Mediagazer: The new Medicis funding journalism (Jack Shafer)

7:20 AM ET, February 13, 2014

Top News:

Time Warner Cable To Merge With Comcast Corporation To Create A World-Class Technology And Media Company — Strategic Combination Will Accelerate Delivery of Comcast's Technologically Advanced Products and Services to Time Warner Cable's Customers — Transaction Creates Multiple Pro-Consumer …

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Post, USA Today, Reuters, @jolingkent and BBC

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Here's Why the Biggest Cable Company in the Country Thinks It Can Get Bigger — So Comcast, in a sort-of surprise, is going to end up buying all of Time Warner Cable for itself. — If you are a regular person, and you hear that the biggest cable company in the country is going to buy …

Discussion: @antderosa and @davewiner

David Gelles / DealBook:

Comcast Set to Acquire Time Warner Cable for $45 Billion — Comcast is expected to announce on Thursday an agreement to acquire Time Warner Cable for more than $45 billion in stock, a deal that would combine the biggest and second-biggest cable television operators in the country.

Bloomberg:

Comcast Agrees to Buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 Billion — Comcast Corp. agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion, combining the two largest U.S. cable companies in an all-stock transaction. — Investors of New York-based Time Warner Cable will receive 2.875 new Comcast stock …

Discussion: Tech Trader Daily, Business Insider, CNET, Engadget, Mashable, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and Gawker

Om Malik / Gigaom:

Comcast and Time Warner Cable: Forget TV, it is all about broadband — If it is allowed to gobble up its number two rival, Time Warner Cable, Philadelphia-based Comcast will become the largest broadband provider in the United States, and perhaps the largest outside China.

Discussion: The Wrap, @brianstelter, NetNewsCheck Latest, @antderosa, Engadget, @glennf, Reuters, ZDNet, @alexweprin, @pkafka, @edmundlee and Home Media Magazine

Brian R. Fitzgerald / Digits:

What the FCC Might Think on the Comcast-TWC Deal — A deal between the Nos. 1 and 2 in any industry causes an immediate and quite reasonable knee-jerk response: How could federal regulators ever allow that to happen? — Comcast plans to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion in stock …

Discussion: Gigaom, Los Angeles Times, @peterlauria3, @matthewkeyslive, The Wrap, @amychozick, MoneyBeat and @sdkstl

Bloomberg:

Apple Said to Plan New Set-Top Box Amid Time Warner Cable Talks — Apple Inc. (AAPL) is planning to introduce a new Apple TV set-top box as early as April and is negotiating with Time Warner Cable Inc. and other potential partners to add video content, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Here's What the New Apple TV Could Look Like (Hint: Check Your iPad) — Apple is reportedly prepping a new version of Apple TV, which would work like a cable set-top box. Apple is working with Time Warner Cable to launch the device this year, Bloomberg says.

Discussion: @fmanjoo, MacRumors and 9to5Mac

Hu Yong / Nieman Reports:

China's market-oriented media face a precarious future — Two-thousand-and-three was a milestone year for investigative journalism in China. Some media organizations had been transformed from Communist Party propaganda tools into market-oriented news outlets.

Yang Xiao / Nieman Reports:
Are the linguistic tricks Chinese journalists use to express their opinions just another form of self-censorship?

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Media Standards Trust updates its “churnalism” tools — The U.K.'s Media Standards Trust has released an updated version of Churnalism, its tool to identify news stories that are thin rewrites (or outright cut-and-paste copies) of press releases. In addition to a revamped website …

Discussion: Media Standards Trust

David Sirota / PandoDaily:

PBS station WNET financed “Pension Peril” series with $3.5M donation from Arnold Foundation — The Wolf of Sesame Street: Revealing the secret corruption inside PBS's news division — On December 18th, the Public Broadcasting Service's flagship station WNET issued …

Discussion: PandoDaily, @johnarnoldfndtn, THIRTEEN, @billmon1, Felix Salmon, The Raw Story, @davidcayj, @davidsirota, @harveyjkaye and @froomkin

Jack Shafer:

