Mediagazer: Apple Users Download Free U2 Album Two Million Times (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

9:35 AM ET, September 13, 2014

Top News:

Michael Isikoff / Yahoo! News:

Sotloff's parents told they could be prosecuted for paying ransom to IS — Yahoo News 55 mins ago — The parents of murdered journalist Steven Sotloff were told by a White House counterterrorism official at a meeting last May that they could face criminal prosecution if they paid ransom …

Discussion: Mashable, @isikoff, ABC News, Boing Boing, Talking Points Memo, The Week, @wntonight, @shannonbream, @meekwire, @trdeghett and @wikileaks

Jim Romenesko:

Digital First Media's York Daily Record shuts off power mid-afternoon to save money — Digital First Media CEO John Paton told his employees this morning that “after a rocky five years, the newspaper industry is firmly back on its feet again.” — It is? Then why did Paton's York (PA) …

Discussion: @chrismegerian, @tjholmes_rs, @amuhs, @jbenton, @dancow, @coreypein, @ajfriedenberger and Talking New Media

Denver Post:
Digital First Media to consider sale of some or all of its newspapers

Ian Steadman / New Statesman:

Returning the gaze: everyone's a war reporter in an always-connected world — The internet brings war and conflict into homes around the world more immediately than ever before, but with the torrent of data, images and videos comes confusion and propaganda.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Apple Users Download Free U2 Album Two Million Times — Some of you do not want the U2 album Apple is giving away. But lots of you were willing to download it. Or, at a minimum, your iPhones and MacBooks did. — iTunes users have downloaded more than 2 million copies of “Songs of Innocence” …

Discussion: Billboard, App Advice, @bwerde, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Digiday, 9to5Mac and Business Insider

Bloomberg:

Weather Channel Talks to Banks on Options Including Sale — The buyout firms that own Weather Channel Cos. have spoken to JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. about strategic options including a possible sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Multichannel News and Gawker

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

ESPN's John Skipper Wants to Add Web TV — Without Losing Pay TV: The Full Code/Media Interview — Right now you can't watch ESPN without paying for cable TV, or satellite TV, or telco TV. — But that could change soon: The sports powerhouse has signed on to sell its programming as part …

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Hope, Change and Venture Capital: Earnest Media Start-Up Mic Targets Millennials — MIC founders Chris Altchek (left) and Jake Horowitz (right). — When Chris Altchek and Jake Horowitz hatched PolicyMic four years ago, they were as earnest about the enterprise as one would expect …

Discussion: @mradamtaylor and @kbsmoke

Tanya Dua / Digiday:

The YouTube-ification of Vimeo: Now with more baby videos — If you've hopped on to the New York City L train recently, chances are that you've come across a sea of blue: shrink-wrapped subway cars, plastered with Vimeo messaging. “If other video sites are the BQE, Vimeo is the High Line.”

Wall Street Journal:
Facebook is trying to lure YouTube's biggest content creators, discussing advertising

Discussion: Forbes, Marketing Pilgrim, Times of India, Reuters, Tubefilter, ValueWalk, Fast Company and Wall Street Journal

Kevin Gallagher / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

Fifteen Months After the NSA Revelations, Why Aren't More News Organizations Using HTTPS? — More than fifteen months after the NSA revelations laid bare the overwhelming scope of online surveillance and fueled the demand for privacy, virtually none of the top news websites …

Discussion: @csoghoian and @headhntr

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks Steve Jobs, Beats, and why TV is stuck in the '70s — The first part of his interview with Charlie Rose airs tonight — Apple CEO Tim Cook recently taped a lengthy, two-part interview with Charlie Rose, and the first half of their discussion will air tonight.

Discussion: @tim, @tcarmody, 9to5Mac and Quartz

Joanna Plucinska / Poynter:

Crowdsourcing during a crisis has its drawbacks — With all the talk of database journalism and mapping data, one would think crowdmapping would be taking off. But, it's unclear how useful the practice is for journalists, especially with data collected in dangerous humanitarian crises, like the one in Syria.

Capital New York:

The 60-second interview: Felix Salmon, senior editor, Fusion — CAPITAL: Fusion has done a great job at recruiting notable names, especially in the digital media realm. Tim Pool, you joined from Reuters... SALMON: I was just talking to someone, who is also on the shopping list, as it were.