Mediagazer: How news organizations like Washington Post, Newsweek, NPR, and BBC use Tumblr to connect with audiences and document experiments in journalism (Anjali Shastry/American Journalism Review)

3:10 AM ET, December 30, 2014

Top News:

NYT CEO Mark Thompson, Phil Griffin, and other media execs face myriad challenges in 2015 — Media Companies (and Executives) on the Hot Seat in 2015 — While it's great news that the economy is (slowly) coming back, it's important to remember that a rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TVNewser, @joshsternberg, @auerbachkeller, MinOnline, @tedhope, FishbowlNY and The PJ Tatler

Andrew Marantz / New Yorker:

How Emerson Spartz builds viral sites that grab Facebook traffic using headline testing and other people's memes — The Virologist — How a young entrepreneur built an empire by repackaging memes.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @mathewi, @kevinroose, @mollywood, @marta_gomezc, @rmc031, @rosshudgens, @thestalwart, @john_self, @danielwcarlson, @megan, @brook, @timjhanrahan, @fredericl, @davidu, @phil_rosenthal, @id4ro, @davidsirota, @mmasnick and PandoDaily

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Apple introduces 14-day no questions asked refunds for App Store & iTunes in EU countries — Apple has recently introduced a new 14-day no questions asked return policy for iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases in Europe including the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and many other EU countries.

Discussion: Good E-Reader, The Next Web, Ars Technica, MacRumors, AppleInsider, ReadWrite, Business Insider, 7online.com, Gigaom and App Advice

Eugene Kim / Business Insider:

Washington Post hopes to generate more revenue by licensing its content management system to other news organizations — Here's A New, Inventive Way Jeff Bezos Plans To Make Money From The Washington Post — When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 …

Discussion: Bloomberg, @msager, @derekwillis, @jgreendc, @michaelroston, @derekwillis, @rafat, @fmanjoo, @anildash, GeekWire, @alexjamesfitz and @taylor_soper

Aida Cerkez / Associated Press:

On court order, police raid Bosnian news portal — SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Police raided the offices of a news portal Monday searching for clues about how journalists had obtained a recording of a phone conversation that said the governing Bosnian Serb party allegedly bribed …

Discussion: OSCE, InSerbia News and @marcelvdsteen

Karl Bode / Techdirt:

Dish, Fox News Feud Again Illustrates How The Cable TV Industry Is Digging Its Own Grave — If you have cable you've probably been exposed to one of the increasingly ugly retransmission fee disputes occurring between cable operators and broadcasters. They usually go something like this …

Discussion: bizjournals, Mediaite, @bluedevilnation, @scareduck and Variety

James Regan / Reuters:

Australian foreign minister says Egypt is sending mixed signals, hopes fading for Peter Greste's release — Hopes dim Egypt to release Australian Al Jazeera journalist soon — (Reuters) - Hopes are fading for the release of Australian journalist Peter Greste, who has been in jail in Egypt for a year …

Discussion: BBC, The Independent, Toronto Star, Voice of America, CTVNews, Huffington Post UK, @abc and Middle East Eye

BBC:
Egypt urged to free al-Jazeera staff on arrest anniversary

Discussion: Al Jazeera English, The Age, Agence France-Presse, Press Association, @brianstelter, @sara__firth, TheAustralian and Sky News

Anjali Shastry / American Journalism Review:

How news organizations like Washington Post, Newsweek, NPR, and BBC use Tumblr to connect with audiences and document experiments in journalism — The Growing Power of Tumblr — For News — On a recent day, The Washington Post Twitter account is a drumbeat of news about a Supreme Court …

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Condé Nast Tries to Emulate YouTube With Web Series “73 Questions” — 2014 has been the year of many things, including the Year That Traditional Media and Advertising Found Out There Are YouTube Stars. — Meanwhile, it's also been the year that everybody in traditional media …

Discussion: @digitalshields, @condenast and FishbowlNY

National Journal:

Analysis of Drudge Report in 2014 shows top headline terms and top linked sites: Yahoo News, Breitbart, AP, NYT, Washington Post, Daily Mail — 2014, According to the Drudge Report — We mined the Drudge Report archives for the top headline terms of the year. — Don't doubt the influence of Matt Drudge.

Discussion: @b_resnick, @ajjaffe and @mlcalderone

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

U.S. court approves Condé Nast $5.85 mln intern pay settlement — Condé Nast on Monday won a federal judge's preliminary approval to pay $5.85 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by thousands of former interns who claimed the magazine publisher underpaid them.

Annys Shin / Washington Post:

Homicide Watch D.C. will shut down Wednesday after failing to find a local partner or owner — The death of Homicide Watch D.C.: Bloggers take their last case — Homicide Watch D.C., a much-praised combination of true crime blog, case log, document dump and victim memorial …

Discussion: (Re)Structuring Journalism, @michaelbolden, @rafat, @lauranorton, @derekwillis, @antderosa, @kev097, @chanders, @lisabonos, @walldo, @phscoop, @palewire, @derekwillis, @anildash, @gregorykorte, @amlwhere, @raju, @aschweig, @jimbradysp, @mdhecker and @eyeseast

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Apple Starts Streaming “The Interview”, Too — It took Apple a few days, but it's joining the club: Starting today, iTunes users in the U.S. and Canada and rent and purchase “The Interview”, Sony's controversial comedy. — The movie became available at Apple's store at 1pm eastern today.

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:
Sony says ‘The Interview’ was rented or purchased more than 2M times, generated over $15M in online sales

Discussion: Variety, TorrentFreak, The Wrap, Reuters, New York Times, PandoDaily, VentureBeat, Engadget, @stevekovach, @guyraz, @pkafka, @reckless, @pkafka, The Inquisitr News, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gigaom and The PJ Tatler

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Comcast-TWC merger looks less likely amid growing opposition, concern over state of US broadband — As Comcast merger enters final phase, deal may be on thin ice — When telecom giant Comcast announced plans in February to swallow its largest rival, Time Warner Cable …

Discussion: Politico