Mediagazer: Spotify Now Converts What Friends Listen To Into A “Top Tracks In Your Network” Playlist (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

12:55 PM ET, December 11, 2014

Top News:

Internal dissension over gamergate contributed to Gawker reorganization and cost company seven figures in ad revenue — Gawker discusses cost of ‘gamergate’ — The “gamergate” controversy cost Gawker Media “seven figures” in lost advertising revenue, the company's head of advertising Andrew Gorenstein …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, @joepompeo, @tmcgev, @tmcgev, @jessesingal, FishbowlNY, New York Magazine and bookforum.com

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Nick Denton to institute new seven-person managing partnership at Gawker, names Tommy Craggs as editor

Al Jazeera English:

Mahran Al Deeri of the Al Jazeera Arabic website dies while covering battles in city of Al Sheikh Maskin in rural Daraa. — Al Jazeera Media Network has announced the death of its Arabic correspondent in Syria, Mahran Al Deeri, while covering battles in the city of Al Sheikh Maskin in rural Daraa.

Discussion: Reuters, The Huffington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, International Business Times, @billneelynbc, Premium Times Nigeria and @asher_wolf

Allie Townsend / Facebook Media:

Facebook releases new tools for publishers to offer greater automation and better targeting, improves Insights, fixes referrer data bug for iOS — New Tools and Insights for Publishers — Over the past few months, we've listened to publishers around the world to better understand …

Discussion: AdAge, AllFacebook, @lheron, Marketing Land, @gormojourno, The Next Web, Mashable, Digiday, @sriramk, @kelseyproud, @andrewmdooley, Poynter, @lavrusik and @stkonrath

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

New tools amplify Facebook's effort to encourage publishers to move more content onto its site — Facebook Gives Publishers More Tools as Part of Content Push — Facebook has been courting content companies for years, because it wants content companies to bring more of their content to Facebook.

Discussion: Digiday, @carr2n, @reynoldscj, @ahenkin, @niemanlab, @mikeisaac, @mattbuchanan, @mims, @jaynawallace and Re/code

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:

Google News to shut down in Spain Dec. 16 in response to recently passed Spanish copyright law — Strict New “Copyright Law” Forces End Of Google News In Spain — Google has decided to shut down Google News in Spain. This drastic step will occur next week (December 16) …

Matthew Zeitlin / BuzzFeed:

Bloomberg Passed Over Its Top Woman Editor In Hiring A New Boss — When the memo dropped on Tuesday morning, Bloomberg's Manhattan newsroom went silent. Office banter ceased and keyboards stopped clacking, as reporters and editors read the note from Michael Bloomberg announcing …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @katienotopoulos, @emersongreg, @sdkstl, @thatcaseyquin, @doreeshafrir and Wall Street Journal

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Guy-Oriented Web Content Startup Woven Digital Raises $18 Million in Series A Funding — Another fast-growing digital media company has nabbed venture funding-though this time it's a brand that is far less hyped than the likes of Vox Media, BuzzFeed and Vice Media.

Discussion: TechCrunch and AdAge

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Spotify Now Converts What Friends Listen To Into A “Top Tracks In Your Network” Playlist — Now you can listen to Spotify like you read the Facebook News Feed. Spotify's new “Top Tracks In Your Network” is a personalized, constantly updated playlist based on what the people you follow are listening to.

Discussion: Engadget, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Next Web, App Advice and Forbes

Corey Hutchins / Columbia Journalism Review:

Talk that Clarity Media Group might restart the Rocky Mountain News could be a bargaining chip in negotiations to buy the Denver Post — Will Denver really have a newspaper war? — As a billionaire floats reviving the Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post might buckle its chin strap

Discussion: The Latest Word, The Latest Word, @coreyhutchins, @coreyhutchins, @__jt, @stevebuttry, @elistokols, The Newspaper Guild, Gazette and Denver Post

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Netflix wants its app on cable providers' set-top boxes, may be nearing a deal with AT&T — Netflix wants to hook up with your cable company in 2015 — Netflix's new strategy to take on cable involves becoming best friends with cable: The video streaming service has been working hard …

Alex Howard / E Pluribus Unum:

Deadline is Thursday for US House to pass Freedom of Information law reforms — With hours of sunshine left, passage of FOIA reform in the U.S. House hangs in the balance — Imagine if an important reform to public access to government information hung in the balance in the United States Congress …

Discussion: Washington Post, Sunlight Foundation Blog, Sunlight Foundation Blog, Washington Free Beacon, OpenTheGovernment.org, @normative, @digiphile, @cbdawson, @astepanovich and @danielschuman

Reuters:

Dish wants to keep broadcasters out of basic Web TV service -WSJ — Dish Network Corp does not want to include broadcast channels in the basic package for its planned online TV service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Ars Technica, PC World and Wall Street Journal