Mediagazer: BBC ramps up Australian online news operation (Nic Christensen/mUmBRELLA)

6:20 AM ET, October 2, 2014

Top News:

A mixed bag on apps: What The New York Times learned with NYT Opinion and NYT Now — The New York Times' announcement today that it was cutting 100 positions in its newsroom was coupled with changes to two of its most closely watched experiments, each just a few months old: NYT Now and NYT Opinion.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @osulop, @jbenton and @nycjim

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

New York Times to cut 100 jobs through buyouts and layoffs, NYT Opinion to be shuttered — New York Times Plans Cutbacks in Newsroom Staff — The New York Times plans to eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs, as well as a smaller number of positions from its editorial and business operations …

John Herrman / The Awl:
NYT Opinion was interesting software but op-ed franchise stopped accumulating fans decades ago

Discussion: @jfruh, @nbj914, @timfernholz and @mathewi

Reuters:

France's Orange to market Netflix in November - CEO — France's biggest telecom operator Orange has reached an agreement with Netflix to offer the video streaming service on its set-top boxes from November, its chief executive Stephane Richard told Le Monde newspaper on Wednesday.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Report: Netflix Attracts Over 100,000 French Subscribers in Two Weeks

Discussion: VentureBeat and Home Media Magazine

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Egypt Seizes Newspapers to Censor an Article — CAIRO — The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday confiscated all the copies of one of the country's largest private newspapers in order to censor an article, just days after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed in an American television interview that there was …

Discussion: @rajivwashpost and Daily News Egypt

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Ed Richards to step down as Ofcom chief executive — Executive who shaped the Communication Act that created the media and communications regulator to leave after 11 years — Ed Richards is to leave media regulator Ofcom after 11 years. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

Discussion: Telegraph, London Evening Standard, broadcastnow.co.uk and Mobile Today

Edmund Lee / Re/code:

Financial Times Editor Lionel Barber: “Now Software's Driving the Journalism” (Q&A) — Lionel Barber, the 59-year-old, Oxford-educated editor of the Financial Times, comes across exactly the way you'd expect a 59-year-old, Oxford-educated editor of a significant newspaper to act: Gracious, opinionated, maybe a bit deliberative.

Discussion: @starexplorer, @niemanlab, @sub8u, @shannonpareil and Talking Biz News

Emily Steel / New York Times:

With Four New Adam Sandler Films, Netflix Takes Aim at Theaters — Netflix plans to announce on Thursday that it has struck a deal with the comedian Adam Sandler to produce and star in four new feature films that will appear exclusively on the streaming service.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Gigaom, Engadget, UPROXX and Hollywood Reporter

Lenny Bernstein / Washington Post:

Reporting on Ebola: First rule is you don't touch anyone — MONROVIA, Liberia — I was goofing around with a small group of young children outside their home on a muddy, cratered road in the New Kru Town slum here. I made a scary face and the kids skittered, giggling, behind a low wall at the front of their shanty.

Discussion: @jfdulac

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Publishers give the movie review a refresh — Digital technology has brought wholesale change to the way people watch TV and movies, from viewing on demand to skipping ads to on their own schedule, skip through ads and fast forward. Against that backdrop, publishers are modernizing the review.

Discussion: @efelsenthal

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Authors Guild Met With DoJ to Seek Investigation Into Amazon's Practices — Guild Says Retailer Is Abusing Its Market Power in Hachette Dispute — Authors are looking to escalate their fight with Amazon.com Inc. by seeking a government investigation into what they say is the online retail giant's abuse of its market power.

Discussion: Bookseller news

Nic Christensen / mUmBRELLA:

BBC ramps up Australian online news operation — The BBC is following its British counterparts The Guardian and The Daily Mail in ramping up its Australian news operation, but will look to add a more international perspective to local news. — As part of the push the British public broadcaster …

Denise Lavoie / Associated Press:

New York Post settles lawsuit over “bag men” cover — BOSTON (AP) — The New York Post has settled a defamation lawsuit over a cover three days after the Boston Marathon bombing that featured a photo of two Massachusetts residents with the headline “Bag Men.” — Neither side would disclose terms of the settlement.

Discussion: Mediaite

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

Why The Daily Pennsylvanian is spending $100,000 over the next two years to foster innovation — With staffs full of technology savvy millennials and comparatively few overhead costs, you might think that college newspapers would be among the most digitally innovative news organizations.

Discussion: @fffffrida and @sambrodey

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:

Viacom Blocks Suddenlink Subs' Online Access To Shows — No SpongeBob, Daily Show Online After carriage Deal Expires — As expected, Viacom is blocking Suddenlink Communications' customers' access to its online content in the wake of its failure to reach a carriage renewal agreement wit the pay TV provider.

Discussion: Variety, Gigaom, Variety and Broadcasting & Cable

Hadas Gold / Politico:

One year after Tina Brown exit, Daily Beast traffic surges — It's been one year since Tina Brown left The Daily Beast, and the site seems to be doing better for it. — In a memo to staff on Wednesday, Editor-in-Chief John Avlon said internal numbers on all platforms showed 21.3 million unique visitors …

Discussion: @olivianuzzi

Loek Essers / Computerworld:

Google removes news snippets for some German sites after publishers sought cut of ad revenue — Google bows to pressure, removes news snippets from German search results — In a move to minimize legal risks, Google has stopped showing news snippets and thumbnails for some well-known German news sites in search results.

Discussion: Financial Times, ZDNet, Engadget, @jeffjarvis, The Next Web, @jeffjarvis, Search Engine Land and Agence France-Presse

Mark Scott / New York Times:

Netflix's Chief Executive Pushes Net Neutrality in Europe — On Wednesday, Reed Hastings, the Netflix chief executive, took his net neutrality bandwagon to Europe. — Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Mr. Hastings — who has been a vocal critic of plans that would allow Internet service providers …

Discussion: Forbes

Kelly Golnoush Niknejad / Columbia Journalism Review:

How US-based The Tehran Bureau uses crowdsourcing and social media to report on Iran — This is how Tehran Bureau covers Iran — Its reporting model, using undercover journalists and distant editors, is one way to cover closed societies — At the turn of this century …

Discussion: @mathewi and @cjr

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

What We're Doing To Keep Building A Diverse Editorial Operation — Diversity in BuzzFeed's editorial operation isn't a side project or special initiative. It's core to how we operate and how we hire. — As we enter another round of intense growth and hiring, I thought it was important …