Mediagazer: How FiveThirtyEight Got the Nigerian Kidnappings Analysis Wrong (Daniel Solomon/Source)

8:15 PM ET, May 14, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Jill Abramson unexpectedly leaving as executive editor at NYT, to be replaced by Dean Baquet — Jill Abramson Being Replaced as Top Editor at Times — Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times, is unexpectedly leaving the position and will be replaced by Dean Baquet …

Discussion: Politico, Capital New York, @ravisomaiya, Poynter, The Guardian, Poynter, Washington Post, New York Magazine, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @dgelles, Vox, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Mashable, Vox, The Huffington Post, The Maynard Institute …, Columbia Journalism Review, @brianstelter, @patcohennyt, @brianstelter, Adweek, @brianstelter, The Daily Caller, FishbowlNY, NPR, Mediaite, Forbes, BBC, CNNMoney.com, Pressing Issues, @huffpostbiz, The Wrap, FishbowlDC, @natesilver538, @elaheizadi, @lauriegnyt, Business Insider, Gawker, Talking Points Memo, @c_heller, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, New York Times, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Salon, @vindugoel, @nataliekitro, @nxthompson, @brianstelter, @alexkoppelman, @mckaycoppins, @gaberivera, @jasoncherkis, The Root, @matthewwells, @antderosa, @dylanbyers, @samir, @irastoll, @pogue, Al Jazeera America, @ombudsman, @dylanbyers, @moorehn, The Wire, @moorehn, Jezebel, @joepompeo, @ezraklein, @jbenton, @grahamdavida, @dankennedy_nu, @ezraklein, @emilcdc, @mlcalderone, @emmamoodywsj, @dankennedy_nu, investors.nytco.com, Cision, The Newspaper Guild and Gothamist

Ken Auletta / Currency:

NYT's Abramson was fired after confronting “top brass” about being paid less than male predecessor — Why Jill Abramson Was Fired — At the annual City University Journalism School dinner, on Monday, Dean Baquet, the managing editor of the New York Times, was seated with Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the paper's publisher.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

N.Y. Times: Abramson's compensation ‘was not less than’ Bill Keller's — The New York Times is pushing back against a report that Jill Abramson was fired in part because she complained that her salary was less than that of her male predecessor, Bill Keller.

Discussion: Mediaite, Poynter, The New York Observer, MediaWire Daily, @petersterne, @neetzan, @dylanmatt, @thestalwart and Talking Points Memo

Kelly McBride / Poynter:

The New York Times owes the audience an explanation — Jill Abramson's departure as the executive editor of The New York Times and Dean Baquet's appointment as her replacement was abrupt. — Times Company Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told senior editors at a 2 p.m. meeting and the rest …

Discussion: Capital New York, @drudge, @lexinyt, @lexinyt, @kellymcb, Mediaite, BBC, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Nathalie Tadena / Wall Street Journal:

NYT Readers Spend Same Amount of Time on Paid Posts as News Stories — Readers of the New York Times are spending roughly the same amount of time on advertiser-sponsored posts as on news stories, according to Meredith Levien, the executive vice president of advertising for The Times.

Discussion: PandoDaily

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Time Inc. execs line up at spinoff trough — As Time Inc. insiders brace for a new round of pre-spinoff layoffs that are expected to begin next week, recently unveiled numbers show the top brass at the publisher are not sharing in the pain. — Norman Pearlstine, the executive vice president …

Discussion: MediaWire Daily

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Time Inc. Waves Goodbye to CNNMoney and Its Digital Profits

Discussion: @pkafka, @niemanlab and TVNewser

Howard Finberg / Poynter:

Why newsrooms don't embrace digital tools — Many newsrooms in the U.S. are still not taking advantage of the low-cost digital tools for gathering and distributing journalism, even when journalists and producers know about the alternatives to traditional technologies.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @craigsilverman, @johnrobinson, @gteresa, @jayrosen_nyu, @poynter and Kirk LaPointe's …

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Cord cutters use 7x more bandwidth than cable TV watchers - Sandvine — Here's a question that may be increasingly relevant for some of you: If you don't pay for cable, and you get all your video from the Internet instead, how much bandwidth do you eat up each month? — Quite a bit, it turns out.

Discussion: multichannel.com, Gigaom, TIME and @tothevictor

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix Remains King of Bandwidth Usage, While YouTube Declines

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and ctvnews.ca

Michael Cieply / New York Times:

Sony Pictures buys film rights to Glenn Greenwald's book on Snowden and the NSA revelations — Sony Pictures Buys Film Rights to Book on Snowden — LOS ANGELES — After a long, slow haul, the film rights to Glenn Greenwald's book about Edward J. Snowden and his revelations …

Discussion: Variety, Deadline.com, /Film, SlashGear, VatorNews, @nycjim, WebProNews and VentureBeat

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Washington Post cites resources and editorial judgment for not covering Amazon-Hachette fight — Pressure on Post to cover Amazon-Hachette — The Washington Post is drawing attention from media critics who question whether the paper's new owner Jeff Bezos is influencing coverage of his company Amazon.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Mediaite, @byobrooks, @laurahazardowen, @sarahw, @dylanbyers, @juliebosman, bookforum.com and Melville House Books

Charlotte Higgins / Guardian:

From David Kelly to Jimmy Savile, how does the BBC deal with a crisis? — The Smith review into the handling of the Savile allegations, leading to the demise of its director general, is just the latest scandal to hit the corporation — On Thursday 29 January 1987, Alasdair Milne …

Discussion: @charliebeckett and @peterjukes

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The New York Times has a (lovely) new cooking site … Spring is apparently new-product-launch season at the Times: Barely a month past the debut of NYT Now, along comes its new cooking site. (In various reports over the past year, it's been referred to as a food product, a dining product …

Discussion: @jbenton

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

NowThis News, a leader in mobile/social/video, shifts its strategy and its personnel — So what's going on with NowThis News? — Less than two years old, NowThis News immediately grabbed attention for what seems like a bold new proposition for news: short digital video that was built for mobile devices and social media.

Discussion: CNN and Re/code

Reuters:

Le Monde editor quits after power struggle with top staff — Natalie Nougayrede says she is stepping down from role at French newspaper after ‘personal and direct attacks’ — Natalie Nougayrede, the first female editor-in-chief of the prestigious French daily Le Monde …

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Media academic attacks press campaign against The Guardian over Snowden leaks — Media professor Julian Petley has written a lengthy assessment of the way in which The Guardian's revelations NSA and GCHQ surveillance were covered by the rest of the press. — “The State journalism is in …

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Chartbeat launches paid-content tools to help publishers get better at native advertising — Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile built his analytical service — originally part of New York's Betaworks incubator, but later spun off as a separate entity — because he wanted to help publishers figure …

Discussion: TechCrunch

Mary Ann Badavi / The Atlantic Online:

Choire Sicha, co-founder of The Awl, shares his concerns about how we digest information online — Choire Sicha, co-founder of The Awl, shares his concerns about how we digest information online. — “You want [writers] to flower into their floweriness,” said Choire Sicha, smiling slyly at the audience at last week's New York Ideas.

Jessi Hempel / Fortune:

Amazon Studios director Roy Price talks about making good TV for the web — How to make good TV for the web, according to Amazon — Amazon Studios director Roy Price explains why certain shows succeed, whether to launch every episode of a show at the same time, how much a good show costs …

Sara Morrison / Columbia Journalism Review:

Promise, and potential pitfalls, as Alaska Dispatch and the Anchorage Daily News merge - See more at: http://www.cjr.org/united_states_ project/alaska_dispatch_anchorage_daily _ news_merger.php#sthash.RsRjGqZw.dpuf — Promise, and potential pitfalls, as Alaska Dispatch and the Anchorage Daily News merge

Daniel Solomon / Source:

How FiveThirtyEight Got the Nigerian Kidnappings Analysis Wrong — How FiveThirtyEight Got the Nigerian Kidnappings Analysis Wrong — On the evening of April 14, more than 100 schoolgirls were kidnapped in Chibok, a small town in northeast Nigeria. Days later, the reported number …

Discussion: semper scriben and Featured stories