Mediagazer: Flat World chips away at $9B textbook industry with cheaper digital versions (Rebecca Grant/VentureBeat)

11:55 AM 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, @antderosa, @jeffchu, @kenli729, @alexmleo, @moorehn, @jillpriluck, @ledbetreuters and Talking Biz News

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Tim Franklin is Poynter's new president — The Poynter Institute announced Thursday that Tim Franklin would become its new president. Its previous president, Karen Dunlap, announced last October that she planned to retire. — Franklin is currently the Washington managing editor for Bloomberg News.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @davidfolkenflik and @poynter

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, @profsamuels_nyu, @jbenton and @tmcgev

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York: ‘Greater New York’ grows up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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, The Wrap and San Francisco Peninsula …

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 and @janinegibson

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

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: Politico

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

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

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

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 …, Hollywood Reporter, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters and Wall Street Journal

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

Damon Linker / The Week:

Is National Review doomed? — The conservative movement's leading magazine faces a lawsuit that could bring it to its knees — N — ational Review, founded by William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1955, has had an enormous impact on the nation's politics. Its writers formulated the ideology …

Discussion: @theweek

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

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

‘Hidden away’ in Deregulation Bill - plan to make it easier for police to seize journalistic material — The Newspaper Society has urged the Government to withdraw plans to change the law to make it easier for the police to seize journalistic material. — The changes to the Police …

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, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, Techdirt, TheHill, Mashable, @trevortimm, Politico, @huffpostmedia, The Lede, Washington Post, @mlcalderone and @gaberivera

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