Mediagazer: Tech isn't just a talking point, it's the media's new context (Charlie Warzel/BuzzFeed)

12:35 PM ET, January 30, 2014

Top News:

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: FishbowlNY, Poynter, @jeffchu, @kenli729, @alexmleo, @antderosa, @moorehn, @jillpriluck, @ledbetreuters and Talking Biz News

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Tim Franklin is Poynter's new president — The Poynter Institute announced Thursday that its new president will be Tim Franklin, the Washington managing editor for Bloomberg News. Franklin was director of the National Sports Journalism Center at the Indiana University School of Journalism …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @davidfolkenflik and @poynter

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: Media Nation, Talking Points Memo, Adweek, Guardian, The Huffington Post, @yarotrof, @abihabib, @adamnagourney, @paula_span, @ktumulty, Mediawire Daily, @pkafka, New York Magazine, FishbowlDC, Capital New York, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter and Washingtonian

Nic Christensen / mUmBRELLA:

Journalistic utopias don't work — The Global Mail's threatened closure is a huge missed opportunity for journalism, but there are lessons to be learned about letting journalists run the show, argues Mumbrella's Tim Burrowes. — Back in what I now realise were the final golden years of local newspapers …

Discussion: @nicchristensen and @mumbrella

Megan Reynolds / mUmBRELLA:
The Global Mail faces closure after Wood withdraws funding

Discussion: The Global Mail, @matt_levinson and Guardian

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: Nieman Journalism Lab, @joepompeo, @hornmultimedia, @profsamuels_nyu, @jbenton and @tmcgev

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 …

Discussion: Financial Times, Reuters, The Independent, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk and Telegraph

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

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

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Andy Coulson ‘not in NoW office on day phone hacker said he heard voicemail’ — Dan Evans says he may have got day wrong as former editor's lawyer claims his client was away on day of alleged meeting — Andy Coulson was not in the News of the World office the day a self-confessed hacker claims …

Press Association:
Dan Evans ‘wanted to be caught’ phone-hacking, court told

Discussion: Daily Mail and Guardian

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: Capital New York, Guardian, @jamesrbuk, @johngapper, @johngapper, @johngapper, @emilybell, @emilybell, @johngapper, @ryanchittum, @emilybell, @emilybell and @janinegibson

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, @jamesrbuk, @psmith, bookforum.com, @mat, @tldr, @blakehounshell, @yurivictor, @mattzeitlin, @tcarmody, @bethshanna, @ezraklein, @jayrosen_nyu and @sophiegg

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Times raises paywall a little higher on mobile — The New York Times has tweaked its pay meter for mobile apps. The bottom line is you're likely, depending how you use them, to hit the paywall sooner. — Starting today, users reaching Times content on mobile apps will get free access …

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, Businessweek, Facebook, TechCrunch, Re/code, NYT Bits, The Next Web, Digits, Gigaom, App Advice, @brandwatch, Engadget and ReadWrite

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Carney Concerned About Press in China Facing ‘Restrictions’ — White House press secretary Jay Carney is concerned that the press in China — the foreign press there — is facing “restrictions.” — “The United States is deeply concerned that foreign journalists in China continue …

Discussion: Poynter and Politico

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 @pkafka, Thanks:@bmorrissey

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

With New Funding From Omidyar, Versa Launches Its Network For Sponsored Op-Eds — Versa is launching a new network for sponsored op-eds, which it calls Featured Perspectives. — The startup is also announcing that it has raised additional funding led by The Omidyar Network …

Discussion: PR Newswire, Re/code and @keyajay

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

On the heels of Patch's hyperlocal failure, ad-driven GoLocal24 begins its national expansion — The newsonomics of the for-profit move in local online news — Josh Fenton is an ad guy running a local news startup. Therein lies our tale. — GoLocal24 is a different kind of online startup.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Street Fight, GoLocal24, @golocalprov, GoLocalProv.com, @niemanlab, San Francisco Peninsula … and The Wrap

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 …

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: Gawker, NY Daily News, New York Post, CBS News, International Business Times, Associated Press and The Huffington Post

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

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: @wsjd, Business Insider, WebProNews, @karaswisher, Electronista, Softpedia News, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, The Verge and Mashable

Europe Online Magazine:

Spiegel chief rules out online paywall — Berlin (dpa) - The chief of Der Spiegel ruled out on Thursday erecting a paywall for the successful online edition of the German weekly news magazine. “I don't think much of the idea of putting a price on Spiegel Online either partially or as a whole …

Jim Romenesko:

Associated Press journalists withhold bylines to protest contract proposals — The News Media Guild says most Associated Press journalists are withholding their bylines for 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. — Guild president Martha Waggoner tells me that 110 of the 115 AP bureaus support the byline strike.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

The Sun links up with O2 to offer Premier League clips with 4G deals — Publisher's Sun+ digital offering gains massive boost as it joins packages available to mobile network's 23 million UK customers — The Sun has struck a deal with mobile operator O2 to offer its 4G customers content …

Discussion: Mobile Entertainment Feed, Product Reviews Net and News UK

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Viacom 1Q Net Income Rises 16% Despite Film Revenue Declines — Viacom said advertising revenue at its many cable-TV networks drove a 16% increase in net income its fiscal first quarter as it narrowed an operating loss at its filmed-entertainment division. — Viacom's net income …

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter and Associated Press

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: Business Insider, Quartz, Reuters, Business Wire, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, @zseward and @jonerlichman

Rebecca Grant / VentureBeat:

Flat World chips away at $9B textbook industry with cheaper digital versions — Textbooks are stupidly expensive. Their prices are increasing faster than college tuition, medical services, and even new homes, and Flat World is one of the tech companies striving to make college textbooks more affordable.

Discussion: TechCrunch, bizjournals, VCPOST and Publishers Lunch

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Greater New York’ grows up — As the Chris Christie “Bridgegate” scandal was beginning to metastasize in early January, there was a palpable sense of frustration in certain corners of The Wall Street Journal's newsroom. — The Record was being lavished with praise for having “owned” …

Discussion: @riceid, @mitrakalita and @raju