Mediagazer: Inside Amtrak's (Absolutely Awesome) Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers (Ben Cosman/The Wire)

10:55 AM ET, February 22, 2014

Top News:

Ben Cosman / The Wire:

Inside Amtrak's (Absolutely Awesome) Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers — Amtrak has begun offering “writers' residencies” to, well, writers - long roundtrip rides aboard Amtrak trains dedicated solely for the purpose of writing. — After New York City-based writer Jessica Gross took the first …

Discussion: @richmhuff

CNN:

Venezuela says CNN can stay, a day after saying ‘get out’ — (CNN) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told a CNN reporting team Friday that it could continue reporting in the South American country, a day after the government revoked or denied press credentials for CNN journalists.

Discussion: CNN, @jorgeramosnews, @romustgo, MiamiHerald.com, @statedept, US Department of State, Global Voices, @tv6tnt and Business Insider

Natalie Kitroeff / The Lede:

Venezuela Battles Media, Social and Otherwise, to Restrict Protest Coverage — Tensions escalated further in Venezuela on Friday as street protests that began 10 days ago continued and the government persisted in clamping down on coverage of the unrest in the broadcast media and online.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Mashable, Feministing and The Verge

Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Activists say Venezuela is blocking walkie-talkie app Zello and websites Pastebin and NTN24

Discussion: @wexler, @nancypelosi, Politico and BBC

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Attorney General Signs New Rules to Limit Access to Journalists' Records — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who drew fire last spring over the Justice Department's aggressive tactics for secretly obtaining reporters' phone logs and emails as part of leak investigations …

Discussion: USA Today, @emptywheel, @drudge, @kgosztola, emptywheel and Associated Press

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

Direct connection between Comcast and Netflix networks suggests peering agreement reached — Sources: Netflix and Comcast have reached a peering agreement — Consumers' troubles with online video may be subsiding — at least for Comcast customers. Comcast and Netflix appear to have resolved …

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget and BGR

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix packets being dropped every day because Verizon wants more money — Verizon wants to be paid by consumers and Cogent, but Cogent refuses to pay. — The battle over who should pay to carry Netflix traffic is heating up again, and one of the main players blames Verizon's greed …

Discussion: Media Channel, @caseyliss and CNNMoney.com

Cathy Loughran / BBC College of Journalism:

Getting into journalism: Just go out and do it, says VICE maverick Tim Pool — In the first of a series of blog posts on alternative ways to get into journalism, Chicago-born self-taught journalist Tim Pool, now an international correspondent for media company VICE, tears up the traditional rule book.

Discussion: @bbccollege and @niemanlab

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Is There Any Escape From ‘Recommended for You’? — Based on what The New York Times thinks I'm interested in reading, I am not a fun person. — “Recommended for You,” which tracks readers' habits and predicts their interests, finds me especially interested in the troubles of Gov. Chris Christie …

Discussion: @hunterwalk, @justinbrookman, @mathewi, @sulliview, @dangillmor and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Bloomberg:

Roku Said to Be Weighing Initial Public Offering in U.S. in 2014 — Roku Inc., the maker of set-top boxes that connect TVs to the Internet, is weighing an initial public offering in the U.S. this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. — A decision to move ahead hasn't been made …

Discussion: @pkafka, VentureBeat, Gigaom, @zseward and Re/code

Jim Romenesko:

Report: Baltimore City Paper staffers will lose their jobs, but could be rehired by the Sun — Fern Shen reports Baltimore City Paper staffers met Thursday afternoon with their new boss at the Sun and were told that everyone loses their jobs, but could be rehired.

Discussion: bizjournals, Baltimore Brew, @camilledodero, @maura, @carr2n and The Huffington Post

Tom Scocca / Gawker:
Baltimore Is One Step Closer to Being a Zero-Newspaper Town

Discussion: @objectguerilla, @johnmcquaid, @tomscocca, @crash_landers, @jackshafer and @max_read

Associated Press:

White House bars media from Dalai Lama meeting — WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House defended its decision Friday to bar reporters and photojournalists from a meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, while acknowledging the news media's legitimate interest in covering the two leaders' encounter.

Discussion: Poynter, White House News …, @fieldproducer, Politico, NPPA and The Huffington Post

Gautham Nagesh / Wall Street Journal:

Comcast Sees Time Warner Cable Deal Boosting Broadband Competition — Executive Says Deal Wouldn't Harm Home Users or Content Companies — A Comcast executive said Friday the company's planned $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable would create new competition in the commercial market …

James Ball / Guardian:

Why are all the House of Cards journalists so bad at journalism? — Zoe and the gang can't report, lack ethics and have the common sense of a hacker's guinea pig. Somebody should fire them … Journalists have a guilty pleasure. In fact, we have several.

Discussion: @moorehn, @wesleylowery and @jaredbkeller