Mediagazer: HBO Go is now available on Amazon's Fire TV, coming to the Fire TV Stick in spring (Harrison Weber/VentureBeat)

6:15 PM ET, December 15, 2014

Top News:

Mat Honan / Wired:

An inside look at First Look Media's The Racket before it collapsed — The Guerrilla Tactics of The Racket, and How It Almost Upended Journalism — In September, when it wasn't quite autumn in New York but after the long hot summer had ended, I rode up an elevator in New York's Flat Iron district …

Discussion: The New York Observer, Mediaite, @mtaibbi, @mattbors, @lpolgreen, @doreeshafrir, @trevortimm, @olivianuzzi, @jackshafer, @mattbraga, @evanatmedium, @csoghoian, @dangillmor, @janinegibson, @albertocairo and @choitotheworld

Ben Frumin / The Week:

TheWeek.com announces that it is closing its comments section before the end of the year — Why TheWeek.com is closing the comments section — In the age of social media, the smartest and most vibrant reader conversations have moved off of news sites and onto Facebook and Twitter

Discussion: Poynter, @samantharollins, @theseantcollins, @megangarber, @mathewi and FishbowlNY

Sharon Weinberger / The Intercept:

Jana Winter, Fox News reporter who faced jail time for protecting sources, joins The Intercept — Jana Winter Joins The Intercept — Jana Winter, a Fox News reporter who faced jail time for refusing to reveal her confidential sources, is joining The Intercept today as a national security reporter based in Washington, D.C.

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Politico, Mediaite, @rj_gallagher, @ggreenwald and @jeremyscahill

Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:

Sony unlikely to prevail in court if it sues media organizations for publishing stolen data — Can Sony sue media outlets who publish the stolen Sony documents? — David Boies, representing Sony, has written a letter to various media outlets, demanding that they not publish or otherwise use …

Discussion: Poynter, CNNMoney.com, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Re/code, @awallenstein, Krebs on Security and New York Times

Variety:
Aaron Sorkin Slams Journalists for Publishing Hacked Sony Documents

Discussion: Gawker, The Intercept, Wired, Deadline, @caseynewton, @tomgara, @benedictevans, @mattzeitlin, @johnwilson, @caseynewton, @pmarca, @tcarmody, @benedictevans, @caseynewton, @lucasgw, @benedictevans, @pmarca, @ow, @antderosa, Medium and New York Times

Jason Hughes / The Wrap:

MSNBC expanding online with “Shift by MSNBC”, 14 original shows exclusive to the web — MSNBC Expanding Online With Original Programming, Streaming Video — MSNBC is making a major push into the online market with “Shift by MSNBC,” a bold new initiative that will see the 24 …

Discussion: Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, Media & Entertainment, @bfouhy, @jessicavalenti, FishbowlNY and FTVLive

News Corp:

Rahul Chopra becomes CEO of Storyful, founder Mark Little becomes director of editorial innovation — Storyful Announces Leadership Changes To Build On Substantial Growth Momentum Under News Corp — Rahul Chopra Becomes CEO; Founder Mark Little Named Director of Editorial Innovation

Discussion: Storyful Blog, @raju, The Irish Times, @jayrosen_nyu, @marklittlenews and @mikemillerwsj

Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:

HBO Go is now available on Amazon's Fire TV, coming to the Fire TV Stick in spring — We've got some good news for you, Fire TV fans: Today Amazon announced that its flagship streaming device now supports HBO Go. — Amazon announced the news in a press release, claiming that it has …

Discussion: Amazon.com, Home Media Magazine, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Variety, 9to5Google, Ubergizmo and Gizmodo

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Rolling Stone Writer Contacting UVA Students As Magazine Reviews Disputed Article — NEW YORK — Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of a now-disputed Rolling Stone story on an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia, hasn't spoken publicly as her explosive story has unraveled over the past two weeks.

Discussion: Washington Post, The New York Observer, Variety and The Daily Caller

Alexandra Steigrad / WWD:

NYT Executive Editor Dean Banquet on coverage after buyouts, native ads, and turmoil at TNR — Media People: Dean Baquet, The New York Times — Dean Baquet is executive editor of The New York Times, a role he has held since May, when he replaced Jill Abramson after her controversial reign and equally controversial ousting.

Discussion: @jeremymbarr, FishbowlNY, @mccollumashley and @cliffordlevy

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

There's never been a better time to run a niche media business — As new-media players like BuzzFeed, Vox Media and VICE raise huge sums of money that value their companies in the billion-dollar-plus range, it's easy to see the media landscape as one in which the big get bigger and the small fry get annihilated.

Discussion: USA Today, Guardian, NetNewsCheck Latest, @rafat, @michaelwolffnyc, @cdixon, @monkbent, @cdixon and @mathewi

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Evan Williams: On billionaire-backed journalism, Shanley Kane, and the problem with vanity ad metrics — In conversation with the Medium and Twitter co-founder. Many people use the newish blogging site Medium each day, but almost as many of them are confused about what, exactly, it's supposed to be.

Discussion: @jonathanglick, @chartbeat, @megan, @fortunemagazine, @earcos and @evanatmedium