Mediagazer: New Newsweek Taps Slovakian Paywall Gurus for an Ambitious Relaunch (Felix Gillette/Businessweek)

11:10 AM ET, March 6, 2014

Top News:

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Newsweek relaunches in print Friday, tracks down Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto for cover story — Newsweek Relaunches in Print with Bitcoin Coup Exclusive look at the first issue By Lucia Moses — Newsweek returns to newsstands Friday with a small press run (70,000) …

Discussion: Quartz, Gawker, Forbes, FishbowlDC, VentureBeat, Mediawire Daily, TechCrunch, Softpedia News, @newmanology, Business Insider, The Straits Times, @actualadvicebtc and Talking New Media

Choire Sicha / The Awl:

Reddit Reeling From Brutal Dox Of Alleged Bitcoin Founder Satoshi Nakamoto — With Leah McGrath Goodman's identification of the founder of Bitcoin at Newsweek (not really a slam-dunk case? But, I'll take it, for now?), the greater Bitcoin-Internet is aghast. How dare this magazine expose this person?

Discussion: Poynter, Forbes, Business Insider, New York Magazine, The Switch, Wall Street Journal, @obsoletedogma, @kmmokai, @anildash, @mims, Business Insider, @djbentley, @rustyk5 and @rustyk5

Felix Gillette / Businessweek:

New Newsweek Taps Slovakian Paywall Gurus for an Ambitious Relaunch — Newsweek's long and winding quest for survival in the digital age has now, at long last, after several ignominious stops along the way, delivered the storied American newsweekly into the only logical outcome …

James Kirchick / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: RT Anchor Liz Wahl Explains Why She Quit — Liz Wahl wasn't just disgusted by the Kremlin-funded TV network's handling of Ukraine, she says in an exclusive interview. RT's coverage of the entire world “made me feel sick.” — American journalist Liz Wahl just made Vladimir Putin's enemies list.

Discussion: Mediaite, @jayrosen_nyu, @j_bloodworth, Fox News Insider, MSNBC, @lizwahl, Erik Wemple, @coalsonr, WorldViews, The Verge, Pressing Issues, Gawker, Telegraph, The Huffington Post, The Week, New York Magazine and New York Times

Jason Abbruzzese / Mashable:

Russia's English-Language TV Channel: We're Biased and So Are You — RT, the Russian government-funded English-language television channel, presents its country's view of the world — So, it claims, does every other broadcaster. RT is just honest enough to admit it. — “Media outlets do not exist in a vacuum.

Discussion: @nycjim

RT:

RT reacts to anchor Liz Wahl quitting on air — During a live broadcast on Wednesday, RT America presenter Liz Wahl announced she was stepping down, citing her disagreements with the network's editorial policy. RT issued a statement following her resignation.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, TVNewser, Erik Wemple, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, @zaidbenjamin, The Week, @paulszoldra, @sambonfante and Business Insider

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Russia Today Anchor Resigns Live On Air — WASHINTON — Russia Today America anchor Liz Wahl resigned live on air on Wednesday, saying that she could no longer work at the Kremlin-funded network after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Wahl said that she feels “many ethical and moral challenges” …

Gemma Padley / British Journal of Photography:

Getty Images makes 35 million images free in fight against copyright infringement — Getty Images has single-handedly redefined the entire stock photography market with the launch of a new embedding feature that will make more than 35 million images freely available to anyone for non-commercial usage.

Discussion: Poynter, Forbes, Getty Images, SlashGear, @furtherfield, Wall Street Journal, @elmyra, @jeffjarvis, @richpayne88, @mathewi, @mathewi, @jbenton and Business Insider

Lexy Savvides / CNET:
Getty making select photos free to embed for non-commercial use, removes watermarks

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, The Verge, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Forbes, Techdirt, Fast Company, @mathewi, @pkafka, Gizmodo, PandoDaily, @maungle, Pocket-lint and Engadget

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks: I did not investigate phone hacking as NI chief executive — Court also hears Brooks never asked what private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had been doing when she was NoW editor — Rebekah Brooks has told the Old Bailey that she did not undertake any investigation …

Discussion: mUmBRELLA

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian: Rebekah Brooks denies ‘cooking the books’ to hide phone hacker's activities

Guardian:

BBC3 closure confirmed for autumn 2015 — Director general Tony Hall confirms the digital channel will close in the autumn of 2015, creating space for the launch of BBC1+1 — BBC3 shows such as Family Guy will be available on the iPlayer after the channel's closure. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Everett/Rex Features

