Top News:
Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:
Behind First Look Media's inception, star hires, staff turmoil, and uncertain future — Can First Look Media Make Headlines That Aren't About Itself? — When a crusading but conflict-averse billionaire bankrolls several of journalism's most prominent mavericks to create …
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Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:
Q&A with Laura Poitras on privacy, Snowden documents, and startup hurdles at First Look Media — Laura Poitras on Snowden's Unrevealed Secrets — Filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras, who first made contact with Snowden and captured his journey in the Oscar-worthy documentary Citizenfour, opens up about Obama and the NSA.
Discussion:
@glinner and @glynmoody
Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:
NYC public libraries will offer 10,000 portable WiFi hotspots for checkout to eligible patrons — New York Public Library will rent Wi-Fi hotspots to people who need it most — Sprint Wi-Fi hotspots will be funded partly by a $1 million donation from Google.
Frank Pallotta / CNNMoney.com:
As new viewing options gain ground, live television viewership is slipping — Americans continue to watch most of their TV shows the old-fashioned way, but new Nielsen data proves that the old-fashioned way is fading. — According to a Nielsen trends report released on Wednesday …
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
In memo to staff, Sony execs Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal confirm confidential data was stolen — Sony's Michael Lynton & Amy Pascal On Hacking: “Malicious Criminal Acts” — EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures has been largely quiet as it has dealt with a massive pre-Thanksgiving cyberattack …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times
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Kevin Roose / Fusion:
More from the Sony Pictures hack: budgets, layoffs, HR scripts, and 3,800 social security numbers
More from the Sony Pictures hack: budgets, layoffs, HR scripts, and 3,800 social security numbers
Discussion:
Business Insider, BuzzFeed, BBC, PandoDaily, Forbes, Techdirt, Talking Biz News, TorrentFreak, Neowin, @kevinroose, Variety, Businessweek, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Wrap, Engadget, Mashable, @robhale77, Business Insider, TIME, @pencilsareneat, @kashhill, @fredbenenson and @kevinroose
Chris Ip / Columbia Journalism Review:
New narrative journalism startups, like Latterly Magazine, launch as quickly as others fail in a crowded marketplace — New narrative journalism startups, like Latterly Magazine, launch as quickly as others fail in a crowded marketplace — Jill Abramson and Steven Brill's upcoming longform outfit …
Discussion:
Medium and @sulliview
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Demand Founder Raises $20M at a $100M Valuation for Legal TV-Clipping Startup Whipclip — Longtime Los Angeles entrepreneur Richard Rosenblatt is launching a startup called Whipclip in private beta today, striking a series of deals with big media companies and attracting a roster of entertainment …
Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk:
Ophan: Key metrics informing editorial at the Guardian — The outlet's in-house analytics platform, designed to promote the ‘democratisation of data’, recently launched new features including a bigger focus on attention time — Credit: Michael Bruntonspall on Flickr. Some rights reserved
Discussion:
metamedia
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Vimeo Revamps Its Mobile Website, Adds Features For Logged Out Users — Video service Vimeo is out this morning with a faster, revamped mobile website that reduces clutter, improves performance and lets users interact with the service while logged out. On the updated site …
Discussion:
The Next Web, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, SlashGear, Tubefilter and VentureBeat
Karl Bode / DSLreports:
Verizon's Tech News Website Sugarstring Quietly Dies — Verizon's experiment in technology blogging appears to be over. At the tail end of October news broke that Verizon would be entering the blogging business via a new website dubbed SugarString. The effort appeared to be Verizon's attempt …
Discussion:
The Verge, New York Times, Gizmodo, Talking Biz News, @taylorlorenz, PandoDaily, @caseynewton, Engadget, @paulwallbank, @karlbode and @mmasnick
Jean Lee / The Daily Californian:
Regents approve $7,500 supplementary fee for UC Berkeley journalism school — At their Nov. 20 meeting, the UC Board of Regents approved the implementation of an annual supplemental fee of $7,500 on top of the current UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism basic tuition.
Peter Sterne / Capital New York:
Gawker restructures editorial leadership, removing editorial director Joel Johnson, who remains at the company — Joel Johnson out as editor in Gawker management shake-up — Gawker is shaking up its editorial management structure, removing editorial director Joel Johnson and creating two new positions …
Discussion:
bookforum.com, @nytfridge, @carlzimmer, @petersterne, @erikmal, @dylanbyers, @ceodonovan and @justinnxt
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Wendy Davis / MediaPost:
Federal judge finds ESPN's transmission of Roku serial number to Adobe doesn't violate the Video Privacy Protection Act — ESPN Defeats Video Privacy Case — A federal judge in Seattle has dismissed a potential class-action lawsuit accusing ESPN of violating a federal video privacy law …