Mediagazer: Vice Hires Alyssa Mastromonaco, Former Official in Obama White House, as Top Executive (Emily Steel/New York Times)

5:30 AM ET, November 18, 2014

Top News:

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Uber exec, at NYC dinner with CEO present, suggested digging up dirt on critical journalists — Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists — Emil Michael floated making critics' personal lives fair game. Michael apologized Monday for the remarks.

Discussion: Gawker, The Wrap, New York Times, Forbes, PandoDaily, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, Engadget, The Technology Chronicles, VatorNews, The Daily Beast, @gaberivera, NPR, @lifewinning, @cerenomri, @kenlerer, @karaswisher, Mashable, @dangillmor, @karaswisher, @zpower, @nycjim, @mims, @emjbanks, @pkafka, @doreeshafrir, @heyheyesj, @dancow, @caitleg, @jacobwe, @mat, @greenhousenyt, @aterkel, @anildash, @elcush, @sg, @darlin, @buzzfeedben, @kagrox, @ryanlawler, @caseynewton, @mattgarrahan, @daveweigel, @heoj, @clarajeffery, @elisewho, @jackshafer, @daweiner, @thegarance, @funnymonkey, @emilmichael, @bplewis, @jason_pontin, @amir, @daveweigel, @jmbooyah, @heyfeifer, @robertmackey, @tomgara, @digiphile, @tomgara, @nitashatiku, @ashleyrparker, @markberman, @willbrinson, @socarolinesays, @tonyromm, @cshirky, @sacca, @bydanielvictor, @annehelen, @clarajeffery, Gigaom, @sarahcuda, @jbarro, @emilmichael, @mims, @tomgara, Business Insider, @mikeindustries, @shaneferro, @mollywood, @kristyt, Jalopnik, @joeruiz and Boing Boing

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Sarah Lacy, the journalist named as a target by Uber's Emil Michael, says Uber went too far — The moment I learned just how far Uber will go to silence journalists and attack women — A big debate among the Pando staff for the past two years has been over just how morally bankrupt Uber is.

Discussion: Forbes, @sarahcuda, @alisongriswold, @helenbrosnan, @sarahcuda, @yashalevine, @mattschiavenza, @swardley, @erikb, @sarahnemerson, @filmladd, @karaswisher, @glennf, @derektmead and Business Insider

Marco Arment / Marco.org:

Podcasts are neither exploding nor dying - they've been steadily growing for a decade — Why podcasts are suddenly “back” — Did you hear? Podcasts were dead, and now they're back! — This story is suddenly everywhere. It's not extremely accurate, but I'll take it.

Discussion: @clarkhat, @om, @jayrosen_nyu, @pmarca, @craigsilverman, @mathewi, @beachwoodreport, @stan_alcorn, @jsb and ParisLemon

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:
Podcast network Radiotopia raises over $620K on Kickstarter

Discussion: @kickstarter, @prx and @radiotopiafm

Amanda Meade / Guardian:

Australian communications minister says ABC budget will be cut by 5%, or $50M/year, will result in loss of up to 500 jobs by year end — ABC budget will be cut by 5%, says Malcolm Turnbull — Communications minister tells Q&A program reductions can easily be made in office and administration costs

Discussion: The Age, BBC, The Age, Business Insider, @tonykevin and @albericie

Patrick Frater / Variety:

Japan's SoftBank Launches A La Carte TV Service for Mobile Users — TOKYO — Softbank, the Japanese investment conglomerate that recently held acquisition talks with DreamWorks Animation, has launched a new streaming service for Japanese smartphone users. It allows them to sign …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Google has free speech right in search results, court confirms — A San Francisco court ruled last week that Google has the right to arrange its search results as it pleases, which confirms the company's long-held view, while underscoring the stark difference in how U.S. and European seek to regulate the search giant.

Discussion: Gizmodo, 9to5Google, Search Engine Land and Engadget

Emily Steel / New York Times:

Vice Hires Alyssa Mastromonaco, Former Official in Obama White House, as Top Executive — Vice Media, the news and entertainment group, is expected to announce Monday that it has hired Alyssa Mastromonaco, a former Obama administration official, as its chief operating officer.

Discussion: Variety, @zelmccarthy, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, The New York Observer, @nitashatiku, @ericsundy, @no_redheads_pls, Mashable, @diplomansky, @maxseddon, @viceukmedia and Media Wire Daily

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:
Vice is expanding into science fiction with a new section called “Terraform” for Motherboard

Discussion: Publishers Weekly and Boing Boing

Brian Flood / TVNewser:

Q&A with Baratunde Thurston on his new position co-hosting TakePart Live, Twitter, and his favorite kind of media — 5 Questions with... Baratunde Thurston, Taking a Sledgehammer to the Traditional Newscast — Baratunde Thurston is a modern-day Renaissance man.

Russ Mitchell / Los Angeles Times:

L.A. Times names Internet strategist Nicco Mele deputy publisher — Nicco Mele, the Internet strategist credited with pushing political campaigns into the digital era, has been named deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times. — “We intend to be one of the great journalism organizations …

Discussion: @garveylatimes and @nicco

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Economist EIC: We're no different from Sky or HBO - we all make most money from subscriptions — Micklethwait: 'Merkel listens to the Economist's audio app in the car' — The Economist's editor-in-chief on his big-name readers and rumours that the FT will sell its 50% stake

Discussion: @mediaguardian

Ronald Grover / Reuters:

Hasbro board votes to exit DreamWorks merger talks - source — Merger talks between Hasbro Inc and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc formally ended on Monday morning, when the toy company's board voted to walk away, according to a person with knowledge of the board's actions.

Simon Owens / Nieman Lab:

New York magazine's designers increase emphasis on online design with gifs, footnotes, video — It's small touches that can make a difference in New York's layouts — In a recent long New York magazine interview with Jon Stewart, the Daily Show host made an offhand reference …

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

The Mobile Future of Wikipedia, According to Lila Tretikov (Full Video) — As Wikipedia's usage becomes more mobile — traffic to the online encyclopedia is now more than half mobile in North America, and even more in emerging markets — the site is adapting to the small screen.