Discussion: Guardian and Guardian

BBC:
BBC One to get £30m from Three closure

Discussion: NME, The Next Web, Gigaom, @susancalman, @mr_dave_haslam, @claire_phipps, Metro.co.uk, Home Media Magazine, thedrum.com, Pocket-lint, broadcastnow.co.uk and Guardian

Karl Taro Greenfeld / Businessweek:

The Next Ailes: Newsmax's Chris Ruddy Preps TV Rival to Fox News — Christopher Ruddy, 49, the chief executive officer and founder of conservative media company Newsmax Media, is giving a tour of his neighborhood in an Acura driven by his chauffeur, Hector. The car heads south on I-95 from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, @brianstelter, @mlcalderone, @jackshafer and @davidfolkenflik

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

CNN sells Zite to Flipboard in all-stock transaction worth more than the $20M CNN paid in 2011 — Flipboard buys Zite news app from CNN — The standalone iPad news app will eventually be shut down and integrated into Flipboard. Also: Zite's CEO tells Fortune why he left.

Discussion: Tech Deals, Zite's blog, ReadWrite, Inside Flipboard, LinkedIn Pulse, Adweek, TIME, Forbes, Inside Flipboard, Folio, @edmundlee, @felixsalmon, ReadWrite, @craigmod, @pkafka, @antderosa, @learmonth, TVNewser, CNET, ZDNet, The Verge, @megan, The Wrap, Mashable, MacStories, PandoDaily, AdAge, Engadget, Poynter, TechCrunch, The Next Web, VentureBeat, App Advice, Re/code, TechCrunch, Electronista, Fast Company, Variety, CNNMoney, @om, @davidbauer, @mlcalderone, @peacockc and @brianstelter

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Flipboard CEO and CNN digital head talk about future of Zite, advertising and Facebook's Paper

Jason Schwartz / Boston Magazine:

Q&A with Boston Globe owner John Henry on service, real-estate, digital pricing and revenue — The John Henry Emails — Our story this month on John Henry takes a deep dive look at his decision to buy the Boston Globe and his quest to save journalism.

Discussion: @ryanchittum and @niemanlab

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Embrace the unbundling: The Boston Globe is betting it'll be stronger split up than unified

Discussion: Boston Magazine, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @justinnxt and bizjournals

Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times:

A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican's Biggest Star — ROME — Just a few days short of the first anniversary of Pope Francis' election, there is fresh evidence that his honeymoon with the public persists: He is getting his own magazine. — The 68-page Il Mio Papa (My Pope) …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, @nytimesworld, @kennethturan, @nytimes, FishbowlNY, The Week and New York Magazine

Reuters:

Exclusive: DirecTV in talks with Disney on deal for Internet rights — (Reuters) - DirecTV is in talks with Walt Disney Co to license the rights to offer Disney's broadcast and cable channels as part of an Internet-based product, DirecTV said on Wednesday. — The deal would mirror …

Discussion: SlashGear, The Verge and CNET

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Crimean ‘prime minister’ shuts down Ukrainian TV channel — The self-proclaimed prime minister of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, today (6 March) shut down a Ukrainian TV channel and allowed the frequency to be taken by a Russian TV channel, Rossiya. — According to a press release emailed …

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Spotify Acquires The Echo Nest, Gaining Control Of The Music DNA Company That Powers Its Rivals — Bosch And Hillcrest Make A Bet On Wearable Head-Mounted Computing With New All-In-One Sensor System — Spotify has acquired The Echo Nest, as revealed by an official blog post today.

Discussion: Gigaom, VentureBeat, Xconomy, SlashGear, AllAccess.com, hypebot and MacStories

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

EFF Statement on Dismissal of 11 Charges Against Barrett Brown — The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas today filed a motion to dismiss 11 charges against Barrett Brown in a criminal prosecution that would have had massive implications for journalism and the right of ordinary people to share links.

Discussion: RT and Freedom of the Press …

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Government backs off case against journalist who faced decades in prison for posting hyperlink

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Techdirt, @edpilkington, @ggreenwald, @freebarrett_, @digiphile, @freedomofpress, @green_footballs, @freebarrett_, Guardian, Salon, Ars Technica, Daily Dot, dissenter.firedoglake.com, Guardian, @jayrosen_nyu and @sparty_legal

Patrick Kingsley / Guardian:

Al-Jazeera trial: prosecution presents contents of journalists' hotel rooms — Trial in Egypt descends into farce on day two as everything from journalists' hotel rooms is presented as evidence by prosecution — The second day of the trial of three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt descended …