Mediagazer: How personal essays conquered journalism — and why they can't cut it (Eve Fairbanks/Washington Post)

11:05 AM ET, October 13, 2014

Top News:

Leaning Forward, MSNBC Loses Ground to Rival CNN — Rachel Maddow, the biggest star on the MSNBC cable network, just posted her lowest quarterly ratings results ever. — “Morning Joe,” MSNBC's signature morning program, scored its second-lowest quarterly ratings, reaching an average …

Discussion: TVNewser, @michaelroston, @antderosa, @dkthomp, @stephenreiss, @ktumulty, Inside Cable News, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

David Carr / New York Times:

YouTube's New York production studio set to open in November with a dedicated space for brands — YouTube Takes Manhattan — A few weeks ago, Zayna Aston, a communications executive at Google, met me at the company's offices in Manhattan to show me around YouTube Space New York …

Discussion: Capital New York, @acoyne and @moth

Lesley Stahl / CBS News:

60 Minutes talks with James Risen about the publishing of his 2005 call monitoring story and protecting sources — The war on leaks — What happens when the demands of national security collide with the rights of a free press? Lesley Stahl finds out — The following is a script of …

Discussion: @sentryeagle, @kgosztola and @sulliview

The Nation:
The Government War Against Reporter James Risen

Discussion: @thenation

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:
Prosecutors suggest they will still subpoena New York Times reporter James Risen in leak case

Discussion: @acarvin, @roncharles, @jacklgoldsmith, @jaketapper, @dangillmor and Politico

Todd Spangler / Variety:

BSkyB invests $500K in web-video aggregator Pluto.tv — BSkyB Invests in Internet-Video Startup Pluto.TV — British satcaster takes $500,000 stake in company, whose other backers include UTA's Jeremy Zimmer and Terry Semel — U.K. satcaster BSkyB has invested $500,000 in web-video aggregator Pluto.TV …

Discussion: Digital Spy, Hollywood Reporter, Life Style Extra, MediaTel, Telecompaper, Pocket-lint, Compare Mobile Phones …, Gizmodo UK and SEENIT

Eve Fairbanks / Washington Post:

How personal essays conquered journalism — and why they can't cut it — “My Life as a Little Person.” “I Still Dreamed of the Abuser I Once Thought of as My Father.” “My Startup Failed, and This Is What It Feels Like.” “The Worst Day of My Life Is Now New York's Hottest Tourist Attraction.”

Discussion: @priyaramani and @uma_shashikant

Gary Merson / HD Guru:

Netflix Quietly Raises its 4K Ultra High Definition Subscription Rates — Netflix, the leader in 4K Ultra High Definition streaming services, has raised their rates, while continuing to add more 4K content with the recent additions of The Blacklist and Smurfs 2. — We contacted Netflix today for the details.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Light Reading, Consumerist, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Variety and Engadget

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Six Sun journalists go on trial over alleged payments to public officials — News editors and reporters variously accused of plotting with police, armed forces, prison officials and staff at Broadmoor — Six former and current journalists from the Sun newspaper are going on trial …

Patrick Wintour / Guardian:

British police's use of Ripa powers to snoop on journalists to be reined in — Change to surveillance law will mean police will require a judge's approval to access journalists' phone records — The UK government will reform the law to prevent the police using surveillance powers …

Discussion: Gigaom, @graphiclunarkid, @svaughanbrown and @edent

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

SoundCloud Posted A $29M Loss In 2013 On Revenues Of $14M — SoundCloud, the popular online music and audio sharing platform, is now exceeding 175 million listeners each month and is on track to reach 200 million. But its rapid growth has seen the company's costs run away from its revenues.

Discussion: hypebot, @briancvc and RAIN News

Lessley Anderson / Vanity Fair:

HBO Head Richard Plepler: “Our Model Is Building Addicts” — “Our model is building addicts—as many as we can, across the most franchises,” Richard Plepler, chairman and C.E.O. of HBO, said at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit on Thursday in San Francisco.

Discussion: MediaWire Daily

Martin Moore / LSE:

Why we need a UK equivalent of the Knight News Challenge — Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust and the author of a recent report on the deficit of local news in the UK, argues that more needs to be done to foster innovation among local news and civic technology providers.

Discussion: Guardian and @jeffjarvis

Josh Peter / USA Today:

NFL, MLB, NBA and other leagues claim piracy has cost them millions of dollars — Digital pirates steal signals, money from leagues — LAS VEGAS — Parading into the Octagon, the fighters brawled, unleashing kicks and punches that drew lusty cheers and, more often than not, ample blood bout after bout.

Discussion: @benfowlkesmma