Mediagazer: Sun-Times kills comments until it can fix ‘morass of negativity, racism, and hate speech’ (Sam Kirkland/Poynter)

12:20 PM ET, April 14, 2014

Top News:

Content creators are skeptical of Yahoo's plans to produce high-quality television — Yahoo Rolls the Dice on TV — Yahoo, a company that seems like a permanent adolescent in search of an identity, is about to try a new persona: high-quality television programmer.

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Guardian to launch robot-generated print edition in the US; limited to 5,000 copies — The Guardian's robot newspaper comes to the U.S. — The Guardian is taking a very modern strategy and applying it to an old-school format. — The U.K. paper only has a digital presence in the U.S. …

Discussion: Orange County Register, @janinegibson, @mathewi, @millie and The Next Web

Roy J. Harris Jr / Poynter:

Pulitzer Preview: Snowden factor, and more on prize prospects for Monday — The Pulitzer Prize announcements shook with real-world drama last year, interrupted by reports of bombs exploding at the Boston Marathon finish line. — This coming Monday, though, expect another kind of drama …

Discussion: @poynter, @sulliview and Media Nation

Ellen Wulfhorst / Reuters:
Pulitzer Prizes to honor top U.S. journalism on Monday

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:

Sun-Times kills comments until it can fix ‘morass of negativity, racism, and hate speech’ — The Chicago Sun-Times has temporarily eliminated story commenting on its website until it can develop a system that will “foster a productive discussion rather than an embarrassing mishmash …

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times, @amzam and @ksablan

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:

Sharyl Attkisson Slams CBS News, Obama Admin's ‘Chilling Effect’ on Reporting — Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative reporter who recently resigned from her post at CBS News, took shots at both her former employer and the Obama administration on Media Buzz Sunday morning …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post

Yoree Koh / Wall Street Journal:

Report: 44% of Twitter Accounts Have Never Sent a Tweet — Twitter is having no trouble signing up users. But some new research provides an update on the size of an ongoing problem: getting people to tweet. — A report from Twopcharts, a website that monitors Twitter account activity …

Discussion: @borthwick, Softpedia News, @sulliview, Digital Spy, @wsjeurope, Forbes and Gigaom

Mindy McAdams / Medium:

(Re)defining multimedia journalism — New storytelling forms inspire us — There's no consensus among journalists about what the term multimedia means, or even whether to use it anymore. — The multimedia skills listed in a job advertisement might span a range of specialties from web developer to videographer.

Discussion: @jul_stein, @kevglobal and @alisongow

Alexandra Steigrad / WWD:

Elle's Creative Director Joe Zee leaving to become EIC of fashion vertical at Yahoo — Joe Zee to Join Yahoo — Joe Zee is leaving Elle magazine, where he spent seven years as creative director, for Yahoo. The news follows weeks of speculation that the Internet giant had poached one of Elle's marquee editors.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter, Mediawire Daily, StyleCaster, Styleite and Fashionista

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Lionsgate Strikes Content Pact with RocketJump, YouTube Studio Behind ‘Video Game High School’ — Lionsgate is the latest Hollywood studio jumping into the YouTube multichannel network space, announcing a pact to with RocketJump Studios, the MCN whose biggest hit is the “Video Game High School” series.

Discussion: The Wrap and Home Media Magazine

Erich Schwartzel / Wall Street Journal:

Relativity Media offers to buy Maker Studios for up to $900M in stock — Relativity Media Bids for Maker Studios — LOS ANGELES—Midsize film and entertainment company Relativity Media LLC has made a bid to buy Maker Studios, the online-video producer that is preparing to vote this week on a separate bid from Walt Disney Co.

Discussion: Variety, Reuters, TBI Vision, @adamostrow and @pkafka

Reuters:

Venezuelan journalist freed after one-week kidnap — (Reuters) - A high-profile Venezuelan journalist was freed on Monday after a week-long kidnapping that thrust attention once again on the South American nation's endemic violent crime. — Nairobi Pinto, 32-year-old head of correspondents …

Discussion: Associated Press and BuenosAiresHerald.com

Press Gazette:

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson enters hacking trial witness box — Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson went into the witness box today to defend himself against allegations of conspiracies to hack phones and pay public officials for stories.

Discussion: Guardian, Telegraph, Reuters and BBC