Mediagazer: Why some publishers are killing their comment sections (Ricardo Bilton/Digiday)

5:30 PM ET, April 15, 2014

Top News:

Do Pulitzers Help Newspapers Keep Readers? — The 2014 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday afternoon. Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of the annual journalism awards. We're fans of high-quality journalism at FiveThirtyEight, and we're hoping to see the organizations …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Pulitzer prize for The Guardian - silence from the UK's right-wing press — The Guardian and Washington Post have been awarded the Pulitzer prize for public service journalism for their articles about mass surveillance based on the leaks of Edward Snowden. — Winning a Pulitzer …

Discussion: Pressthink, @paullewis, The Awl, Agence France-Presse, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, @stuartmillar159, @giner, @schmidtphi, Times of India, The Times of Israel, Washington Post and @patrickhamann

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Former Pulitzer juror's opinion: the prizes stay relevant by providing benchmarks, inspiration — What's the Point of the Pulitzers? — Do the Pulitzer Prizes still matter? Do they stand for anything except journalistic self-congratulation? The question comes up every year around this time.

Discussion: @anoushasakoui, @mattzeitlin, Associated Press, The Week, Melville House Books and The Huffington Post

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Exclusive: Automattic seeking to raise more than $100 million — The round will value the company behind WordPress.com at north of $1 billion. — FORTUNE — Automattic, the company that runs blogging platforms WordPress.com and WordPress VIP, is out raising between $100 million and $150 million …

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Yahoo Beats Street For Q1 On Sales Of $1.09B, EPS Of $0.38 But Flat Display Sales Of $438M — Yahoo has just reported its Q1 earnings, with ex-TAC revenues of $1.087 billion and earnings per share of $0.38, and net income of $314 million. — That just about beat analysts' expectations on revenue …

Discussion: Forbes, Business Wire, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Tech Trader Daily, ZDNet, CNET and Re/code

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBCUniversal To Launch Video Series Via Hulu, Web and VOD — With pitches slated in next few weeks from digital players like YouTube and AOL, NBCU makes a play to keep digital ad dollars from migrating to rivals — NBCUniversal is best known for the hundreds of TV shows it airs on its broadcast and cable outlets.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, The Wrap, Home Media Magazine and @bristei

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

INNovation fund backs eight projects from news nonprofits with an eye towards sustainability — A public radio app that aggregates user-generated content, a food education night with a tasting menu, and a WordPress tool that helps track the influence of stories.

Discussion: Investigative News Network and @virtualex

Tony Haile / American Journalism Review:

Give Journalists the Right Metrics, Not Pay-for-Performance — That there is even a debate about whether newsrooms should have access to metrics is in some ways surprising. Of all the professions, journalists are some of the most inquisitive, tenacious and focused upon the impact of their work.

Discussion: Gigaom, @treybarrineau, @jonathanshainin, @annaleighclark, @burtherman, @carr2n, @jeffjarvis and AJR.org

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix Asks Appellate Court to Reconsider ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Ruling — The streaming company warns of the consequences of “creating a new species of copyright,” saying its business will be threatened if the ruling is left untouched. — “The Innocence of Muslims”

Discussion: Techdirt, MediaPost, Center for Democracy … and TheHill

Wall Street Journal:

Broadcasters weigh contingency plans in the event of losing Supreme Court battle with Aereo — Broadcasters Seek an Aereo ‘Plan B’ — The nation's largest television broadcasters are considering contingency plans in case they lose a high-stakes Supreme Court battle against online video startup Aereo Inc.

Discussion: TVNewser, TVSpy, @amolsharmawsj and Engadget

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

Why some publishers are killing their comment sections — The promise of the Internet, we are often told, is the opportunity to have a two-way dialogue. Anyone visiting a publisher's comment section, however, might wonder whether that's a promise or a threat. — Internet comments have long been a conundrum.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @samkirkla and @digiday

Alex Kantrowitz / AdAge:

New Look AOL Homepage Puts Video Front and Center — Ahead of NewFronts, AOL Puts New Video Player Front and Center — How Advertising Performs in a Social Media World … AOL's recently declared plans to “double down” on video appear to be taking shape.

Discussion: @maymann, FishbowlNY and TechCrunch

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Thunderdome hosts informal job fair for employees — For most of the staff at Digital First Media's Project Thunderdome, Thursday will be the last day at work. — But over bagels and coffee Wednesday morning or a drink Wednesday evening, they might meet their next employer.

Discussion: Meg Wagner