Mediagazer: Ad Buyers Slowly Taking Digital NewFronts More Seriously (Jeanine Poggi/AdAge)

1:45 AM ET, April 28, 2014

Top News:

Net Neutrality: A Guide to (and History of) a Contested Idea — This week, news broke that the Federal Communications Commission is considering new rules for how the Internet works. — In short: the FCC would allow network owners (your Verizons, Comcasts, etc.) to create Internet …

Discussion: @tonyromm, 24/7 Wall St., Re/code, Hit & Run, On the Media, Vox, Computerworld, NYU Local, Network World, ReadWrite and ZDNet

Barbara van Schewick / Center for Internet and Society:

The FCC changed course on network neutrality. Here is why you should care. — Wednesday's press reports of the new network neutrality rules proposed by FCC Chairman Wheeler have been met with anger and confusion. According to the Wall Street Journal, “[r]egulators are proposing new rules …

Discussion: @kwerb, Gawker and EdCone.com

Steven Waldman / Columbia Journalism Review:
As “open internet” is threatened, policymakers could consider solutions like public spectrum

Discussion: VICE, Network World, Boing Boing and Washington Post

David Carr / New York Times:

Cable providers cling to bundled TV channels as viewing habits evolve — New Challenges Chip Away at Cable's Pillar of Profit — For decades, cable television has been an almost magical source of profits, in large part because of the bundle, the packaging of channels that compels subscribers …

Discussion: @laurengoode, @hunterwalk, @pkafka, @ennisnyt, @jayrosen_nyu, @antderosa, @pkafka, @laurengoode, @pmarca, @buzzfeedben, @pkafka and Businessweek

Sarah Lyall / New York Times:

Raleigh News & Observer reporter's investigations of scandals at UNC spark reform and outrage — University of North Carolina Is at Odds With a Raleigh Newspaper — RALEIGH, N.C. — There have been violent threats, angry screeds, Twitter flame campaigns and an entire website predicated …

Discussion: @rick_bonnell, @sarahlyall, @nytsports, @coreyhutchins, @johnrobinson, @sipetethamel and @davidfolkenflik

Michael Cavna / Washington Post:

41 years later, The Post publishes spiked ‘Doonesbury’ Watergate comic for the first time. Here's why... THIS WEEK, The Washington Post ran, for the first time, a comics-page strip in which a character declared former Nixon attorney general John Mitchell guilty for Watergate crimes.

Economist:

In Pakistan, being a journalist becomes increasingly lethal — Journalism in Pakistan: The silencing of the liberals — UK Only Article: standard article Issue: A billion shades of grey Fly Title: Journalism in Pakistan Rubric: The shooting of a famous journalist exposes a worrying trend Location …

Discussion: New York Times, @razarumi, @dhume, @benazir_shah and Columbia Journalism Review

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:

Ad Buyers Slowly Taking Digital NewFronts More Seriously — Agencies Bring Digital Players in For Early Development Meetings, Just Like TV — Creativity Top 5 — Digital platforms are aggressively seeking TV dollars again in this year's NewFronts presentations, which kick off on Monday.

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Justice Department urges Supreme Court to pass up James Risen's case on confidential sources — Justice Department urges SCOTUS to pass up reporter's privilege case — The Obama Administration is urging the Supreme Court not to take up New York Times reporter James Risen's plea …

Discussion: Guardian, @ourand_sbj, @freedomofpress, @colmorrisdavis, Techdirt, @trevortimm and @walmsleyglobe

Trevor Timm / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

State Dept Launches ‘Free the Press’ Campaign While DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Force Reporter James Risen Into Jail — The US State Department announced the launch of its third annual “Free the Press” campaign today, which will purportedly highlight “journalists or media outlets that are censored …

Discussion: US Department of State

Wall Street Journal:

Omnicom, Publicis Merger Threatened by Power Struggle — Ad Company Executives Said to Disagree on Future Roles, Who Is the Buyer — Personal battles over position and power are upending the slated $35 billion “merger of equals” between advertising firms Omnicom Group Inc. and Publicis Groupe SA.

Discussion: @ourmaninchicago, @bhatnaturally, @davecbenoit, @adamkmiec and @mermarr

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Ladies' Home Journal tries to survive as a digital brand — Print is struggling. That truth holds even more so if you're a women's service magazine, and still more if you serve the older end of the market and have relevancy issues. And so it is that Meredith Corp. said today …

Discussion: MarketingVox News & Trends and New York Magazine

Kenneth Olmstead / Pew Research Center:

As digital ad sales grow, news outlets get a smaller share — Digital advertising in the U.S. accounted for $42.6 billion in revenue in 2013, an increase of 16% over 2012, according to the financial analysis firm eMarketer. But while that digital ad pie is growing, the numbers show …

Discussion: @valaafshar, @giner, @sarakgoo, @convergencetr and @facttank

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Newspapers still lag in digital advertising, highest growth areas remain mobile, video, search

Discussion: @journalism2ls and @niemanlab

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

DOJ reopens review of deal between Digital First Media's Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News — A newspaper deal threatens Utah's main non-Mormon-owned daily, critics say — And the Justice Department is looking into it — A deal reached last fall between Salt Lake City's two main newspapers …

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild