Mediagazer: Victorious raises $13M to help video stars create sites and apps independent of YouTube (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

5:10 PM ET, June 16, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Dean Baquet, Top Times Editor, Has Tumor Removed — Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, had a malignant tumor removed from his kidney on Saturday and will spend about a week away from the office while recovering, he said in an email to the newspaper's staff on Monday morning.

Discussion: Capital New York, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Talking Points Memo, @gwenifill, Gothamist, Poynter, @lpolgreen, @peterlattman, @nycjim, The Wrap, LA Observed, MediaWire Daily, FishbowlNY and New York Magazine

James Crugnale / The Wrap:

Business Insider says it saw 26M uniques May, passing Forbes, and exceeding WSJ and CNNMoney — Business Insider Surpasses Forbes Web Traffic for the First Time — The online business publication says they outpaced their competitor in May, according to comScore Business Insider surpassed Forbes …

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:
Henry Blodget on Business Insider's launch of a London office, current state of digital media

Discussion: @dominicru and @stevekovach

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:
Business Insider launching European site, with deputy editor Jim Edwards as founding editor

Discussion: @hblodget, @digiday, @stevekovach and @anthonyweiner

Stephen Kalin / Reuters:

Egyptian court to give final ruling in case of Al Jazeera journalists on June 23 — Egypt court sets date for ruling on Al Jazeera journalists — (Reuters) - An Egyptian court said on Monday it would rule on June 23 in the case involving three Al Jazeera journalists on trial …

Discussion: TVNewser, Columbia Journalism Review, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Daily News Egypt, ABC Radio Australia and Guardian

Al Jazeera America: Egypt to release hunger-striking Al Jazeera journalist Elshamy

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

In New Jersey, with $2 million from Knight, the Local News Lab launches to seek revenue models — The Local News Lab launches today, supported by a $2 million grant awarded by the Knight Foundation in February. The New Jersey-based organization will incubate six local journalism sites in an effort to …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @hidenise, @jcstearns and @dangillmor

Pierre Omidyar / First Look Media:

John Temple joins First Look Media as President, Audience and Products — John Temple joins First Look leadership team — The challenge we have set for ourselves at First Look Media is to do things that haven't been done before, to find ways to combine journalism and technology to improve society.

Discussion: Poynter, @pierre, @jtemplejrnalist, @jcstearns and The New York Observer

Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:

Source: BuzzFeed may raise new round estimated at $200M; last round was $20M in January 2013 — Source: BuzzFeed is raising a massive $200M round — BuzzFeed may raise a $200 million funding round — its fifth to date — a source close to the matter claims.

Discussion: @urrutiadelpozo and @mims

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Steve Buttry joins Louisiana State University as visiting scholar to teach digital journalism — My next adventure: teaching at LSU — The next chapter of my career will be at Louisiana State University. After I wrap up my work at Digital First Media July 1, I will become …

Discussion: @manshipschool, @stevebuttry, @sulliview, @marchmcfly, @dangillmor, @jeffjarvis and @mathewi

Matt Mason / The Official BitTorrent Blog:

BitTorrent Bundle Hits 100 Million Downloads and Streams — In May 2013, we introduced an Alpha experiment in digital publishing. As of today, we've delivered more than one hundred million Bundles to fans. — The past year in content has been headlined by hashtags. #NewRules. #NoRules.

Discussion: @bittorrent, The Next Web, hypebot and Gigaom

Nicole Levy / Capital New York:

US's oldest Spanish-language newspaper, El Diario La Prensa, lays off 12 amidst union row — El Diario lays off 12 — El Diario La Prensa, the nation's oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper and the largest in New York, handed out pink slips to 12 staff members Friday.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment and The Newspaper Guild

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Victorious raises $13M to help video stars create sites and apps independent of YouTube — Victorious, a Stealthy Startup for YouTube Stars, Raises a Big Round — Web video producers and Web video stars have been talking for a while about building businesses outside of YouTube, but not many of them have done it.

Reuters:

FCC considering extending net neutrality to mobile — Mobile ‘net neutrality’ faces new day of reckoning at FCC — (Reuters) - A surge in mobile Internet usage has U.S. regulators considering whether to apply the same rules to fixed and wireless Internet traffic, and large technology firms …

Discussion: SeekingAlpha.com

David Carr / New York Times:

Eric Cantor's Defeat Exposed a Beltway Journalism Blind Spot — It's now clear why the primary defeat of the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, came so completely out of the blue last week: Beltway blindness that put a focus on fund-raising, power-brokering and partisan back-and-forth created …

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

NBC paid Chelsea Clinton $600K a year to curry favor with her family; the hire fits a pattern — Why did NBC reportedly pay Chelsea Clinton $600,000 a year? — NBC's hiring of Chelsea Clinton as a “special correspondent” in its news division was widely recognized as an exercise …

Discussion: @willrosswriter, @strimel and @jimmyprinceton

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Lara Logan Makes Her First Post-Suspension Appearance On CBS News — Lara Logan made her first appearance on CBS News on Sunday since her return to the network after a lengthy suspension. — CBS announced earlier in June that Logan's leave of absence—which began in late November of last year …

Discussion: TVNewser and NY Daily News