Mediagazer: Google News is right to shut down in Spain in order to fight against the link tax and for the freedom of the web (Jeff Jarvis/BuzzMachine)

4:40 PM ET, December 11, 2014

Top News:

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

Google News is right to shut down in Spain in order to fight against the link tax and for the freedom of the web — Spain's link tax forces Google News to shut there — Google News just announced that Spain's recently passed link tax has forced the net giant to remove Spanish publishers …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, New York Times, @craignewmark, @albertocairo and @charliebeckett

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Google News to shut down in Spain Dec. 16 in response to recently passed Spanish copyright law

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

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: @buzzfeedandrew, Talking Points Memo, @tmcgev, FishbowlNY, @jeffreymberry, @tmcgev, @jessesingal, @heminator, @joepompeo, Politico, New York Magazine, bookforum.com, Bloomberg and Gigaom

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, Committee to Protect …, @billneelynbc, Premium Times Nigeria, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, International Business Times, @asher_wolf and The Huffington Post

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Conservative link blogs like Drudge Report and Lucianne.com continue to lead discussion and traffic amid newer, better designed media sites — Why Matt Drudge and Lucianne Goldberg still rule the conservative media roost — A flock of (relatively) new conservative media sites …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @jonahnro, @doreenhdickson and Slate

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Leslie Moonves Extends Contract as CBS CEO Through June 2019 — Leslie Moonves Extends CBS Contract Through June 2019 — SPOTLIGHT — Awards Season Coverage — FEATURED

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Capital New York and Deadline

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

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Our Bad Media points out lifting of passages and quotes by Malcolm Gladwell; New Yorker editor Remnick responds, remarks on difficulty of crediting sources — Zakaria critics turn their attention to Malcolm Gladwell — Delphic media bloggers @crushingbort and @blippoblappo …

Discussion: Our Bad Media, Capital New York, @crushingbort, The Daily Dot, Mediaite, @blippoblappo, @blippoblappo, @mrtimregan and Our Bad Media

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

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, @efindell, @usprojectcjr, @coreyhutchins, @__jt, @stevebuttry, @elistokols, Gazette, The Newspaper Guild 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 …

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, AdAge, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Variety, Mashable, VideoInk and @digitalshields

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

Met accused of illegally accessing 20m News UK email records as it fights legal bid to return them — News UK handed over physical possession of ‘back-up’ tapes for ‘political’ reasons during hacking scandal — Met Police did not seek ‘judicial approval’ for access to tapes containing data from 2,000 systems

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: Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica and PC World

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

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