Mediagazer: Is a news site a news site if it's published by Verizon? (Nancy Scola/Washington Post)

11:15 AM ET, November 2, 2014

Top News:

Is a news site a news site if it's published by Verizon? — In SugarString, the already crowded world of online tech news gets a new entrant. And a new publisher, too, one noted in the gorgeously-designed site's footer and at the bottom of each story: the telecommunications giant Verizon.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis and @vwpickard

Kevin Roose / New York Magazine:

Why podcasts are back: shows are better and cheaper, playing smartphone audio in a car is easy — What's Behind the Great Podcast Renaissance? — The mid-aughts audio scene is making a big comeback. — In 2001, Steve Jobs announced the original iPod, a music player that would make it possible …

Discussion: AVC, @davewiner, @dkthomp, @dooezer, @geoffgolberg and @lpolgreen

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:

Pianist asks The Washington Post to remove a concert review under the E.U.'s ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling — The pianist Dejan Lazic, like many artists and performers, is occasionally the subject of bad reviews. Also like other artists, he reads those reviews. And disagrees with them.

Discussion: Consequence of Sound, @dansaltzstein, @gabrielrossman, @jilliancyork, @cipr_ceo, @sfmnemonic, Gawker, @amandaameer, @mschruers, @grady_booch, @xor and @alisternburg

Kelly McBride / Poynter:

Jill Abramson startup to advance writers up to $100k for longform work — Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson shed light this weekend on her plans with Steven Brill to grow a start up. — Writers will be paid advances around $100,000 to produce stories that will be longer …

Discussion: @neo_maditla, @sliss33, @allisonceck, @stevebuttry, @frasermatthew and @poynter

Micah Lee / The Intercept:

How Micah Lee securely connected Edward Snowden with Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald — Ed Snowden Taught Me To Smuggle Secrets Past Incredible Danger. Now I Teach You. — Late on the evening of January 11, 2013, someone sent me an interesting email.

Discussion: @lorenzofb, @matthew_d_green, @maassp, @a_greenberg and @dangillmor

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

All-Christmas Radio Is an Enduring, and Profitable, Tradition — It was still two weeks before Halloween when WEZW-FM, the easy-listening standby of Cape May County, pushed the Christmas button. Not to miss out on the merriment, two rival stations in Birmingham, Ala. …

Discussion: @joshualambier and AllAccess.com

Julie Posetti / WAN-IFRA:

Newly appointed Quartz Executive Editor S. Mitra Kalita on authentic journalism, smart audiences, global expansion, and the essence of a good headline — She broke new ground as the innovative Ideas Editor for Quartz and now S. Mitra Kalita has been announced as the new Executive Editor …

Discussion: MinOnline and @mitrakalita

Michael Meyer / Columbia Journalism Review:

Should journalism worry about content marketing? — Corporate brands now compete for audience with an aggressive storytelling strategy — At a glance, the Daily Growl could be any morning news meeting held in the “win the internet through pet videos” bureau of a lavishly funded media startup.

Discussion: @rafat, @zimbalist and @jeffjarvis

Max Fisher / Vox:

The video of Sharyl Attkisson getting “hacked” actually just shows a stuck delete key — Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has become something of a hero among segments of the right ever since she was pushed out from the network this spring over concerns that her reporting had taken an anti-Obama bias.

Discussion: @pmarca, @sspencer_smb, @ryanlawler, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Washington Post, Mediaite and Politico

Micah L. Sifry / Mother Jones:

Before 2012 election, Facebook increased hard news stories in 1.9M feeds, which added measurably to civic engagement and voter turnout — Facebook Wants You to Vote on Tuesday. Here's How It Messed With Your Feed in 2012. — The social network tries to promote voting …

Discussion: Politico, The Wrap, @aral, @mikeisaac, Business Insider, Gawker, Wall Street Journal, @dliebelson, @laurentmt, @joshuabrustein, New York Times, @kwcollins, Gigaom, Gizmodo, @ekansa, The Hill, @zeynep, @projomike, @moneyries, @mathewi and @jayrosen_nyu

Eric Blattberg / Digiday:

Inside The New York Times' video strategy — One big part of The New York Times' post-newspaper strategy: video. — The publisher rolled out a new video player this week. It swallows four times the screen real estate of its predecessor, spanning the Times homepage edge to edge.

Tim Carmody / Nieman Lab:

From rumor to out: Tim Cook reminds us that “unpublishable” facts don't live in a vacuum online — Apple CEO Tim Cook's public acknowledgment that he's gay is a welcome moment for dozens of reasons. Cook becomes the first out CEO of a Fortune 500 company, at the most successful company in the world …