Mediagazer: Old media outlets collude with politicians to protect monopoly, punish media startups (David Sirota/PandoDaily)

3:20 PM ET, February 11, 2014

Top News:

Adam Weinstein / Gawker:

Business Insider Changed its Story on Buzzfeed — Yesterday, Business Insider chief correspondent Nicholas Carlson stuck a subtle shiv into his competitors at Buzzfeed, attributing the site's success in exploiting Facebook's ever-evolving newsfeed algorithm to its practice of buying traffic …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @saramorrison, @miriamgottfried, @moorehn, @mattdpearce, @johngapper, @johnjcook, @antderosa, @jackshafer, @fullstopmag, @gawker and @nickconfessore

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Buzzfeed CEO: Here's Why Facebook Isn't Crushing Us — In December, Facebook changed its News Feed algorithm to favor more “high quality” news over “memes.” — Looking at a bunch of charts yesterday, we found this change correlated with a sudden and massive drop in traffic to Upworthy and several viral news sites.

Discussion: @mims, @timherrera, @newswhip, @moneyries and @dskok

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
Facebook Changed How The News Feed Works — And Huge Website Upworthy Suddenly Shrank In Half

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Mediawire Daily, Kirk LaPointe's …, WebProNews, @mims, @stephenbhull, SocialTimes, @timobrien, @dannysullivan, @antderosa, @max_fisher, @kimbhasin, @sandentotten, @rosshudgens, @petersterne, @cschweitz, @obsoletedogma and @amir

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith: Expect Splashier Storytelling on Bloomberg TV — Appeal to Broader Business Audience Also Likely — Justin Smith, CEO of Bloomberg Media Group, is slated to wrap up a 100-day review of the company in the coming weeks, when he is expected to offer recommendations …

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediawire Daily, FishbowlNY, @justin_b_smith, Capital New York and Talking Biz News

Jordan Chariton / TVNewser:

Carl Bernstein Joins CNN as a Contributor — CNN's political additions continue with legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein joining as a contributor, substitute anchor John Berman announced on “AC360″ last night. — Bernstein was an analyst for CNN during the 2008 election season …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post and FishbowlDC

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Capital NY Tweaks Prices Ahead of Paywall — Capital New York has tweaked its pricing as it prepares to start charging for e-newsletters and news coverage today (Feb. 11), making it the latest startup to test consumers' willingness pay for news. — The experiment will no doubt be closely watched …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu

David Sirota / PandoDaily:

Old media outlets collude with politicians to protect monopoly, punish media startups — Here's some good recent news for free-speech advocates: A federal court recently ruled that bloggers, online journalists and the public at large enjoy the same protections as legacy news outlets do when facing defamation lawsuits.

Discussion: Free Press Blog, @davidsirota, @mathewi, @digiphile and @jayrosen_nyu

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Gawker creates a new writer pipeline with “Recruits” — The path to enter the journalism business is changing. Some media companies are abandoning unpaid internships; others are terming them reporting fellowships. — Enter Gawker, which is adding a new metaphor to the game by creating a new “Recruits” program.

Guardian:

AP launches investigation after finding images of Fidel Castro were digitally manipulated — Ear one minute, gone the next: Fidel Castro's hearing aid Photoshopped out — The Guardian has been a vocal proponent of, and active adherent to, the ideals of the open web.

Discussion: Daily Mail, NBC News, UK - The Huffington Post, iMediaEthics, The Voice of Russia, News, Associated Press, The Independent and Gizmodo

Michael Melia / Associated Press:

Drones Create New Ethical Minefields For Journalists — HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — As police responded to a deadly car crash, they noticed an increasingly familiar sight: a remote-controlled aircraft, equipped with a video camera, hovering over the wreckage. — The Federal Aviation Administration …

Reuters:

Charter names board nominees to Time Warner Cable, begins proxy battle — (Reuters) - Charter Communications Inc upped its pressure on Time Warner Cable to accept its $37.3 billion (22.6 billion pounds) hostile takeover bid for Time Warner Cable by announcing a slate of 13 nominees to the larger cable operator's board on Tuesday.

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Philly.com, Hollywood Reporter, DealBook, DealBook, The Verge, Advanced Television and Fox Business

Jasper Jackson / TheMediaBriefing.com:

Guardian interested in membership models but not paywall, says CEO — Guardian CEO: ‘This is about following how people consume media in a digital world.’ — Guardian Media Group, Guardian News & Media, Advertising, Digital Media, Finance and Deals, Newspapers

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @rubiconproject and @bencubby

Erica Salkin / Mediashift:

Three P's to Protect Free Speech for Student Media … It's a little bit of a man-bites-dog scenario — public high school administrators force a student newspaper to print what the students consider a racial slur. — The Playwickian, a student paper at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne …

Discussion: @splc

Alexis Kleinman / The Huffington Post:

Feb. 11 Is ‘The Day We Fight Back’ Against NSA Surveillance — More than 5,300 web-based companies and other organizations, including Reddit, Imgur, Tumblr, Mozilla the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, have joined forces to protest National Security Agency surveillance on Feb. 11.

Discussion: Guardian, Committee to Protect …, Google Public Policy Blog and PandoDaily

Reuters:

China to maintain its strict quota for imported Hollywood films — China dashes Hollywood's hopes for greater access in 2014 — China will maintain its strict quota for imported Hollywood movies this year, rejecting reports it had planned to increase access for U.S. films …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Press regulation: advert seeks ‘resilient and independent’ recognition panel chief — A newspaper advertisement is calling for applications for the chair of the board of the recognition panel that is being established under the royal charter on press regulation.

Discussion: @leshinton

Erik Wemple:

Glenn Greenwald and the U.S. ‘assassination’ program — Journalist Glenn Greenwald promised that the Pierre Omidyar-bankrolled First Look Media Web site would take it to vested interests in Washington. The debut edition of First Look's first digital magazine began delivering on the pledge …