Mediagazer: NYT labs creates Vellum, an algorithmically curated list of stories shared on Twitter (Jeremy Barr/Capital New York)

5:50 PM ET, May 20, 2014

Top News:

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:

Arthur Sulzberger's First Interview About the Turmoil at The New York Times: “I Would Have Done It Differently” — A week after the firing of Jill Abramson as executive editor of The New York Times, the newspaper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., sat down with V.F.'s Sarah Ellison for an exclusive interview about the controversy.

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
In speech, Sulzberger praises Jill Abramson as a “powerful” free press advocate

Discussion: New York Post and The New York Observer

David Yanofsky / Quartz:
5 years later, only 2 of New York Magazine's 5 “renegade cybergeeks” are still at the NYT

Discussion: Cision, @7homaslin, @matthewcalcara, @bydanielvictor, @jonathanellis, @brianstelter, @sashak, @nabjdigital, @webjournalist, @macloo, @niemanlab, @jeffsonderman and @simonowens

Amanda Wilson / Guardian:
Amanda Wilson on the disruption of the news industry, and the challenges she faced as the first female editor of the Sydney Morning Herald

Discussion: @dowsteve, @georgiedent, @jayrosen_nyu, @pryorlisa, @antloewenstein and Media Disruptus

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Anna Holmes, Jezebel founder, joins Fusion as an editor of “digital voices and storytelling” — Jezebel's Anna Holmes Lands at Fusion, Too — Last month, High Profile Internet Person Felix Salmon left his perch at Reuters, then re-appeared, somewhat confusingly …

Discussion: Cosmopolitan, Fast Company, @rembert, @stuartmillar159, @jbarro, @mlcalderone, @jessicagross, @annfriedman, @suzykhimm, @fmanjoo, @jeffjarvis, @clarajeffery, @bendreyfuss, FishbowlNY, Capital New York and Fusion

Wall Street Journal:

Twitter backed out of talks to buy SoundCloud because “the numbers didn't add up” — Twitter Considered Buying German Music-Streaming Service — Twitter Inc. considered buying German music-streaming service SoundCloud, but it has backed out of the talks, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Gigaom, @hamishmckenzie, Re/code, @briansolis, @caseynewton, bizjournals, The Verge, Business Insider, Fortune, SocialTimes, CNET, Engadget and ReadWrite

David Meyer / Gigaom:
Twitter's reported interest in SoundCloud may not have been about the music

Discussion: TechCrunch, US News, Electronista and Re/code

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Arthur Gelb, Critic and Editor Who Shaped the Times, Dies at 90 — Arthur Gelb, who by sheer force of personality dominated the newsroom at The New York Times for decades, lifting its metropolitan and arts coverage to new heights and helping to shape the paper in its modern era, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan.

Discussion: @josreports, @howardmegdal, @peterhimler, @gabrielsherman, @michaelroston and @tomjolly

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

New report from Poynter president Tim Franklin lays out plans for future of organisation — Poynter president outlines new strategic direction — Since February, a screen in the Great Hall at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, sped through seconds, clicked through minutes …

Discussion: @ninatypewriter, PR Newswire, @raju, @poynter and Poynter's News University

Scott Porch / The Daily Beast:

New anthology charts the New Yorker's evolution from ‘breezy’ newsweekly to serious reporting — The Decade When ‘The New Yorker’ Grew Up — Before World War II, Harold Ross's New Yorker was no one's idea of a heavy lift. Then it went off to war and grew up almost overnight.

Discussion: @book_beast

Jeremy Barr / Capital New York:

NYT labs creates Vellum, an algorithmically curated list of stories shared on Twitter — N.Y.T. Labs tool makes your Twitter feed into a reading list — Vellum, a new tool from The New York Times R&D lab, seeks to cut through the clutter on Twitter by creating a reading list of the most-shared articles.

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

First Look Media will give $550,000 to support press freedoms — First Look Media announced Tuesday that it will give $550,000 to support three organizations “at the forefront of integrating freedom of the press with technology,” according to the press release. — Those organizations are:

Discussion: First Look Media and The Daily Banter

Dan Lyons / Billboard:

Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs' Biographer, Predicts Jimmy Iovine Will Run Apple's Content Business — It may not be the headphones or the streaming. Does Tim Cook think Jimmy Iovine is the next Steve Jobs? Apple is reportedly acquiring Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Re/code, Tech2, 9to5Mac, @lessien, AppleInsider, MacRumors and App Advice

Dylan Byers / Politico:

NPR to end ‘Tell Me More’, lay off 28 — NPR will cease broadcast of its weekday program “Tell Me More,” resulting in the termination of 28 positions, it announced Tuesday. — The move, which will go into effect Aug. 1, it the latest step in the radio network's ongoing effort to stem budget deficits.

Discussion: NPR, The Maynard Institute …, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, FishbowlDC, Washington Post, Poynter, @davidfolkenflik, @dylanbyers and @geewaxnpr

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Shutterstock Introduces Music Licensing Service, Starting With 60K Tracks From Rumblefish — Shutterstock isn't just a place where users can find stock photography and video anymore — today it's launching Shutterstock Music. — Vice President of Product Wyatt Jenkins demonstrated the new service for me yesterday.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Adweek, Forbes, Business Insider, The Next Web and Mashable

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

‘No smoking gun’ in case against Rebekah Brooks, court told — Ex-editor's barrister begins closing speech in phone-hacking trial, also claiming his client is disadvantaged by media ‘vitriol’ — There is “no smoking gun” to support prosecution claims that Rebekah Brooks was the architect …

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC, thedrum.com, Telegraph and Irish Independent