Mediagazer: FBI bulletin says hackers who attacked Sony have threatened an unnamed news organization (Jana Winter/The Intercept)

5:40 PM ET, December 31, 2014

Top News:

Interviews with Sony employees show that the company was slow to realize the gravity and impact of hacking — Sony Cyberattack, First a Nuisance, Swiftly Grew Into a Firestorm — LOS ANGELES — It was three days before Thanksgiving, the beginning of a quiet week for Sony Pictures.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BGR, Techdirt, Hit & