Mediagazer: Screenwriters warn against overreaching copyright laws ahead of reform (Aaron Souppouris/The Verge)

6:35 PM ET, January 30, 2014

Top News:

Lance Ulanoff / Mashable:

Facebook Paper Is Content — But Don't Call Facebook a Media Company — Is Facebook Paper short for Facebook NewsPaper? — Thursday's unveiling of a new standalone content curation app, Facebook Paper, comes after weeks of speculation and rumors about Facebook hiring editors …

Discussion: @agolis, Wired, Ars Technica and Guardian

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook's New “Creative Labs” Lets The 6,000-Employee Giant Move Fast Like A Startup

Discussion: Businessweek, CNET and Gawker

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:
Facebook Gets Into The News Business With A New Story Curation App Called Paper

Discussion: Facebook, The Verge, TechCrunch, Re/code, NYT Bits, Fast Company, The Next Web, Digits, App Advice, Engadget, Gigaom and @brandwatch

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: Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest, FishbowlNY, @poynter and @davidfolkenflik

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

Dylan Byers / Politico:

MSNBC president apologizes to RNC — MSNBC President Phil Griffin apologized to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Thursday for a tweet that suggested conservatives “hate” interracial marriages. — “The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable.

Discussion: TVNewser, Erik Wemple, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, @tvnewslab, Associated Press, Business Insider, @alexweprin, @reince, New York Magazine and @stefanjbecket

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, @mumbrella and @rwilliamson_

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

Discussion: The Global Mail, @matt_levinson and Guardian

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

U.S. ‘Deeply Concerned’ Over Press Freedom In China As New York Times Reporter Forced Out — NEW YORK — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that the U.S is “deeply concerned” about the ability of foreign journalists to do their jobs in China, shortly after New York Times …

Discussion: New York Magazine and Committee to Protect …

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Carney Concerned About Press in China Facing ‘Restrictions’

Discussion: Poynter and Politico

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

Wall Street Journal:

Time Warner Cable Subscriber Figures Called “Dismal” — Company to Up Spending on Technology as It Tries to Fend Off Suitor — Under takeover pressure from Charter Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. reported weaker subscriber results for the fourth quarter but outlined …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, @wsj, @shaliniwsj and Hollywood Reporter

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
Time Warner Cable Beats Estimates With Higher Fees as Users Drop

Discussion: BGR, Reuters, Quartz, Reuters, Business Wire, Business Insider, @jonerlichman and @zseward

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

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 …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and FishbowlNY

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Fox News once again most and least trusted name in news — PPP's 5th annual poll about trust in TV news continues to find what it does every year: Fox News is both the most trusted and least trusted name in news. — 35% of Americans say they trust Fox News more than any other TV news outlet …

Discussion: TVNewser, The Huffington Post, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @bponsot, @umairh and @ppppolls

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: Re/code, Emag.co.uk and @keyajay

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

Keep me informed: parsing the logic of Ezra Klein's move to Vox Media — “We don't have a news system that keeps us informed and helps us grasp the stories we care deeply about. We have one that floods us with reports on a schedule that makes sense for the manufacturers.”

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @howardweaver, @niemanlab, @digidave, @antderosa, @jayrosen_nyu, Economist and USA Today

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

When Super Bowl Advertisers Compete For the Web, Google Wins — Winning the Pre- and Post- Super Bowl Is Increasingly What Counts — The big game isn't until Sunday, but for Super Bowl advertisers the first quarter is already over. That's because increasingly the battle isn't for the game itself …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Forbes, Speakeasy, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Latest News & Headlines, Globe and Mail and Variety

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Amazon's Stock Price Stumbles After Hours On Revenue, Earnings Miss And Weak Guidance — Today after the market close Amazon reported its fourth quarter financial performance, including revenue of $25.59 billion, and earnings per share of $0.51. The company has operating income of $510 million …

Discussion: Forbes, Digital Book World, ZDNet, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Digits, Business Insider, CNBC and CNET

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Former Hulu Head Jason Kilar's Stealth Startup Pitches Magazine Publishers — Jason Kilar made a big splash in Web video and TV when he ran Hulu. — Now he's trying do the same thing with Web publishing and magazines. — Kilar has yet to talk publicly about The Fremont Project, the startup he began staffing up last fall.

Discussion: @mathewi, @delrey and @pkafka

Jennifer Silber / Folio:

La Presse+ Sees Significant Gains in First 9 Months — New digital edition installed on more than 400,000 iPads. — The free digital edition of Montreal-based daily newspaper La Presse has seen tremendous increases in the last nine months. Since its launch in April last year …

Bill Mickey / Folio:

Outside Magazine Gets into the Travel Business — Launches Outside Go to begin booking customized adventure excursions. — Mariah Media's Outside magazine has launched a new division that will begin booking the kind of adventure travel it's long been writing about.

Sarah Laskow / Columbia Journalism Review:

Pacific Standard is upping its Web game to “get the magazine in front of more eyeballs” — Pacific Standard is upping its Web game to “get the magazine in front of more eyeballs” — Pacific Standard has had an exciting January. It's been the magazine's biggest traffic month ever, on track to hit 1.25 million uniques.

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Former Sun managing editor Richard Caseby lands top Government PR role — Former Sun managing editor Richard Caseby has been named as the new director of communications for the Department of Work and Pensions. — Caseby left News UK (formerly News International) after 24 years with the company …

Discussion: @beaubodor and @justice4daniel

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

LBC to take on Radio 5 Live with national expansion — Global Radio, Britain's largest commercial radio company, is launching a national news and politics network which will rival the BBC's Radio 5 Live. — Global is putting its long-running London station LBC on a national footing …

Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:

Screenwriters warn against overreaching copyright laws ahead of reform — One of America's foremost groups of movie and TV writers has written a detailed statement on the current and future states of copyright law. The Writers Guilt of America West (WGAW) begins its letter …

Discussion: Techdirt

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

N.F.L. creating digital channel: ‘NFL Now’ — The National Football League is creating a new HD digital video channel called “N.F.L. Now.” The channel, which launches this summer, will be available on any device, though apps for iOS, Android and Windows systems, and on web browsers through NFL.com/Now.

Discussion: Business Insider and Los Angeles Times

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: @pkafka and Capital New York, Thanks:@bmorrissey

Jason Clampet / Skift:

Time Inc. Is Shutting Down Executive Travel Magazine — Time Inc. will shut down Executive Travel magazine, which it acquired in October when it purchased American Express Publishing, Skift has learned. — Time Inc. is the largest magazine publisher in the U.S. and is preparing to spin off …

Discussion: FishbowlNY