Mediagazer: Facebook Unveils Video Ads to Court TV's Market (Bloomberg)

6:50 PM ET, March 13, 2014

Top News:

Max Seddon / BuzzFeed:

Russia Wipes Opposition Sites From The Internet — “I don't even know if anyone is reading this anymore.” — Via blackhole.beeline.ru — Russia has all but eliminated the free media as it fights an information war against the West over Ukraine, with prosecutors blocking independent websites …

Discussion: @jeremyduns, Reporters Without Borders and Global Voices

David Remnick / The New Yorker Blog:

Putin Moves Against the Press — One of the most riveting and liberating events of postwar life was the Soviet policy of glasnost, the Gorbachev-era explosion of media. The euphoria came not from the means of transmission but, rather, from what was being transmitted—and read, and heard, and seen.

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild

Alec Luhn / Guardian:
Editor of independent Russian news site replaced with pro-Kremlin figure

Discussion: The Moscow Times, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Trust.org, Associated Press, Kirk LaPointe's …, @asluhn, ITAR-TASS, The Malay Mail Online, kyivpost.com, Reuters, @jbenton, @emilydparker and The Moscow Times

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Sulzberger: The family won't sell the Times; succession plan in the works — Last fall, when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post from the legendary Graham family, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times and patriarch of one of America's last surviving newspaper dynasties …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Media & Entertainment, AdAge, @niemanlab and @adamnagourney

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Edward Snowden looms over Pulitzer Prizes — Next month, the trustees who oversee America's most distinguished journalistic award could face their toughest decision in at least four decades. — The issue before the Pulitzer Prize Board: Does it honor reporting by the Washington Post …

Discussion: Hit & Run, @jackshafer, Mediaite, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, @erikwemple, @mlcalderone and @dylanbyers

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Survey of nearly a thousand web pages looks at interactive features for news … The Engaging News Project at the University of Texas at Austin has a new report out today called Interactive Features in Online News. In order to get a sense of how features like polls and various share buttons …

Discussion: Engaging News Project

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

The rise of the mobile editor — CNN readers following the news of yesterday's explosion in Harlem via their phones owe a lot to Etan Horowitz, CNN's mobile editor. — From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Horowitz and CNN sent out four push alerts to app users with the latest developments about the blast.

Discussion: @robynpeterson

Bloomberg:

Facebook Unveils Video Ads to Court TV's Market — Facebook Inc. (FB) is releasing its long-awaited video-advertising product today, as the world's largest social network moves to diversify its revenue by tapping into television-marketing budgets. — The 15-second spots …

Discussion: Forbes, TechCrunch, Gigaom, AdAge, The Wrap, Mashable, Reuters, Variety and Business Insider

David Leonhardt / Facebook:

How The Upshot Will Help Navigate the News — Imagine that you were sitting down with a journalist and could ask any question about the news. — Which parts of Obamacare are working, and which parts are not? Is Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, really in danger of losing his seat this year?

Discussion: Poynter, @neil_irwin and @venohr

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Amazon raises the price of Prime to $99/year, citing increased fuel and transportation costs — OK, it's official: The price of Amazon Prime, which offers unlimited two-day shipping and other perks for $79, is increasing to $99 per year. Amazon's stock was up over 2 percent on Thursday morning.

Discussion: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Wrap, Globe and Mail, Variety, Re/code, ZDNet, Refinery29 and Forbes

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Google: Piracy is An Availability and Pricing Problem — As in many other countries, online piracy is causing headaches for the Australian Government. A variety of anti-piracy strategies to deal with the problem have been suggested in recent years, but thus far without result.

Discussion: Music Week

ASNE:

ASNE Awards for 2013's best journalism! — We're happy to announce the winners of the 2014 ASNE Awards for distinguished writing and photography. Our kudos to your hard work and high-impact journalism! — The awards, which encompass nine categories and honor the best in print and digital content …

Discussion: Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest and Politico

Aye Aye Win / Associated Press:

Private Myanmar newspapers struggle to stay afloat — YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — With tears in his eyes, the chief editor scoured the last-ever edition of his newspaper before sending the proofread copy to the printing press. His once-bustling newsroom was quiet.

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Drone flight over Harlem disaster shows messy state of FAA rules — After a gas explosion destroyed two buildings in New York on Wednesday morning, a local man launched a DJI Phantom II to film the action. The 3-pound, 4-blade drone captured 30 minutes of footage; here's a screenshot …

Discussion: NY Daily News, Poynter, TVNewser and Bloomberg

Sherwin Siy / Wired:

Everyone Wins With Copyright Takedown Notices — Except the Public — The notice-and-takedown system created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides an essential safe harbor for online services to innovate. This system is the result of an intense series of negotiations between content …

Discussion: Daily Dot