Mediagazer: Nearly 150 MPs supporting decriminalising non-payment of BBC license fee (Tara Conlan/Guardian)

3:30 PM ET, March 18, 2014

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Introducing ‘AnonyWatch’: Tracking Nameless Quotations in The Times — This post is the inaugural edition of an effort to point out some of the more regrettable examples of anonymous quotations in The Times. I've written about this from time to time, as have my predecessors, to no little or no avail.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, FishbowlNY, @mattbai, @emptywheel, @dangillmor, @nickfoxnyt, @jayrosen_nyu and @antderosa

Tim Kenneally / The Wrap:

ABC News Affiliate Helicopter Crash in Seattle Leaves 2 Dead — A crash involving a KOMO news helicopter in Seattle has left two dead and one in critical condition, the Seattle fire department said Tuesday morning. — The incident, which occurred near the Seattle Space Needle, also involved three car fires, the department added.

Andrew Beaujon / @abeaujon:

KING5 reporting it was “two of our colleagues at KOMO” who died in the crash. http://bit.ly/hE9w6u

Discussion: NWCN, Gawker, KIRO-TV and Detroit Free Press

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Amazon's Set Top Box Will Be A Dongle Like Chromecast, Could Feature OnLive-Style Streaming — Amazon is readying a game console/set top box of its own, and we've learned from multiple sources familiar with the device that the Lab126-produced gadget will have a form factor similar to the Chromecast …

Discussion: KOMO News, Home Media Magazine, Light Reading, Business Insider, App Advice, Wall Street Journal, ReadWrite, VideoNuze Analysis, VentureBeat, MacRumors, WebProNews, Softpedia News, PC Advisor, Mashable, cnbc.com, MCV: Home Stream and Electronista

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon to Ship Video-Streaming Device in April

Discussion: AppleInsider, Ubergizmo, Cult of Mac, Business Insider, VG247, CNET, The Verge and Engadget

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

Average journalism gets crowded out as the internet eases delivery of the best journalism — FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average — Just a few minutes ago, Nate Silver's new FiveThirtyEight site launched. While it's not known how much ESPN is paying Silver, it's certainly a substantial amount …

Discussion: Guardian, USA Today, @karaswisher, @mathewi and New York Magazine

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
FiveThirtyEight launches to make data journalism accessible without sacrificing rigor

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Washington Post goes national by offering free digital access to readers of local newspapers — In 1980, The New York Times launched a daily national edition that, despite a significant upfront investment, turned into a position of strength; today, more than half of the Times' print subscribers are outside New York.

Discussion: Financial Times, Washington Post, The Verge, @amzam, @raju, @mattdpearce, @heyfeifer, @dbrauer, @postbaron, @losowsky, @jbenton, @caseymcdermott, @jayrosen_nyu and @eramshaw

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Charged Sun journalist: ‘Alarming’ police crackdown has made reporters ‘fearful’ of contact with public officials — A Sun journalist facing trial for ‘conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office’ has highlighted the plight of the many UK journalists caught up in criminal investigations prompted by the hacking scandal.

Discussion: @neilwallis1, @domponsford and @gazthejourno

Michael Holden / Reuters:
PM Cameron's ex-media chief agreed to fund hacking - court

Discussion: ITV, The Independent, BBC and Guardian

Erik Wemple:

Los Angeles Times and its fired investigative reporter: A critical look — Jason Felch has spent the past 10 years working as an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He was a 2006 Pulitzer Prize finalist for highlighting mismanagement at the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Discussion: @kateaurthur and @erikwemple

Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:

Diversity—or lack thereof—in journalism startups, cont. — Emily Bell weighs in on the response to her Guardian column from last week — Someone is wrong on the internet, and I wonder if it might be me. Last week I wrote a piece for the Guardian about what I saw as a disappointing trend …

Discussion: Zombie Journalism and PSFK

L.A. Ross / The Wrap:

Scott Robson Out as Editor of Yahoo Entertainment (Exclusive) — Veteran editor is leaving after less than two years as head of website's entertainment division Scott Robson is out at Yahoo Entertainment after less than two years as editor in chief, two individuals with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Bill Carter / New York Times:

CNN's Ratings Surge With Coverage of the Mystery of the Missing Airliner — On CNN, the plane rises from misty clouds accompanied by an eerie background score while anchors offer intriguing details — some new, some days old — of the disappearance of Flight 370.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Fox News, Erik Wemple, @mlcalderone, @mattbors, The Daily Caller, @wesleylowery, Change of Subject, Los Angeles Times, Inside Cable News, Deadline.com, Mediaite and New York Magazine

Tom Conrad / Pandora Blog:

Pandora CTO Tom Conrad stepping aside, transitioning to advisory role — On a personal note... Back in the early days of Pandora, I was frequently the person who would post to our blog with news about the latest product enhancements and company milestones.

Discussion: @timwestergren, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, @mbaratz, @rsarver, Re/code, @eldon, @om, Pandora, @tedr, @tconrad, @mg, @hunterwalk and VatorNews

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Trinity Mirror to close weekly newspaper office in pilot experiment — Trinity Mirror has launched an experiment to test whether local newspaper journalists can report for their paper without an office. — Reporters working at the Crewe Chronicle have been told their office is to close, probably by the end of May.

Discussion: National Union of Journalists and @themediaisdying

Cal Borchers / BetaBoston:

Northeastern University receives $250K from Knight Foundation for new media innovation course — Who invited them? Innovation party crashers keep coming as Northeastern launches new journalism program — First the musicians, now the reporters. Sorry, tech types. There's another crasher at your innovation party.

Discussion: Knight Foundation, @niemanlab, @bostonabrams and @dangillmor

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

YouTube is reportedly building a version for kids under 10 years old, asks creators for child-oriented content — As the biggest video sharing site by a landslide, YouTube attracts people from all walks of life, for better or for worse. Yet the Google-owned company is reportedly developing …

Discussion: The Information, Daily Mail and @amir

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

Nearly 150 MPs supporting decriminalising non-payment of BBC license fee — Support grows for decriminalising non-payment of licence fee — Almost 150 MPs back amendment to deregulation bill, despite BBC saying it would cost up to £200m a year in lost revenue

Discussion: BBC

David Yi / WWD:

The New York Observer Gets a New Look — OBSERVER'S NEW LOOK: The New York Observer will no longer be fishing for salmon-hued paper. After differentiating itself on newsstands as the only pink paper (besides The Financial Times of London) in New York City since its launch in 1987 …

Discussion: Mediawire Daily and Capital New York

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Vimeo Buys Video-Making App Cameo, a Few Months After Its Debut — Vimeo has bought Cameo, a video-making app that launched last fall. It's the second time in the last year that IAC's video site has acquired a video app. — Cameo is supposed to offer easy-to-use video-editing software …