Mediagazer: Why everyone is starting a news site: free-agent talent, cheap tech, maturing business models (Ken Doctor/Nieman Journalism Lab)

9:15 AM ET, January 30, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Major Expansion Ahead at The Washington Post — The Washington Post has significantly increased its budget and plans to make dozens of newsroom hires under its new owner, the Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, the paper's executive editor, Marty Baron, said in an interview on Wednesday.

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, Adweek, The Huffington Post, @ktumulty, @paula_span, @yarotrof, @adamnagourney, @pkafka, @abihabib, New York Magazine, Mediawire Daily, FishbowlDC and Capital New York

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Tech isn't just a talking point, it's the media's new context — Tech isn't just a talking point, it's the media's new context. — Via youtube.com — If you want to understand Ezra Klein's departure from the Washington Post to Vox Media, as well as the context of the larger conversation about …

Discussion: metamedia, @mat, @psmith, @tldr, @blakehounshell, @yurivictor, @mattzeitlin, @tcarmody, @bethshanna, @ezraklein and @jayrosen_nyu

Harry Jaffe / Washingtonian:
Katharine Weymouth Defends Decision Not to Fund Ezra Klein's New Venture

Discussion: New York Times, @ravisomaiya, bookforum.com, @jayrosen_nyu, @jamesrbuk, @mathewi, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @raju, @mlcalderone, @harryjaffe and @sophiegg

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Breaking News From Twitter: There's Breaking News on Twitter — News today from Twitter: Twitter would like to provide more of your news. — That's the upshot of a press event in New York today, where Twitter, CNN and Dataminr, a Twitter-blessed data company, announced a new tool designed to help journalists find news on Twitter.

Discussion: @margafret and @edmundlee

Vivian Schiller / Twitter blog:
A faster, easier way for newsrooms to find breaking news on Twitter

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Daily Dot, Mashable, Wired, @vivianschiller, @edmundlee, Kirk LaPointe's …, @ericaamerica, @cpen, @marksluckie, @joannauk, @sladurantaye and CNET

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
CNN And Twitter Partner With Dataminr To Create News Tool For Journalists

Discussion: Poynter, Dataminr, @digiphile, @jcstearns, @michaelsurtees, Engadget, Pocket-lint, The Verge, Variety, @willoremus, @jweb and CNET

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:
Why CNN partnered with Twitter and Dataminr

Discussion: Gigaom

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Inc. Media Hires Jim Ledbetter from Thomson Reuters — Mansueto Ventures' Inc. Media is hiring Jim Ledbetter from Thomson Reuters as editor of its namesake magazine and website. The veteran business journalist was named the first op-ed editor at Reuters as part of a hiring spree three years ago.

Discussion: @jeffchu, @jillpriluck, @alexmleo, @kenli729, @ledbetreuters, @moorehn and Talking Biz News

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Why everyone is starting a news site: free-agent talent, cheap tech, maturing business models — The newsonomics of why everyone seems to be starting a news site — You'd think the new digital printing presses were minting money. — Just within the last month, all kinds of details …

Discussion: @om, @justinnxt, @niemanlab and Economist

David Carr / New York Times:
As I Was Saying About Web Journalism ... a Bubble, or a Lasting Business?

Discussion: @pximenez, @joshuatopolsky, @benhuh, @brandoncarte, @gregory, @justinnxt, @carltonpurvis, @digiphile, @viceukmedia, @suzykhimm, @dananorak, @dangillmor, @carr2n, @cappiwill, @jonathanwald, @peterlattman and @azi

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BSkyB signs new five-year deal for exclusive rights to HBO TV catalogue — Broadcaster struck early to secure wide-ranging two-pronged deal with HBO and head off threat from rival BT — BSkyB has signed a five-year deal for the exclusive rights to the entire HBO TV catalogue …

Kristen Schweizer / Bloomberg:
BSkyB Revenue Increases as It Signs Up Record TV Customers

Discussion: Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal and Proactiveinvestors …

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:

Facebook Gets Into The News Business With A New Story Curation App Called Paper — Facebook announced today it's launching a news curation app for iPhone called Paper. — The Paper app pulls in news stories, photos, and videos your friends share in their News Feeds and displays them in a photo-intensive layout.

Discussion: The Verge, Facebook, Businessweek, TechCrunch, Gigaom, NYT Bits, App Advice, Digits, Re/code, The Next Web, Engadget and ReadWrite

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

James Clapper Suggests Journalists Could Be Edward Snowden's ‘Accomplices’ — NEW YORK — Director of National Intelligence James Clapper urged former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and his “accomplices” to return leaked documents during a hearing on Wednesday.

