Mediagazer: Technology journalists are facing extinction (Dave Lee/Medium)

11:00 AM ET, July 16, 2014

Top News:

Time Warner rejected $80B takeover bid by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox last month, no longer in discussions — Rupert Murdoch Said to Have Made Offer for Time Warner — Twenty-First Century Fox, the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid in recent weeks …

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

The newspaper crisis, by the numbers — Roughly a decade after the commercial debut of the Internet, America's newspapers posted record high advertising sales of $49.4 billion in 2005, leading many publishers to think their businesses would not be seriously affected by the digital revolution.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @niemanlab, @kevglobal and @ssuttell

Richard Smirke / Billboard:

Global Indie Sector Unites To Launch ‘Fair Digital Deals Declaration’ — Over 700 indie labels have given their backing to a major new initiative promoting fair and transparent accounting to artists and music companies in respect of digital revenues. Representatives of Domino, Cooking Vinyl …

Discussion: Pitchfork, @presanamusic, Stoney Roads, musicfeeds.com.au, Voxy.co.nz, @dariusjagjag, Digital Music News, FasterLouder, Guardian, Consequence of Sound and Los Angeles Times

Cosmopolitan:

Jill Abramson: “I'm Not Ashamed of Getting Fired” — When Jill Abramson was appointed the first female executive editor of The New York Times, it was a big deal. When she was fired only two and a half years into the gig for her “brusque management style,” it was an even bigger deal, making headlines across the globe.

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Netflix already stopped mailing DVDs on Saturdays, but you probably didn't notice — The USPS may not have gone forward with its plans to kill Saturday mail delivery, but Netflix isn't waiting. A few customers have noticed it's no longer processing shipments on Saturdays, opting for a five day schedule instead.

Discussion: Re/code, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, Cinema Blend, fox59.com, Betabeat, Gizmodo and SeekingAlpha.com

Dave Lee / Medium:

Technology journalists are facing extinction — Very soon I won't be needed. — One of the first ever online journalists for the BBC is a close colleague of mine. These days, you'd say he was the most experienced member of the team. — But back in the 90s, when the BBC …

Discussion: @annfriedman, @adders, @jayrosen_nyu, @martinstabe, @nathanjurgenson, @fmanjoo, @kvetchup, @mattlynley, @digiphile, @lukeplunkett, @megangarber, @jamesrbuk, @davelee and @sfiegerman

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress have larger audiences on mobile than desktop, only WordPress has seen overall traffic growth — Why Online Audiences' Mobile Migration Isn't All Bad News for Blogs — Mobile Hasn't Made Up for Desktop Declines, but It Is Growing — Online audiences are migrating to mobile.

Discussion: American Press Institute

Ian S. Port / SF Weekly:

Alt-Weekly Awards Snub Music Writing of the Nation's Largest Alt-Weeklies — This week, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the professional group representing papers like SF Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, LA Weekly, and Village Voice, announced the winners of its annual awards.

Andrianes Pinantoan / Pocketbook:

27% of Australians using TV and movie subscription services use Netflix despite geo-blocking — How Netflix Is Doing In Australia: 2 Stats That Should Scare Foxtel and Quickflix … Andrianes Pinantoan — Andre is heads up marketing at Pocketbook. He's an accounting graduate …

Discussion: @getpocketbook, CHOICE and Mashable

Vivian Yee / New York Times:

Corner Media Expands Its Network of Brooklyn Blogs — By now, the neighbors know exactly where an associate publisher of one of Brooklyn's biggest media conglomerates works (about three feet from his bed, most days) and what he looks like. That is the way he likes it.

Discussion: @tommy_robb, @raju, @juliemmoos, @grdodgemedia, @michaelroston and FishbowlNY

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

The return of the YouTube troll: Google ends its ‘real name’ commenter policy — The search company has apologised for complicating the commenting process, and reversed its ‘anti-troll’ real name policy on Google+ — Google has reversed a policy that forced users of Google+ to use their real names …

Discussion: plus.google.com, Mashable, PC World, htxt.africa, Online Social Media, Silicon Republic, Gizmodo, GMANetwork.com, PC & Tech Authority, Tech2 and Marketing Land

Michael Holden / Reuters:

Six ex-Murdoch UK journalists will not face hacking charges — * Murdoch's News of the World hacked thousands of phones — * Ex-editor jailed for hacking earlier this month — Six former journalists on Rupert Murdoch's now defunct British tabloid, the News of the World …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month — Amazon is testing an ebook and audiobook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” that offers “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.”

Discussion: Gizmodo

BBC:

BBC journalists are to go on strike on the first day of the Commonwealth Games next Wednesday. — BBC journalists are to go on strike on the first day of the Commonwealth Games next Wednesday. — The walkout will start at midday on 23 July and last for 12 hours.

Discussion: Scotsman, BECTU, Daily Mail, @andrewjkeir, @bbcgaryr, allmediascotland, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, dailyrecord, The Drum, The Independent and National Union of Journalists

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Publishing confirms Aug. 4 spinoff date — Tribune Publishing will spin off from Tribune Co. on Aug. 4, the new publishing company confirmed Tuesday. Tribune Publishing has applied to have its common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TPUB” and expects to begin regular trading on Aug. 5.

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, LA Observed and Variety

Matei Rosca / PandoDaily:

Monetizing Murder: Dailymotion allows major brands to advertise on terror videos — Some of the West's most popular brands are advertising on, or next to, macabre extremist videos, some involving beheadings, executions, savage beatings and terrorist propaganda.

Discussion: Mediaite

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Beamly OnDemand is a ‘Twitter DVR’ for BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD — Beamly, the social TV startup that recently rebranded from Zeebox, has an interesting new Chrome extension out today. Beamly OnDemand works with three UK catch-up TV services and displays tweets about the shows as you watch …

Discussion: TBI Vision and Digital TV Europe

John Glenday / The Drum:

BBC director general argues against license fee reform — BBC director general Lord Hall has defended the contentious license fee by declaring it 'ain't broke' in an argument against reform of the revenue model. — The intervention effectively sets out the corporations stall on reform of the system …

Discussion: Telegraph, blogs.lse.ac.ukpolicyproject, Broadband TV News, Digital TV Europe, Lincolnshire Echo and Guardian

Cromwell Schubarth / Silicon Valley Business Journal:

VentureBeat raises $2.6 million to launch ‘App Store’ for research — VentureBeat, the Silicon Valley technology news site, has raised $2.6 million to fund an “App Store"-style marketplace for industry research. — The San Francisco-based media company said it will launch VB Insight in three to five weeks.

Discussion: Folio, Re/code, @vbinsight and @thekenyeung

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Yahoo Q2 earnings: $1.04B in revenue vs. estimated $1.08B, $0.37 EPS, $436M in display revenue — Yahoo Misses In Q2 With Revenue Of $1.04B, EPS Of $0.37 — Today after the bell, Yahoo reported its second-quarter financial performance, including revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs …