Mediagazer: Why China Needs to Rethink the Way It Treats the Foreign Press (Evan Osnos/New Yorker)

4:50 PM ET, January 25, 2014

Top News:

Evan Osnos / New Yorker:

Why China Needs to Rethink the Way It Treats the Foreign Press — An unusual collaborative investigation by journalists in the United States, Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, and elsewhere has refocussed attention on one of the Chinese government's most neuralgic issues: the private wealth of top leaders and their families.

Discussion: Softpedia News, @adamgoldmanwp, @icijorg and Sinosphere

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Jury finds Courtney Love not liable in landmark Twitter defamation case — Courtney Love Wins Twitter Defamation Trial — After eight days of testimony, the singer prevails in a trailblazing case. — Courtney Love — On Friday, a California jury decided that Courtney Love …

Discussion: SPIN, Gigaom, NBCNews, @eriqgardner, Poynter, Business Insider, Twitchy and Kirk LaPointe's …

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

The ‘Hoax Economy’ gives way to a new breed of fact checking. — The ‘Hoax Economy’ gives way to a new breed of fact checking. — There's a new genre of headline taking over the internet. It's got a simple message: don't believe that headline. — If you've been watching Twitter …

Discussion: @jwherrman

Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic Online:

Get Rid of ‘Viral’ Headlines With This One Weird Browser Extension — From “incredible” to “painfully ordinary” — The Upworthy headlines will find you. In tweets, in emails, in wall posts from well-meaning family: Viral Headline English, with its blithe incredulity, will hunt you down …

Discussion: @1uigi, @jonggordon, @dkthomp, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Daily Dot, ANIMAL, AdAge and Boing Boing

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

In the latest battle to profit from control of the internet, the consumer is stuck in the middle — On a message board under a thread titled, “Is Comcast blocking Netflix,” customers of the nation's largest ISP are complaining about the poor quality of Netflix streaming during evening hours and wondering what's going on.

Discussion: Bright Side Of News* and The Verge

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

As part of Time Warner Cable deal, Charter CEO tentatively offers up NY systems to Comcast — Charter CEO Signals Openness in Push For A Time Warner Cable Deal — Cable Operator Willing To Give Up New York-Area Systems to Rival Comcast, Sources Say — Charter Communications Inc. might …

Discussion: @angryarb and @shaliniwsj

Reuters: Charter hires firm to ready Time Warner Cable proxy fight-sources

Tamara Baluja / J-Source:

How well are Canadian newspapers doing with paywalls, tablets? — Are paywalls the gamble that will save the newspaper industry? Is a free tablet app the way to go? It's too early to know what works as an online strategy, but we did get a glimpse into how some newspapers have been faring …

Discussion: @dailynewshack and @byjameskeller

Howard Stutz / Las Vegas Review-Journal:

New weekly newspaper planned for Las Vegas — The much-rumored launch of a free weekly publication that eventually could replace the Las Vegas Sun was announced Thursday by Greenspun Media Group. — The Sunday will be distributed at 1,500 locations around Las Vegas starting Feb. 9.

Discussion: Las Vegas Sun News and Associated Press

Wendy Davis / MediaPost:

Court Delays FilmOn X Appeal, Leaves Ban In Place — Streaming television service FilmOn X suffered another setback in court this week, when an appellate panel said it won't rule on the company's request to lift an injunction against it until after the Supreme Court decides whether Aereo is legal.

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

FTC Seeks Comment On Nielsen Spin-Off of LinkMeter to comScore — Divestiture was part of deal with government to allow it to buy Arbitron — The Federal Trade Commission wants to hear from the public on Nielsen's proposal to sell its LinkMeter technology to comScore.

Discussion: TheHill

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Egyptian Filmmaker Who Mocks Authorities on YouTube Detained Amid Widening Crackdown in Cairo — The sense that Egypt's revolution has come full circle, with the security state shaken by protests that started three years ago this week finally reasserting itself, intensified on Friday …

Discussion: @3arabawy, @maitelsadany, New York Times and Guardian

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

21st Century Fox to Acquire Majority Stake in Yankees Cable Network — UPDATED: The media giant will now own 80 percent of YES, buying out Goldman Sachs and NJ Holdings, leaving the remainder to Yankee Global Enterprises. — YES Network will soon be officially under the 21st Century Fox umbrella.

Discussion: Variety

John Cook / Gawker:

Fox News' Favorite Investigator Was Paid to Smear Murdoch's Wife — Here's a story. On the afternoon of Friday, November 21, 2008, an email bearing the subject header “confidential information” turned up in Gawker's tips inbox. The sender's email address was “harveydent701@yahoo.com,” a dummy account.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and @johnjcook