Mediagazer: US government forces Coursera to block course access in Iran, Cuba, Sudan (Katie Collins/Wired UK)

10:35 AM ET, January 29, 2014

Top News:

Sarah Wheaton / New York Times:

Rep. Michael Grimm Threatens an NY1 Reporter — The Staten Island lawmaker can be heard telling Michael Scotto, a reporter for NY1, “I'll break you in half” in footage broadcast by the network.

Katerina Eva Matsa / Pew Research Center:

Local TV audiences bounce back — Bucking a long-range trend of declining viewership, the audience for local TV news grew in all three major time slots in 2013. Viewership climbed 6% in the morning (5 to 7 a.m.) and 3% in the early evening (5 to 7 p.m.) newscasts, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

Discussion: @asmitch, @danharland, @halliejackson, Erik Wemple, Advancing the Story, Poynter, The Huffington Post and TVSpy

Sarah El Deeb / Associated Press:

Egypts refers Al-Jazeera journalists to trial — CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's chief prosecutor on Wednesday referred 20 journalists from the Al-Jazeera TV network, including four foreigners, to trial on charges of allegedly joining or assisting a terrorist group and spreading false news that endangers national security.

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Journalists express solidarity in calling for release of Al-Jazeera five

Discussion: BBC, @felicitybarrtv, @hazemsika, @hackneylad, @sokkari, Al Jazeera English and The Huffington Post

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

News of the World hacker admits lying as part of ‘enormous conspiracy’ — Dan Evans tells court that 2009 witness statement was ‘drafted by News International lawyers’ and he was ‘toeing the line’ — Dan Evans, the former News of the World hacker, has admitted lying about trying …

BBC:
Andy Coulson called Sienna Miller tape ‘brilliant’, phone-hacking trial hears

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Independent, Press Association, TheAustralian, Guardian and The Huffington Post

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

Former BBC technology chief to take legal action over DMI dismissal — Ex-employee accuses corporation of allowing ‘inaccurate statements’ to be made to MPs over failure of digital initiative — The BBC chief technology officer dismissed over the failure of the Digital Media Initiative …

Discussion: Reuters

Guardian:
Mark Thompson to face MPs again over failed £99m Digital Media Initiative

Discussion: bbc.co.uk

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Time Inc. to cut nearly 500 employees: sources — The imminent layoffs at Time Inc. are expected to cut close to 500 people, or about 6 percent of the work force, reliable sources tell Media Ink. — One source said the target date for an announcement is now Feb. 4 …

Discussion: @mathewi, Mediawire Daily, FishbowlNY and WWD Media Headlines

Katie Collins / Wired UK:

US government forces Coursera to block course access in Iran, Cuba, Sudan — Massive open online course provider Coursera has had to block accessibility to its courses in Iran, Cuba and Sudan due to US government sanctions on the countries. — Coursera made the announcement in a blog post …

Discussion: Financial Times, ZDNet, Coursera Blog and The Next Web

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Express pays substantial libel damages to man it falsely accused of being Taliban suspect — Express Newspapers has agreed to pay substantial libel damages and costs to an Afghan asylum seeker who it wrongly accused of being a “Taliban suspect”. — The High Court heard this morning that Abdul Shizad …

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

HowAboutWe...Buy Nerve and Become a Media Company? — HowAboutWe, the dating site that published editorial content, is taking it to the next level. — The company bought Nerve.com and is becoming a full-fledged lifestyle media brand about modern love, complete with stand-alone verticals and advertising.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Fortune, Capital New York and @luxnightmare

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Lance Ulanoff Out As Editor Of Mashable — Lance Ulanoff, former editor-in-chief of PCMag.com, has been moved to an editor-at-large and chief correspondent position at Mashable, effectively removing him from the EIC position at that title. — A source close to the move said Jim Roberts …

Discussion: @jimhanas, Capital New York and Talking Biz News

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:
Mashable expands into climate reporting

Discussion: Capital New York and @mashable

Angela Haggerty / The Drum:

Raft of new digital appointments at Trinity Mirror following Sunday People website axe and departure of Sue Douglas team — Trinity Mirror has announced a series of new digital appointments following the decision to scrap its recently-launched Sunday People website and the departure of its head of Sunday Brands, Sue Douglas.

Discussion: Trinity Mirror plc and thedrum.com

Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Sue Douglas leaves Trinity Mirror as People.co.uk closes

Discussion: @marksweney, @flashboy and @buzzfeedben

Josh Ong / The Next Web:

Scribd takes aim at Amazon by bringing its subscription ebook app to the Kindle Fire — Scribd has thrown down a gauntlet against the reigning ebook champion Amazon with the release of an app for enjoying its subscription ebook service on Amazon's own Kindle Fire tablet.

Discussion: Digital Journal, Internet Evolution and The Verge

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Court: Google infringed patents, must pay 1.36 percent of AdWords revenue — Holding company Vringo used old Lycos patents to wrest a win worth many millions. — Vringo is a tiny company that purchased some patents from Lycos, an old search engine, in 2011 and then used those patents to sue Google.

Discussion: Gigaom, The Switch, Search Engine Land and BGR

Wall Street Journal:

Netflix Gears Up to Expand in Europe — Rival Media Companies Race to Grab Subscribers, Program Rights — As streaming-video juggernaut Netflix Inc. plots an expansion in Europe, media companies across the continent are girding for battle. — The U.S.-based online video service …

Discussion: Gigaom

Gillian Wong / Associated Press:

China visa woes for NYT as government ups pressure — BEIJING (AP) — The government is intensifying efforts to control foreign media coverage of China, blocking websites, harassing reporters trying to cover trials of activists in Beijing and thwarting efforts by The New York Times to station new journalists on the mainland.

Heather Timmons / Quartz:

An Indian newspaper just introduced a “smellable” ad with an evocative scent — Baby products maker Johnson & Johnson has taken a leap into the brave new world of “smellables” with a full-page advertisement in the world's largest-circulation English-language newspaper—on a page …

Discussion: @publicroad and @heathat

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

ITV to launch pay-TV drama channel on Sky — Broadcaster continues its strategy of reducing its reliance on free-to-air advertising by announcing rollout of ITV Encore — ITV is to launch a pay-TV channel on Sky showcasing the “best of British drama”, its first major return to pay-TV since …

Discussion: Reuters, The Independent, Digital Spy, @jaxconrad, Brand Republic, Deadline.com and Pocket-lint

Adam L. Penenberg / PandoDaily:

No second chance for Stephen Glass: The long, strange downfall of a journalistic wunderkind — The California Supreme Court has denied disgraced former journalist Stephen Glass a license to practice law. — Pointing out in its ruling that “Glass's journalistic dishonesty was not a single lapse …

Discussion: @sabrinarerdely, @felixgilman, @jeffreytoobin, @sarahw and Ars Technica

Quentin Hardy / NYT Bits:

Jason Calacanis Shoots for Human Moments in News Feeds — This must be the fastest-moving month in the history of new media. The latest entrant features yet one more familiar face. — On Tuesday, Jason Calacanis, who was involved in Web publishing early in its dot-com days, started Inside.com …

Discussion: @journalism2ls, Mashable, @qhardy, @gabrielsnyder, @moorehn and WebProNews