Mediagazer: Grimm offers a ‘friendly’ apology to NY1 reporter (Azi Paybarah/Capital New York)

12:20 PM ET, January 29, 2014

Top News:

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post announces plans to hire bloggers, redesign site — A memo to staffers from Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron outlines some of the paper's plans for the next year. — The news organization plans to hire “writers to author ‘verticals’ on a wide array of subjects,” Baron writes.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and FishbowlDC

Harry Jaffe / Washingtonian:

Katharine Weymouth Defends Decision Not to Fund Ezra Klein's New Venture — “It just didn't make sense for us,” the Post publisher says of Klein's proposed website. — Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has absorbed the responsibility—much of it critical—for not keeping Ezra Klein …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @raju and @sophiegg

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.

Azi Paybarah / Capital New York:

Grimm offers a ‘friendly’ apology to NY1 reporter — Rep. Michael Grimm apologized in a phone call to the NY1 reporter who he threatened after an on-air interview in Washington last night. — NY1 reporter Michael Scotto, appearing on air this morning, said Grimm “called to apologize” and “said it was really not him.”

Discussion: @mikescotto, New York Times, Latest News & Headlines and Talking Points Memo

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

David Carr / New York Times:

As I Was Saying About Web Journalism ... a Bubble, or a Lasting Business? — Last week, it occurred to me that the departure of Ezra Klein, the creator of The Washington Post's influential Wonkblog, to join the young company Vox Media was a bit of a moment — an inflection point in the emergence of a news economy online.

Discussion: @azi, @peterlattman and Gigaom

Jim Romenesko:

Report: Hundreds of Patch employees laid off — I'm told that hundreds — two tipsters claim two-thirds of the editorial staff — have been laid off by Patch's new owner, Hale Global. I have asked the company for confirmation. (It bought Patch from AOL on January 15.)

Discussion: Business Insider, @terry_casey, @pottsmark, @russellblairct, @kiragoldenberg, @raju, @romenesko and SoundCloud

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.

Discussion: Guardian

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

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

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Andy Carvin joins the Tow Center for Digital Journalism as a fellow — Andy Carvin will join the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School as a fellow. — Tow published the news on Wednesday morning, then unpublished it, but not before Google picked it up and sent …

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

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 …

Discussion: @jackofkent

Jenny Gross / Wall Street Journal:
Witness Says Andy Coulson Heard Message Retrieved From Daniel Craig's Phone

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Irish Examiner, Metro.co.uk, Sky News, Daily Mail, The Independent, TheAustralian, TIME and BBC

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

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

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

The O.C. Register's supremely ghoulish financial strategy — The Orange County Register building in Santa Ana is shown. The company is seeking to buy life insurance on its employees, not to benefit the employees' families, but to benefit the company's pension plan. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Discussion: @jimmyorr, @froomkin and @romenesko

Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:

Facebook teams up with Fox on Super Bowl — (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is collaborating with Fox Sports for Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, the social network's latest move to increase its role as a hub for real-time conversations around sports and news events.

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

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

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Refresh, refresh, refresh... Twitter is monetizing your compulsiveness — Every time you refresh your tweets, Twitter banks a tenth of a penny. — The company, which will issue its first quarterly earnings report next week, considers “timeline views” the best measure of how engaged its users are.

Discussion: WebProNews, AppNewser, Electronista, Mashable and The Next Web

Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:

Why Kyiv Post reinstated part-paywall and will raise fee — Having dropped its paywall during the ongoing protests in Kiev, the Kyiv Post has reintroduced payment for some content and plans to increase the subscription fee — Read more … - Home — Jobs — PressGo — PressQuest

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.

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, Pocket-lint, @jaxconrad, Brand Republic and Deadline.com

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, @devindra, @felixgilman, @jeffreytoobin, @sarahw and Ars Technica

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 …

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: BuzzFeed and Trinity Mirror plc