Mediagazer: How Vox Media expects to turn a profit — and justify a $380 million valuation (Brian Stelter/CNNMoney)

10:45 AM ET, December 2, 2014

Top News:

Kevin Roose / Fusion:

Documents from hack of Sony Pictures reveal salaries of over 6k employees, including top execs — Hacked documents reveal a Hollywood studio's stunning gender and race gap — Sony Pictures Entertainment, one of the largest film studios in Hollywood, appears to have been the subject of a massive, devastating computer hack.

Greg Gilman / The Wrap:
Sony Hack Attack: Studio Has Made Progress in Restoring Critical Business Systems, Insider Says

Discussion: Gawker and Variety

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

To Gain the Upper Hand, Amazon Disrupts Itself — Sometime last summer, a quarter-billion dollars went missing at Amazon. — Analysts were expecting the usual gangbusters third quarter. But it was about $250 million short of forecasts. — Here is one way to look at the disappointing results …

Discussion: @winguero, Talking Biz News and @jeffjohnroberts

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Serial's success lies in Koenig's narration style and likely won't translate to other mediums or help other podcasts grow despite the buzz — Why ‘Serial’ Won't Do Much for Podcasting or Hollywood — Given how much ink has been spilled about solving the whodunit featured in the new podcast …

Associated Press:
Murder case behind Serial podcast phenomenon heads to appeals court

Discussion: bookforum.com, Junkee and Jezebel

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:

Business reporters flock to Ello for a more intimate crowd, easy blogging, room for images — Finance media's hottest club is Ello — By now, you've probably heard of Ello, the anti-Facebook social networking site founded by a handful of graphic designers.

Discussion: @niemanlab, @meghanemorris, @perlberg, @mattzeitlin, @matt_parsons, @jyarow, @stevekovach and @niemanlab

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

New York Times didn't publish police officer Darren Wilson's address; executive editor Dean Baquet outraged at targeting of two reporters — Should The Times Have ‘Left It Out’ — and What, Exactly, Was ‘It’? — When in doubt, leave it out. So goes the old expression about editing a news story.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @chuckcjohnson, @davebaldwinjax, @timobrien, @chuckcjohnson, @amychozick, @gcraig1, @palafo, @wesleylowery, @bydanielvictor and @carrasquillo

David Weigel / Bloomberg Politics:
NYT reporters Julie Bosman and Campbell Robertson harassed by Darren Wilson supporters after publishing name of street where he owns home

Discussion: @culturejedi, @wesleylowery, Western Journalism, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @daveweigel, @daveweigel, @daveweigel and St. Louis Public Radio

John Bohannon / Science:

Nature, 48 other journals in group will use ReadCube software to let subscribers share screen-only versions of papers for free — Nature publisher hopes to end ‘dark sharing’ by making read-only papers free — The publisher of the prestigious Nature family of scientific journals today unveiled …

Discussion: Nature, @niemanlab, Chronicle of Higher Education, Techworld.com, CNET, Vox, Good E-Reader, @digiphile, @rickypo, Scientific American …, @surt_lab, @thewinnower, @richvn, @joe_pickrell and @louwoodley

Lizzie Dearden / The Independent:

British journalist found guilty of contempt by Bangladesh court for questioning war death toll — A British journalist has been found guilty of contempt by a court in Bangladesh for questioning the official death toll in the country's war of independence. — David Bergman …

Discussion: International Business Times, Associated Press, Business Standard, BBC, International Business Times and RSS Breaking News

John McDermott / Digiday:

Google's tying of two DoubleClick ad tech products, Bid Manager and Ad Exchange, raises anti-competitive concerns amongst media buyers — Google's display advertising dominance raises concerns — The digital advertising industry has long worried about Google using its dominance …

Discussion: @digiday

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

How Vox Media expects to turn a profit — and justify a $380 million valuation — $380 million: That's the value of digital media startup Vox Media following its latest big cash infusion. — It's a stunning number — stunning just like the August investment that valued BuzzFeed at $850 million.

Discussion: AdAge, USA Today, FishbowlNY, TheMediaBriefing and TechCrunch

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Times Newspapers posts £1.7m profit, first in 13 years — Times and Sunday Times report subscriber increases — Times Newspapers (TNL) has posted a £1.7m operating profit for the year ended 30 June 2014, its first profitable year since 2001. — It marks a considerable turn-around …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, London Evening Standard, TheMediaBriefing and @caitlinmoran

Bloomberg:

China's Wanda Group Holds Talks to Buy Lions Gate, MGM in Hollywood Push — Dalian Wanda Group Co., which controls the second-biggest U.S. cinema chain, is in talks to acquire a stake in film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., billionaire chairman Wang Jianlin said.

Discussion: C21Media, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, The Wrap and Variety

Jeremy Barr / Capital New York:

Vice Media and Knight Foundation create $500k training fund at CUNY's Tow-Knight Center — Vice, Knight Foundation create ‘innovators’ fund at CUNY — Vice Media, Knight Foundation and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism announced plans Monday evening for a $500,000 journalism innovation fund …

Discussion: Poynter