Mediagazer: Inside David Gregory's fall at “Meet the Press” and why the TV show is so important to Comcast (Luke Mullins/Washingtonian)

3:15 AM ET, December 28, 2014

Top News:

Facebook, Twitter, and Google resist Russian regulator's orders to remove information on rally supporting opposition leader Navalny — U.S. Social-Media Giants Are Resisting Russia Censors — Facebook, Twitter, Google Wrestle With Kremlin Orders to Erase Content

Discussion: @mathewi and Engadget

Reuters:

Court allows Aereo to auction TV streaming technology assets — A bankruptcy court has allowed defunct video streaming company Aereo Inc to auction its TV streaming technology assets, according to court papers published on Friday. — The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, VatorNews, Engadget, TechCrunch and Deadline

Jim Romenesko:

Claim: New York Observer story on the Times is ‘innuendo-laden’ and ‘laughably wrong’ — Warning: I am about to indulge in a long screed. If you don't care about media covering media (and I wouldn't blame you), look away. — The New York Observer's recent article on The New York Times Company …

Discussion: @howardweaver and @joehagansays

Ken Kurson / The New York Observer:
New York Times Insider: Multi-Million Dollar Shortfall Causing Drastic Cuts

Discussion: @danmunns

Michelle Moghtader / Reuters:

Iran to expand Internet “smart filtering” to censor content without banning entire websites — Iran expands ‘smart’ Internet censorship — (Reuters) - Iran is to expand what it calls “smart filtering” of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning …

Discussion: RT and Trend.Az

Luke Mullins / Washingtonian:

Inside David Gregory's fall at “Meet the Press” and why the TV show is so important to Comcast — How David Gregory Lost His Job — Last summer, Gregory was let go from his gig as host of “Meet the Press.” Here's an inside look at his fall from the top—and what it says about the state of TV news.

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

NFL to post game highlights and other video clips on Facebook with Verizon Wireless ads, share ad revenues with Facebook — Facebook Scores NFL Video Clips With Ads From Verizon — Facebook has scored a big partner as it ramps up its online video ambitions: the National Football League.

Discussion: Re/code and The Verge

Voice of America:

Radio Free Europe Bureau Raided by Azerbaijan Authorities — State prosecutors in Azerbaijan raided the offices of a U.S.-government funded media outlet on Friday, saying they have a court order to close the facility. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said Friday at least 10 prosecutor's …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Panorama.am, presstv.ir, Voice of America, Arutz Sheva, Bloomberg, The Moscow Times, Agence France-Presse, BBC, The Huffington Post and Associated Press

Agence France-Presse:

Mauritania sentences blogger to death for article deemed blasphemous of Islam, for the first time since its independence in 1960 — Mauritania issues first apostasy death sentence — 18 hrs ago — Nouakchott (AFP) - Mauritania has delivered its first death sentence for apostasy since independence …

Discussion: The Age, Voice of America, New York Times and DW.DE

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Interlude targets YouTube with more engaging “choose your own adventure” music videos — YouTube Challenger Lets Music Fans Call the Shots — Five years ago Yoni Bloch, an Israeli rock star, wanted to make a music video that would let viewers choose what happened as the story unfolded.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and @interludevideo

Regina Ruiz / KOAT.com:

The Albuquerque Journal website taken down for several hours to investigate ISIS propaganda post; no data compromised says the newspaper — Albuquerque Journal, on ISIS headline: There was no data breach — Newspaper site goes down after ‘Cyber Jihad’ — A radical group's Christmas …

Discussion: Gawker, KRWG, The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Inquisitr News, bizjournals, KRQE-TV and Mediaite

Jonathan Mahler / New York Times:

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki encourages experimenting with professional content and new business models, like subscription-based Music Key, to grow revenues — YouTube's Chief, Hitting a New ‘Play’ Button — This fall, Susan Wojcicki, the chief executive of YouTube, appeared on a panel …

Discussion: @pkafka, @paulisakson, @davemcclure, @faketv and @digiphile

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:

What does it mean to run “product” in a news organization? Hayley Nelson's big challenge at Wired — f there's a news outlet you would expect to be ahead of the curve in digital media, it might be Wired. The San Francisco-based magazine of technology has been at it longer than just about anyone …

Discussion: @ceodonovan