Mediagazer: Julian Assange's ghost writer breaks silence on failed autobiography (Esther Addley/Guardian)

3:45 PM 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: Poynter, @jorgeramosnews, @romustgo, @statedept, MiamiHerald.com, US Department of State, Global Voices, @tv6tnt and Business Insider

Natalie Kitroeff / The Lede:
Venezuela Battles Media, Social and Otherwise, to Restrict Protest Coverage

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: Wall Street Journal, @wexler, @nancypelosi, Politico and BBC

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: Softpedia News, @al3x, @binarybits, Media Channel, @caseyliss and CNNMoney.com

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

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, emptywheel, @kgosztola and Associated Press

Esther Addley / Guardian:

Julian Assange's ghost writer breaks silence on failed autobiography — WikiLeaks founder a mercurial character who could not bear his own secrets, according to writer Andrew O'Hagan — The ghostwriter who collaborated with Julian Assange on his abortive 2011 autobiography has broken …

Discussion: London Review of Books, @jamesrbuk, Boing Boing and @arusbridger

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

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Dish's Charlie Ergen: I'm Nervous About Comcast-TWC, Surprised Our Business Hasn't Been Worse — Optimism is supposedly one of the qualities people look for in politicians and business leaders. Apparently no one told Charlie Ergen, who seemed less concerned with soothing investors …

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

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 …

Tom Scocca / Gawker:

Baltimore Is One Step Closer to Being a Zero-Newspaper Town — It's not even possible to get mad at the Baltimore Sun now. The Baltimore Sun is a nursing home where newspapering goes to die, or to sink into terminal urine-soaked frailty and confusion. Yesterday it announced it had received …

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

Jim Romenesko:
Report: Baltimore City Paper staffers will lose their jobs, but could be rehired by the Sun

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

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, JIMROMENESKO.COM and @dangillmor

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: @sophiewarnes, @moorehn, @wesleylowery and @jaredbkeller