Mediagazer: New bill would restore net neutrality pending FCC action (Russell Brandom/The Verge)

7:25 PM ET, February 3, 2014

Top News:

Lauren Hockenson / Gigaom:

Facebook's Paper is Facebook for people who hate Facebook — For the past couple years, Facebook has trained its mobile efforts on capturing various facets of social interaction. The social network has compartmentalized and optimized features (Messenger), mimicked the experiences …

Discussion: Forbes, NYT Bits, Business Insider, The Verge, @niemanlab, @mitali, @anttislaine, @epak and @matthewpennell

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Facebook and the race to make content go viral — meet the new boss, same as the old boss — There are two charts that have been making their way around the media blogosphere recently, and they both tell aspects of the same story: namely, a story about how much power Facebook has when it comes …

Discussion: @lhockenson, @lukelewis and Felix Salmon

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
In 2013, Facebook's referral traffic to BuzzFeed and its “Network” sites blew past Google's

Discussion: Business Insider

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Super Bowl: Netflix Traffic Fell 20% in First Half, But Then Bounced Back to Normal Levels — Sunday's Super Bowl evidently pulled Netflix subscribers away from the streaming video service early in the game — but as the Seattle Seahawks padded their lead over the Denver Broncos …

Discussion: AdAge, Forbes, The Wrap, PandoDaily and TechCrunch

Dominic Patten / Deadline.com:
Fox's Super Bowl Scores With Record Breaking Viewership; Bruno Mars Halftime Show Shatters Madonna's 2011 Record

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewser, TVbytheNumbers, Capital New York, @cschweitz, @carlquintanilla, Kirk LaPointe's … and New York Times

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

BuzzFeed's investigative unit coming together — BuzzFeed's investigative reporting unit is coming together. — The site best known for its offbeat lists and dead-on sense of the digitally viral hired Mark Schoofs away from the highly regarded investigative site ProPublica to launch its unit.

Discussion: @susarm, @peretti, @gregorydjohnsen, @niemanlab, @jwherrman, @mattaikins and @azafar

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:

Aereo Sets San Antonio Launch Date — Broadband TV/Cloud DVR Combo To Debut On February 19 — Aereo may be tapped out of capacity in New York City, but it's gearing up to tap in to the San Antonio market. — Aereo announced Monday that it will launch its mix of broadband TV …

Discussion: CNET, TVNewsCheck.com, Radio & Television …, Light Reading, World Internet TV, WorldScreen.com, Consumerist and Home Media Magazine

Reuters:

Ex-BBC chief Mark Thompson apologises for failed $170 mln IT project — U.S. media executive Mark Thompson apologised on Monday to the British public and parliamentarians for the failure of a 100 million pound ($170 million) digital project during his years of running the BBC.

Discussion: Guardian, The Independent, Associated Press, Bloomberg, National Updates, broadcastnow.co.uk, @davidfolkenflik, London News, BBC, UK - The Huffington Post and Telegraph

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch to be inducted into US television academy hall of fame — Next month, lest it has passed under your radar since the official announcement in December, Rupert Murdoch will be inducted into the US television academy hall of fame. — He is one of six people selected by the academy …

Steve Waldman / Poynter:

Why is local news innovation struggling financially while national thrives? — On the national level, we've seen an exciting burst of investment and innovation in digital news. — The New York Times crowed that “Web News Is Thriving,” the evidence being that Ezra Klein, the wonk's wonk …

Discussion: Guardian, @dicktofel and @jayrosen_nyu

Jeff Kosseff / InsideTechMedia:

Journalists Nationwide Face Surge of Subpoenas in Federal and State Courts — Reporters nationwide have faced a flurry of subpoenas in recent months, calling into question whether journalists can guarantee confidentiality to sources. The repeated attempts to force journalists to reveal …

Discussion: @sulliview, @atlblog and The Newspaper Guild

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

BBC attempts to break into a global audience by harnessing the viral power of YouTube — Newsnight and Radio 1 are leading the charge a new strategy by the BBC to break out of the confines of the schedule and find a new global audience via YouTube. — The BBC2 flagship news programme …

Press Gazette:

Sun editor David Dinsmore announces shake-up of senior team with focus on digital — Sun editor David Dinsmore has announced a shake-up of his senior editor to strengthen the paper's digital offering. — In a note to staff he said: “As you have seen from the recent press …

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Disney's Interactive-Media Unit to Lay off Several Hundred People — Layoffs Expected to Begin After Quarterly Results Released Wednesday — Walt Disney Co. 's interactive-media unit is preparing to lay off several hundred people despite a strong launch for its videogame “Infinity,” according to people close to the company.

Discussion: Business Insider, Variety, The Wrap, @bobservo and @benfritz