Mediagazer: The Stages of Newspapers' Decline (Ben Thompson/stratechery)

9:50 AM ET, March 21, 2014

Top News:

Reed Hastings / Netflix US & Canada Blog:

Internet Tolls And The Case For Strong Net Neutrality — The Internet is improving lives everywhere - democratizing access to ideas, services and goods. To ensure the Internet remains humanity's most important platform for progress, net neutrality must be defended and strengthened.

Quartz:

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.

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

Discussion: The Wrap, Gigaom, Forbes, @pkafka, @pkafka, The Switch and @rsingel

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 …

Discussion: @emilydparker

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

Discussion: Gigaom and 9to5Google

Chris Taylor / Mashable:
Twitter Blocked in Turkey as Prime Minister Pledges to ‘Eradicate’ It

Variety:

‘This American Life’ Loses Public Radio Distributor — After 17 years, Public Radio International announced today that it will end distribution of one of its most popular shows, “This American Life.” — The Ira Glass-hosted program, which has been distributed by PRI since 1997 …

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

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.

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

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Medium launches iPhone app for reading stories on the go — After a short delay, Medium released its iPhone app today with a focus on reading and recommending stories. “Every week, thousands of people come to Medium to write,” company founder Ev Williams said in a post on the site. “That's the hard part.

Discussion: Medium, Gigaom, AppleInsider, Engadget, The Next Web and TechCrunch

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: @johnmcquaid

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.”

Agence France-Presse:

AFP reporter Sardar Ahmad killed in Kabul hotel attack — Kabul (AFP) - Sardar Ahmad, a staff reporter at the Agence France-Presse news agency, was killed in a Taliban attack on Kabul's Serena hotel, it was confirmed Friday. Related Stories Taliban attack on Kabul hotel kills nine civilians …

Discussion: Time, Channel NewsAsia, @myraemacdonald, @judy_ngao, @courtneybody, english.rfi.fr and marinecorpstimes.com

Jule Banville / AAN:

An Open Letter to the Guy Who Owns Snapchat and Other Hip Wealthy People, — There's no reason to let less-hip wealthy people like Jeff Bezos have all the fun. You, too, can get in on the waves of ink they continue to ride, just for spending the lint in their pockets on big metropolitan dailies.

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: FishbowlNY, Capital New York and TVNewser

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Pocket's prototype for Android Wear saves articles right from your wrist — Googled unveiled Android Wear this week and encouraged developers to build apps purpose-built for the wrist. Pocket is among the first companies to rise to the challenge, showing off a prototype version …

Discussion: Pocket Blog, Android Community, Phandroid and FierceWireless

Nikara Johns / Variety:

Liberty Media Ranks as 2013′s Most Profitable Media/Entertainment Company — Liberty Media Corp. emerged as the most profitable media and entertainment company in 2013, according to SNL Kagan's rankings for the year. — Liberty Media's net income of about $8.99 billion came mostly …

Discussion: WorldScreen.com, Rapid TV News, Hollywood Reporter and SNL Financial

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Warner Bros Fights Looming Exposé of Anti-piracy Secrets — To deal with the ongoing threat of online piracy, major Hollywood studios have entire divisions dedicated to tracking down copyright infringers. Exactly what goes on behind the scenes is a mystery, but if the Electronic Frontier Foundation …

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

Court docs: Microsoft searched through blogger's e-mail to track down alleged leaker — Earlier this week, an ex-Microsoft employee was charged with the theft of trade secrets in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. Alex Kibkalo allegedly sent code …

Discussion: Guardian, CNET, PC Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Register, The Seattle Times, @asadotzler, Associated Press, The Verge, CNET and The Verge

Marc Graser / Variety:

Fox, Samsung to Develop System to Deliver Ultra HD Content Through Smart TVs — Twentieth Century Fox and Samsung Electronics announced a partnership Thursday in which both companies will work together to create a secure way to deliver Ultra HD movies and TV shows through smart TVs.

Discussion: Gigaom, Mashable, Deadline.com and CNET

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

Sinclair Proposes To Modify Allbritton Deal to Secure FCC Approval — Changes follow commission signaling it would take hard look at deals with sharing and financial ties — Sinclair says it will restructure its Allbritton deal to make it more palatable to the FCC, which is looking closely …

Discussion: Baltimore Sun, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire and Adweek

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

TV broadcasters propose compromise to FCC on a cap for joint operating agreements — NAB Offers 30% Solution — Pitches compromise JSA proposal — The National Association of Broadcasters has pitched FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn on a compromise to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's planned March 31 vote …

Discussion: @ajitpaifcc, Variety, Radio & Television …, TVNewsCheck.com, AllAccess.com, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline.com and Adweek

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

What's next for the team behind Syria Deeply? Arctic Deeply — Syria isn't the only news topic worth going into Deeply. — Since Syria Deeply, a news site solely focused on covering the crisis there, went live in late 2012, Lara Setrakian hasn't hid the fact that she wants …

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

Virgin Media talking to Amazon about taking its video-on-demand service — Tom Mockridge confirms cable network's interest in Prime Instant Video, which recently bought third series of Ripper Street — Virgin Media has held talks with Amazon about putting its video-on-demand service Prime Instant Video …

Discussion: Broadband TV News and Hollywood Reporter

Vidhi Choudhary / LiveMint:

Quartz India launches in June in collaboration with Scroll.in as other media groups eye market — Online news: Foreign media firms make beeline for India — New Delhi: Quartz, the US-based Atlantic Media's popular online business news brand, is entering India amid a sharpening battle for online eyeballs among foreign media brands.