealBook, Beyond Search and WebProNews

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Fired Yahoo Exec's $109M Golden Parachute Was One Of The Biggest Ever — There are a lot of different ways to express just how massive is the payout Yahoo is bestowing upon Henrique De Castro, the chief operations officer fired this week by CEO Marissa Mayer after only 15 months on the job.

Discussion: Capital New York, NetNewsCheck Latest, @adater, Business Insider, @mmasnick, @gitagovinda, @bupbin, Re/code and Valleywag

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Kushner announces new team at Register, explains ‘restructuring’ * — The Orange County Register shed more than 30 newsroom staffers today via layoffs, buyouts and retirement. The departing include editor Ken Brusic, as we noted earlier. It's all about restructuring for the future …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Orange County Register

Ken Bensinger / Los Angeles Times:

Layoffs come at OC Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise — Newsroom layoffs hit the Orange Country Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise on Thursday, a troubling sign for the papers. Above, the Register's Santa Ana headquarters. (Karen Tapia Andersen / Los Angeles Times / January 16, 2014)

Discussion: Navel Gazing, @pwthornton, @thegarywarner, @antonprtweets, @mtdukes, @registertravel, @genepark, @jeichelberger84, @frumpymom, @medodif, @jbenton, @haileyerin, Talking Biz News, @dlboardman, @ricksforza, @jbenton and @mjenkins

Mary Ann Milbourn / Orange County Register:
Register names new newsroom leadership

Discussion: Poynter, @lilyshumleung and LA Observed

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Farhad Manjoo heads to NYT after 4 months at WSJ to replace David Pogue — The New York Times Gets Its David Pogue Replacement From the Wall Street Journal — The New York Times has found a replacement for David Pogue, its high-profile tech reviewer: Sources say the Times is filling …

Discussion: New York Times, LinkedIn Pulse, @deanemurphy, @deanemurphy, @dannysullivan, @fmanjoo, @nytfridge, @felixsalmon, @stefanjbecket, @gaberivera, Talking Biz News and @karaswisher

Rehema Figueiredo / Guardian:

Al-Jazeera journalists held in Egypt accused of harming national security — Prosecutors say three are still being investigated on suspicion of joining the Muslim Brotherhood — Egyptian prosecutors have said three journalists working for al-Jazeera English are being interrogated on suspicion …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, CityNews, CBC News, Daily News Egypt, @monaeltahawy, @bbcworld, @evanchill and BBC

Al Jazeera English:
Al Jazeera says journalists did not confess

Discussion: Montreal Gazette and @aljazeera

Robert Mackey / New York Times:
A.P. Cameraman Detained in Egypt After His Images Appear on Al Jazeera

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CNN and Mediaite

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Financial documents being shown to potential buyers raise questions about its future growth. Has Forbes peaked? And can it justify the high price it's seeking — The newsonomics of Forbes' real performance and price potential — The bidding for Forbes is now moving into round two, with a sale expected within a month.

Discussion: @counternotions, @jlauf, @raju, @eamonn, @bobbymacreports, @rafat, Bloomberg, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal, PandoDaily, @carr2n, @foxjust, @jeffjohnroberts, @pkafka and @niemanlab

Carolyn Kellogg / Los Angeles Times:

Goodreads enlists its 100,000th author — Goodreads is attracting authors as well as readers. (Goodreads) — Although its website only tallies 99,961, Goodreads has announced Wednesday that membership in its verified author program has reached 100,000.

Discussion: Good E-Reader, Guardian, GalleyCat and Book trade news from Book2book

RIA Novosti:

Ukrainian Journalist Discharged From Hospital After Attack — A prominent Ukrainian female investigative journalist and activist Tatiana Chornovil, who was beaten up late last year, has been discharged from hospital, Ukraine's UNIAN news agency said on Thursday.

Emma McGarthy / Press Gazette:

NUJ: BBC is not doing enough to tackle harassment and bullying in the workplace — The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called for a new approach towards bullying and harassment at the BBC. — Addressed to director general of the BBC Tony Hall the motion follows an investigation …

Stan Alcorn / Digg:

Why Audio Never Goes Viral — With a community of creators uncomfortable with the value of virality, an audience content to watch grainy dashcam videos, and platforms that discourage sharing, is a hit-machine for audio possible? And is it something anyone even wants?