The new Medicis funding journalism — Neil Barsky, a former Wall Street money manager, became the latest Medici of journalism this week when he hired Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times, to head his new non-profit journalism enterprise, the Marshall Project.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog and Columbia Journalism Review

Khoi Vinh / Subtraction.com:

Crediting digital subscribers when they share NYT content can increase paying customers — An Idea for The Times' Pay Wall — In the month or so since The New York Times officially launched its new site design, I've found that I like it more and more. As I said back then …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Buzzfeed Getting 100 Million Monthly Views on YouTube, Steinberg — PALM SPRINGS, CA - Buzzfeed has quickly established a big video footprint and is getting 100 million monthly views on YouTube, says Jon Steinberg, President and COO, in this video interview with Beet.TV

Thanks:@beet_tv

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Yahoo's Contextual Homescreen App Aviate Adds A Smart “Listening Space” For Music Lovers — Aviate, the contextual Android homescreen application Yahoo bought for $80 million in January, has rolled out an update today which introduces a smart “Listening Space” that allows users to more easily find …

Discussion: Aviate Blog, Pocket-lint, Gigaom and The Next Web

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Battling for profitability, GlobalPost adds “Voices” commentary with $100k Ford grant — Rieder: Digital journalism's financial challenge — Foreign news site GlobalPost launches a new feature with foundation support. — Being a digital journalism entrepreneur is not for the fainthearted.

Deutsche Welle:

Myanmar: School of journalism in the making — Germany's Federal President Joachim Gauck has praised DW Akademie's efforts to set up a much-needed journalism school in Myanmar. He referred to the project in a speech given this week at Yangon University. — The first national school …

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Who Rules The Second Screen, Facebook Or Twitter? — Twitter's user growth in the last couple quarters may have been less than stellar, but one place the social messenging service hasn't disappointed is its hold on television viewers. Twitter executives see the so-called second screen experience …

Discussion: @rachaelrad, @kevinweil, Variety and @jimconnolly

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Nielsen Pauses Effort To Report Broadband-Only Audiences Watching Local TV — Nielsen is putting its efforts to divulge broadband-only households watching programming from local TV stations on hiatus, after various requests from the TV industry. — Because of technical issues …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost and multichannel.com/rss

David Lieberman / Deadline.com:

CBS Beats Q4 Earnings Estimates And Says It Will Add $1.5B To Share Buys This Quarter — CBS shares are up in post market trading after it reported the ambitious stock repurchase plan — bringing Q1 buying to $2B — and Q4 results that exceeded forecasts just about everywhere except in local broadcasting and its billboard operation.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, @alexweprin, @edmundlee, @richbtig, @dana_mcclintock, Los Angeles Times, PR Newswire, USA Today, Reuters, The Wrap and Nieman Journalism Lab

Max Fisher / WorldViews:

Is U.S. press freedom really ‘plummeting’? Not if you look at the data. — This year's global press freedom ranking, released annually by the international NGO Reporters Without Borders, appears to show something alarming: The U.S. has dropped in the rankings from the world's 32nd most free for media to only 46th.

Discussion: @jcstearns and The Huffington Post

Rebecca Greenfield / Fast Company:

Why The New York Times Hired A Biology Researcher As Its Chief Data Scientist — It doesn't come as a huge surprise that the New York Times has hired a chief data scientist. Even 162-year-old media companies know that technology will play a huge role in the future of journalism.

Discussion: @btrpkc, @butterworthy and @chanders

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Foreign regimes use spyware against journalists, even in U.S. — Mesay Mekonnen was at his desk, at a news service based in Northern Virginia, when gibberish suddenly exploded across his computer screen one day in December. A sophisticated cyberattack was underway.

Discussion: @ethanz, @rj_gallagher, Mashable, @ezraklein, @washpostpr and @oswaldrachel

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:

Does it matter that mobile-native Quartz has a mobile-minority audience? — As much as mobile is poised to keep growing in 2014, old desktop habits die hard — especially during business hours. That leaves Quartz, Atlantic Media's 18-month-old business site, with a fascinating hand after going all-in on mobile.

Discussion: @poynter