Mediagazer: Sony to Add Original TV Shows for PlayStation (Amol Sharma/Wall Street Journal)

10:20 AM ET, March 20, 2014

Top News:

Jessica Lessin / Guardian:

The future of news: know thy audience — As news businesses continue to redefine themselves for the digital age, knowing their audience is essential — When we launched The Information last December, many thought we were crazy. How could a $399-a-year technology news publication compete …

Discussion: @mattrosoff, @rafat, @newswhip, @raju, @theinformation and Digiday

Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk: Why The Information chose to follow a paywall model

Neil Gough / New York Times:

Bloomberg Should Have Rethought Articles on China, Chairman Says — HONG KONG — The chairman of Bloomberg L.P. said in a speech here on Thursday that the company should have reconsidered articles that deviated from its core business-news coverage in light of the huge potential for its products in the Chinese market.

Amol Sharma / Wall Street Journal:

Sony to Add Original TV Shows for PlayStation — Move Is Part of Effort to Broaden Console's Appeal Beyond Videogames — Sony Corp. is venturing into original TV programming for its PlayStation as part of an ambitious effort to make the device a home for TV and not just videogames.

Discussion: Deadline.com, TechCrunch, Forbes, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, computerandvideogames.com, @zseward, Comic Book Resources, CNET, SlashGear, Mashable, The Verge, CNNMoney.com and VG247

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Tribune Company Built a Robot That Reads You The News — Shashi Seth Unveils First Product As Head of Tribune Digital Ventures — Krux — Shashi Seth loves NPR. But he would like it a lot more if he could skip stories. — That was the kernel of the idea behind Newsbeat …

Discussion: Variety, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, TIME, PR Newswire and Re/code

John Reynolds / Guardian:

Huffington Post may charge for some content, says chief executive — As HuffPo UK is set to move into profit, Jimmy Maymann said the website would consider charging within five years — The Huffington Post's chief executive, Jimmy Maymann, believes in paid-for journalism and is open …

Discussion: @newswhip, The Drum and mUmBRELLA

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Watch out, business publishers — Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith says he is coming for you — Justin Smith — who helped turn around the fortunes of the ailing Atlantic Media empire, in part by expanding the 150-year-old magazine's digital reach — has laid out a manifesto about how he wants …

Discussion: @krmaher, @thestalwart, Poynter, @brianstelter and Talking Biz News

Matt Turck:
Can the Bloomberg Terminal be “Toppled”?

Discussion: @codelust, @rickheitzmann, @counternotions, @garrettscassidy and @rafat

Bloomberg Now:
Bloomberg Media - A New Direction

Discussion: TVNewser, Digiday and @brianstelter

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

TV Subscriptions Fall for First Time as Viewers Cut the Cord — The U.S. pay-television market is passing its prime. — The number of Americans who pay for TV through cable, satellite or fiber services fell by more than a quarter of a million in 2013, the first full-year decline, according to research firm SNL Kagan.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Satnews Publishers, Washington Post, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, USA Today and MediaPost

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:

The New Republic to launch public policy vertical led by Jonathan Cohn — T.N.R. to go deep on policy — The New Republic will be rolling out a new public policy vertical led by senior editor Jonathan Cohn, T.N.R. editorial director Michael Schaffer told Capital.

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

iTunes Radio does not justify Pandora rate hike, judge says in major royalty decision — A federal judge sided with internet radio service Pandora over the music industry in a bitter fight over songwriting royalties Wednesday, after concluding that Pandora is more akin to regular radio …

Shaun Walker / Guardian:

Ukrainian MP assaults television station chief for ‘pro-Russian’ stance — Footage of Igor Miroshnichenko and five men forcing Oleksandr Panteleymonov to write resignation leader released online — Ukraine's new government was facing a stern test of resolve after a nationalist Ukrainian …

Discussion: Amnesty International, BBC, Arutz Sheva, UK - The Huffington Post, The Voice of Russia, News, RT, International Business Times, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post and Press Gazette

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

PayPal Cuts Off Torrent Streaming Service Streamza — PayPal is widely known for its aggressive stance towards BitTorrent sites, Usenet providers and file-hosting services, and it appears that streaming services based on BitTorrent technology are receiving the same treatment.

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Australia's Fevered Streaming Market Isn't Waiting for Netflix — Australia is an odd market for entertainment. English-language fans of Hollywood content abound in densely populated major cities. But pay-TV penetration is a measly 30%, and the modest broadband infrastructure is overrun by piracy.

Alan Yuhas / Guardian:

Associated Press removes Ukraine from dateline of Crimea stories — AP says new Crimea dateline is consistent with style guide for territories that are ‘geographically distinct’ such as Sicily — As every self-respecting copy editor knows - and as every writer and reader ought to know - style is politics, and politics inform style.

Discussion: THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, Politico, The Hill, Firedoglake, Poynter, Erik Wemple and Slate

Clifford Coonan / Hollywood Reporter:

China's Censors Clamp Down on Booming Internet Video Sector — The new rules will require censorship approval for all streaming video, which could dampen recent growth of Hollywood content sales to the country's Internet giants. — China's top industry watchdog has introduced a policy of …

The Atlantic Online:

David Frum Named Senior Editor at The Atlantic — Washington, D.C. (March 19, 2014)— The veteran political commentator and author David Frum is joining The Atlantic as a senior editor beginning March 31, James Bennet, editor in chief of The Atlantic, announced today.

Discussion: Politico, FishbowlNY, FishbowlNY, Capital New York, @atrios, @tinyrevolution, The Daily Caller, @mlcalderone, @gzornick, @shanedingman, @over_rated, bookforum.com, New York Times, Mediaite and @jaywattsiii

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

How a Fleet Street Scandal Sheet Conquered the Internet — In the cutthroat world of British tabloids, where the explosive Fleet Street editor is a stock character, Martin Clarke still stood out as a particularly fearsome newsroom presence. Even more so when he came to New York in 2011 to expand the Daily Mail's digital footprint.

Jemimah Steinfeld / Index on Censorship:

“Insidious” self-censorship rife in Hong Kong — Hong Kong journalists are anxious at present - with good reason. On the morning of 26 February Kevin Lau, former chief editor of Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao, was attacked as he got out of his car. Suffering stab wounds to his back and legs …

Discussion: @indexcensorship

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

How data from Financial Times readers lead to more readers and revenue — The Financial Times “broke the law of large numbers last year,” Ryan Chittum wrote in CJR: It added digital subscribers at a fast rate, seven years after it launched its paywall. It now has 652,000 paying subscribers …

Discussion: @poynter, @raju and Strange Attractor, Thanks:@ryanngastwirth

David Weigel / Slate:

Liz Wahl talks about life after her on-air resignation from Russia Today — An Afternoon with Liz Wahl, the Reporter Who Quit RT and Hasn't Heard the End of It — Liz Wahl quiets down her dog, Dallas, and opens the door to her home. She excuses herself for a moment. — “It's just been insane today,” she says.

Discussion: Truthdig, @kgosztola, @michaelroston, @kgosztola, @daveweigel, @kgosztola and Firedoglake

Tracy Wilkinson / Los Angeles Times:

Mexican authorities bungled case of slain journalist, group says — In Mexico City, journalists protest the slaying of their colleague Gregorio Jimenez and others. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press / February 22, 2014) — MEXICO CITY — Journalists investigating the recent slaying …

Mary Clare Fischer / American Journalism Review:

Why The Verge Declines To Share Detailed Metrics With Reporters — Editor's Note: This is the second post in a series examining the influence of analytics on how news is produced. — When journalist Russell Brandom first came to The Verge, he was on the “weird” beat.