Mediagazer: This American Life looks toward digital future in split with PRI (Ira Glass/This American Life Updates)

3:20 PM ET, March 21, 2014

Top News:

How the internet works, and why it's impossible to know what makes your Netflix slow — The internet is a confusing place, and not just because of all the memes. — Right now, many of the people who make the internet run for you are arguing about how it should work.

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
What if Netflix switched to P2P for video streaming?

Discussion: Forbes

Reed Hastings / Netflix US & Canada Blog:
Internet Tolls And The Case For Strong Net Neutrality

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Netflix Says It Really Didn't Want to Cut That Traffic Deal With Comcast

Discussion: The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, @pkafka, @pkafka, The Switch, @rsingel and Bloomberg

Raju Narisetti / Poynter:

In defense of ‘vanity’ metrics: why page views are still important — Editor's note: On Monday, Poynter's Rick Edmonds argued for new ways to measure digital audiences that would replace the widely used unique visitors and page views. In this post, New Corp's Raju Narisetti takes a contrary view.

Discussion: @newswhip, @ownlocal and @nickkristof

Ira Glass / This American Life Updates:

This American Life looks toward digital future in split with PRI — Leaving PRI — Ira writes: — We're leaving our distributor Public Radio International. What this means for listeners is ... nothing! We'll continue to make our radio show and podcast. The same public radio stations will continue to broadcast it.

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, @johnlmyers, @wordofmouth, @ejacqui, @jessethorn, @bnewnam and @niemanlab

Variety:
Public Radio International to Stop Distributing ‘This American Life’

Discussion: Current.org, Guardian, TwinCities.com, @thisamerlife, The Bold Italic, The Wire, Poynter, Mashable, @inajaffenpr, @mhess4, @tomdreisbach, @digiphile and AllAccess.com

Nicole Levy / Capital New York:

F.T. staffers discuss reporting in China — At a Thursday night panel discussion of China's economy as seen by Financial Times correspondents, Geoff Dyer, the paper's Beijing bureau chief from 2008 to 2011, explained some of the best practices the paper has developed while reporting in the country's restrictive media environment.

Discussion: @jackshafer

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:
Bloomberg News's deepening China problem

Discussion: Prof Chris Daly's Blog and Talking Biz News

Zeynep Tufekci / Medium:

The Day the Turkish Government Banned Itself From Twitter — People in Turkey have banned the ban — “Twitter is banned in Turkey” screamed, ironically, a tweet from my “Turkey” list. I did a double take. It had been a long day. I had just published an op-ed in the New York Times explaining …

Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:
Turkish citizens use Google to fight Twitter ban

Discussion: Forbes, Guardian, VentureBeat, Washington Post, The Switch, @johnpaczkowski, 9to5Google, Gigaom and Mashable

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

NBC News ‘Doubling Down’ On David Gregory As ‘Meet The Press’ Expands Online — NEW YORK — David Gregory has heard the rumors, too. — “This comes with the territory. I understand it,” Gregory told The Huffington Post on Wednesday night. “I see speculation out there.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The New York Observer, TVNewser, Capital New York and FishbowlNY

Charles V. Bagli / New York Times:

Time Inc. May Join Media Exodus to Lower Manhattan — Time Inc., with its stable of magazines, lavish offices and steady profits, has been a fixture in Midtown Manhattan for more than 75 years and the nation's premier magazine publisher. — But the company is now close to a deal to move …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Capital New York, @editorialiste, @loisweiss and @readdanwrite

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

Al Jazeera America C.E.O.: 'We're here for the long haul' — The C.E.O. of Al Jazeera America, Ehab Al-Shihabi, reassured staff that the company was invested in the long-term for the channel, and argued that the U.S. was moving towards “a golden age of global news.”

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

TV Station Mega Merger: Media General, LIN Set $1.6 Billion Deal — Station groups Media General and LIN are poised to merge in a $1.6 billion cash and stock deal that will create the nation's second-largest pure-play broadcast group. — The combination will bring together 74 network affiliate stations …

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters, Poynter, The Wrap, Associated Press, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Radio & Television …

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

The colossal arrogance of Newsweek's Bitcoin “scoop” — WIthout more evidence, it's time for a retraction. — On March 6, the 81-year-old magazine Newsweek returned to print with a splashy cover story. Writer Leah McGrath Goodman said she had discovered the elusive creator of Bitcoin, hiding in plain sight.

Discussion: Gigaom, @jayrosen_nyu, @jason_pontin and @johnmcquaid

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

LinkedIn plans major Pulse update for Q3, will use your professional info to personalize news — LinkedIn Said to Plan Data Personalization of Pulse App — LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) is updating its Pulse news-reader application to serve content based on users' professional data …

Discussion: App Advice

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

The Stages of Newspapers' Decline — The second-most common objection to FiveThirtyEight and the End of Average was along these lines: … That's very true; those same people - and there are a lot of them - didn't read the news in a newspaper either. Instead they read the Style section, or Sports, the comics or Dear Abby.

Discussion: @davisshaver

Tanveer Ali / Columbia Journalism Review:

FiveThirtyEight won't have broad appeal without narrative — FiveThirtyEight won't have broad appeal without narrative — The power in data journalism comes from the ability for numbers and statistics to examine a subject in a measurable way. Sometimes the numbers in play provide the answer to a question.

Discussion: Pressthink and Talking Biz News

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

One-shining-moment alert: Two news developers built a Twitter bot to tell you when the game is getting good … Found yourself sitting at your desk this week, furtively checking the score to see if anything exciting is happening? Toggle no more: Two members of the WNYC Data News Team have a bot for that.

Discussion: @danshanoff, @yahootech, @niemanlab and BuzzFeed

Hillel Aron / LA Weekly:

Left-Wing Darling Pacifica Radio Is Sliding Into the Abyss — On March 13, after weeks of rumors, Pacifica Radio's board of directors voted to fire its executive director, Summer Reese, during what was essentially a conference call. But nothing is as simple as all that in the oldest and oddest public radio network in the country.

Discussion: @jpodhoretz, @iowahawkblog and Hit & Run

Stassa Edwards / The Week:

L'Wren Scott, and the awful truth about women's obituaries — Coverage of the fashion designer's passing was just the latest example of a sad journalistic tradition — W — hen news broke that respected fashion designer L'Wren Scott had passed away on Monday, The New York Times noted …

Discussion: @theweek