Discussion: UT Documents, Techdirt, TheHill, Mashable, Politico, @trevortimm, @huffpostmedia, The Lede, @mlcalderone and @gaberivera

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The Guardian's windfall ensures its long-term future — The Guardian's windfall ensures its long-term future — The Guardian, which until not that long ago was respected but little-read outside the UK, is now in the front ranks of English-language newspapers and one of the most important …

Discussion: Guardian and @janinegibson

Megan Reynolds / mUmBRELLA:

The Global Mail faces closure after Wood withdraws funding — The Global Mail faces the closure of its online operation after its philanthropist funder withdrew his financial commitment for the website Businessman Graeme Wood had pledged $15 to $20m to fund the site over five years …

Discussion: The Global Mail, @matt_levinson and Guardian

Jim Romenesko:

Task force recommends Society of Professional Journalists not change its name to Society for Professional Journalism — Some at SPJ wanted to change the focus of the organization to upholding and advocating the principles of professional journalism rather than the people performing it …

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Time Warner Cable Beats Estimates With Higher Fees as Users Drop — Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the company that's fending off a $37.4 billion buyout bid from cable carrier Charter Communications Inc., beat fourth-quarter profit estimates as higher fees made up for subscriber losses.

Discussion: @jonerlichman and @zseward

Press Association:

Dan Evans ‘wanted to be caught’ phone-hacking, court told — Former tabloid reporter Dan Evans was “a rather risky hacker” who “wanted to get caught” when he was writing high profile stories about the break-up of actors Sienna Miller and Jude Law, a court heard.

Discussion: Daily Mail and Guardian

Jasper Jackson / TheMediaBriefing.com:

People.co.uk & UsvsTh3m: Has Trinity Mirror learned from their contrasting fortunes? — Advertising, Consumer Media, Digital Media, Finance and Deals, Mobile, Newspapers — Trinity Mirror's closure of People.co.uk and its promotion of the people behind UsVsTh3m and Ampp3d show …

Discussion: Trinity Mirror plc and BuzzFeed

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

The Times' video dilemma — Early last year, The New York Times was making its first big sales push since revving up its digital video strategy, and it locked down two large upfront deals with two tony advertisers. — One was Acura, which signed on for a full year.

Discussion: @tmcgev

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

Attack on Gay Journalist Not a Hate Crime, Police Say — The police on Wednesday charged a Queens man in the beating of a gay journalist in Midtown Manhattan but said the attack was not a hate crime. — Detectives said the man, Leighton Jennings, 24, had been seen by witnesses …

Discussion: CBS News, International Business Times, New York Post, Associated Press and The Huffington Post

Committee to Protect Journalists:

South African journalist arrested, threatened — South African authorities should drop charges against a journalist who was roughed up and detained after photographing police officers allegedly involved in bribery, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Discussion: Times LIVE, Guardian, @zackieachmat, @r2kcampaign, @martinplaut and Mail&Guardian

Max Seddon / BuzzFeed:

Russia's Only Independent News Channel Faces Closure Under Kremlin Pressure — Several cable networks abruptly dropped Dozhd TV under apparent orders from powerful figures. “There's only one way things happen that quickly in this country,” the channel's owner says. — Via facebook.com

Discussion: @mlcalderone, @maxseddon and @rusalgbt

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon to Offer Kindle Checkout System to Physical Retailers — Project Would Give E-Commerce Firm Access to More Customer Data — Amazon.com Inc. plans to offer brick-and-mortar retailers a checkout system that uses Kindle tablets as soon as this summer, people briefed on the company's plans said.

Discussion: Electronista, Softpedia News, @karaswisher, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, The Verge and Mashable

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.)

Clair Lorell / Digiday:

FTW: How USA Today Mastered Viral Sports Content — Who said old dogs can't learn new tricks — and get them shared on Facebook millions of times. — USA Today has looked for inspiration in the current crop of viral media darlings, BuzzFeed and Upworthy, for a sports section that mixes original …

Discussion: Capital New York and Forbes, Thanks:@bmorrissey

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

Fox Sports president on planning the Big Game — This week is arguably one of the biggest in the history of Fox Sports. — On Sunday, the network will broadcast Super Bowl XLVIII, but leading up to it Fox has made sure to saturate the lineup of its cable channel, Fox Sports 1, with Super Bowl coverage.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Variety, The Big Lead and The Verge

Hanna Rosin / Slate:

Melissa Harris-Perry, tenured professor, progressive hero, TV star. — Melissa Harris-Perry, tenured professor, progressive hero, TV star. — Even serious journalists covered Michelle Obama's 50th birthday earlier this month People-style, writing about the first lady's hair, her trip to Hawaii, and her latest thoughts about Botox.

Diego Cruz / Journalism in the Americas Blog:

Killing of Mexican journalist sparks human rights ombudsman's investigation — Mexico's National Human Rights Commission will investigate the Jan. 23 murder of a journalist in Guerrero. It is the first killing of a journalist in Mexico this year. — Miguel Ángel Guzmán Garduño …

Discussion: Guardian