Discussion: @alexcornell, TechCrunch, @grvlx001, MetaFilter and @thomasraukamp

Guido Fawkes:

Tim Shipman is New Sunday Times Political Editor — As Media Guido exclusively revealed on Twitter last night, Tim Shipman deputy political editor of the Daily Mail, has won the race to succeed Isabel Oakeshott as the new Sunday Times political editor.

Discussion: Press Gazette and Guardian

Todd Spangler / Variety:

HBO Go Is Coming to PlayStation — HBO announced that its broadband-video service, HBO Go, will be coming “soon” to Sony's PlayStation 3 videogame console with an app for the just-released PS4 to follow. — Netflix has been available on the PlayStation 3 since 2009, and was one of 11 …

Discussion: PlayStation.Blog, Multichannel.com, The Slanted, computerandvideogames.com, SlashGear, CNET, Engadget, Home Media Magazine and Pocket-lint

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Alexander Lebedev sounding out buyers for Independent titles — Any deal would exclude London Evening Standard, while separate sale of profitable i thought to be open to discussion — Alexander Lebedev has asked the founder of the Independent to seek a buyer for the newspaper …

Discussion: Telegraph, Financial Times, @david_hewson, MediaTel, Telegraph, Guardian and Guardian

Tom Grubisich / Street Fight:

Borrell Report Details Legacy Media's Struggles in the Digital World — In a new report “The Future of Legacy Media” (free executive summary here), research and consulting firm Borrell Associates has both good and bad news for old media (newspapers, TV, radio, magazines) …

Discussion: @niemanlab

Rich Bellis / Digital Book World:

Publishers Must Offer Services, Not Just Books, to Make Subscriptions Work — For subscription ebook models to work, publishers must provide services to customers, not just content, according to panelists speaking this afternoon at the third day of Digital Book World 2014 in New York.

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Noah Shachtman, formerly of Foreign Policy and Wired, joins Daily Beast as executive editor — After Tina Brown's Exit, Daily Beast Brings In Editing Help — The Daily Beast has hired Noah Shachtman, a former editor at Foreign Policy and Wired, as its new executive editor …

Discussion: @johnavlon, @shaneharris, @noahshachtman, @hunterw, @erikmal and @miriamelder

Nick Hopkins / Guardian:

Alan Rusbridger: Westminster is hoping Snowden revelations go away — Guardian editor accuses UK politicians of failing to tackle issues raised by NSA revelations, which have sparked US debate — Britain's political class has been closing its eyes and hoping the revelations from Edward Snowden …

Discussion: BBC, SlashGear, Softpedia News, The Daily Caller and ZDNet

Georgia Wells / Wall Street Journal:

Paul Berry Creates Web Megaphone Called RebelMouse — Startup Helps Users Combine Their Web Content on Home Page — While working as chief technical officer at the online-news publication the Huffington Post in 2011, Paul Berry focused on making the news site's content go viral …

Discussion: @rebelmouse, @wsjsmallbiz and @erichippeau

Jordan Chariton / Lost Remote:

Facebook and Instagram Teaming Up With NBC for Sochi Olympics — After teaming up during the 2012 London Olympics, NBC and Facebook/Instagram are joining forces again for the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia. — “Building off of our successful collaboration for the London Olympics …

Discussion: Variety, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, Broadcasting & Cable, FierceCable and FishbowlNY

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:

Metan Launches Hollywood-Focused Channels on China's Tudou — The U.S.-Chinese media firm headed by E! founder Larry Namer will produce a suite of shows covering the global entertainment industry for the Internet video giant. — U.S.-Chinese media firm Metan Development Group has partnered …

Discussion: Asia Media Journal, Rapid TV News and C21Media

Michael Rondon / Folio:

SI Golf Group to Integrate Ecommerce — Also launches weekly digital magazine. — Ecommerce has become an oasis for many publishers looking to diversify revenue streams in a downward ad market. — And while Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Golf Group has outperformed the industry in advertising …

Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk:

Web comments ‘more civil’ when journalists interact, study shows - Could Google Glass change the face of journalism?

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Smartphone Users Gobbling Up More Data Amid Growing Use of Streaming Music — The increased use of music services such as Pandora and Spotify has led to a significant rise in the amount of data being used by the average smartphone. — According to a new NPD study, consumers' average data use …

Discussion: @waltmossberg