Mediagazer: BuzzFeed comes not to bury newspapers, but to improve on them (Ben Smith/Guardian)

10:50 PM ET, September 8, 2014

Top News:

Ben Smith / Guardian:

BuzzFeed comes not to bury newspapers, but to improve on them — The ‘unbundling’ of news is good for readers and for print journalism too — At many newspapers, the most important half hour (if you're lucky) of the day is spent in a sober meeting, fighting over which stories will appear, and where, in the paper.

Discussion: American Press Institute

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Nancy Pelosi urges FCC to reclassify broadband as a utility — A good number of politicians have recently made statements in favor of net neutrality, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is going further than most of them today and asking that the Federal Communications Commission reclassify broadband …

Discussion: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Free Press Blog and The Hill

Brendan Sasso / National Journal:

Netflix to Join ‘Internet Slowdown’ Protest Over Net Neutrality — Your videos won't load slower, but the protest could add more pressure on the FCC to enact tough rules. — If you see a spinning loading icon when you try to watch Netflix videos Wednesday, there isn't a problem with your Internet connection.

Discussion: Reuters, Variety, motherboard.vice.com, Multichannel News and @nationaljournal

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

Letter to investor about $50M spent on BuzzFeed: Why contribute to “intellectual decrepitude”? — BuzzFeed: An Open Letter to Ben Horowitz — Ben Horowitz, the erudite cofounder of the Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) firm is a respected heavyweight in the Silicon Valley's venture capital milieu.

Discussion: @a_zeisler, @zoranbasich, @carlat, @mkernohan, @thadmcilroy, @sarahmarshall, @bj_roche, @jonasnordling, @octal, @nbloom, @johnv, @eddlest, @rorybrown, @dmkillgore and @markfrankel

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Esquire uses interstitial ad with donate button on article to benefit James Foley scholarship, partnering with TinyPass and Atavist — Esquire Sets Up Paywall to Benefit James Foley Memorial Fund — Asks Readers to Pay $2.99 for Single Article — TV and Technology

Discussion: @nbj914 and @gmarkham

Re/code:

Reddit raising over $50M for less than 10% of the company, at a valuation upwards of $500M — Reddit Raising a Big Round, and Some Y Combinator Players Are in the Mix — Reddit, the social news site with a big Web footprint, is raising a big funding round — with help from some of the people …

Discussion: The Verge, The Awl, New York Times, Gigaom, New York Magazine, Valleywag, Mashable, @chrisyeh, PandoDaily, @danprimack, CNET, Gawker, VentureBeat, Forbes, Business Insider, Silicon Republic, Guardian and TechCrunch

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Slovakian Piano Media acquires Press+ and aims to take paid digital content global — Only close watchers of paid digital content (paywalls) will have heard of Piano Media, a little three-year old Eastern European start-up that has steadily been adding clients.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, Reuters, @stevekaplanpa and @ryanchittum

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

With a Big Push From Facebook, Facebook Video Is Booming. Heads Up, YouTube. — Do you like watching videos on Facebook? — You're not alone. And you're going to be seeing a lot more of them. — That's the word from Facebook, which is excited about the rapid uptake of its new …

Discussion: Variety, Facebook, @pkafka, @socialtechmo, @kevdonahue, @galenwnewton, @mccollumashley, @lapuravida and Digiday

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

SimpleReach offers to replace BuzzFeed's partner network — Even though BuzzFeed is shutting down its Partner Network that sends traffic to other websites, the publishers that belonged to it won't be left hanging. — On Monday, the viral publisher informed its erstwhile network members …

Discussion: @evanslaurab, @ben_kaplan and @raju

Catalina Albeanu / Journalism.co.uk:

Future offers free digital editions with print in September — Future makes use of its own in-house publishing software to offer free digital access to its print readers at no extra cost — Credit: C. Regina on Flickr. Some rights reserved. — Future plc announced a group-wide offer …

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

The NFL Blows Away All Other TV Shows on Twitter — The National Football League rules TV. So it's not surprising that it rules social TV. In fact, when it comes to delivering a Twitter audience, the NFL beats the rest of the primetime schedule and it's pretty much a blowout.

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Bloomberg News Stands Out With Editorial Policy to Not Report on Itself — On the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, Michael R. Bloomberg appears at No. 15, with a net worth of $33.6 billion. But on his own company's ranking, the Bloomberg Billionaires index, he appears nowhere.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @hblodget, @markscott82, @pierrebri, Talking Biz News, @edmundlee and New York Magazine

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

DreamWorks Animation, Disney & Sony Slapped With Class Action Over Wage Suppression Deals — A former DreamWorks Animation effects artist is taking on the 'toon studios with a class action lawsuit over the anti-poaching agreements they allegedly had. DWA, Disney, Pixar, Sony Pictures Animation …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Reuters, Bloomberg and Los Angeles Times

Jason Deans / Guardian:

Victims of press intrusion brand new regulator Ipso a sham — Parents of Milly Dowler and Madeleine McCann among signatories of letter attacking publishers for rejecting Leveson — Madeleine McCann's parents Kate and Gerry were among 30 victims of press intrusion who signed the letter.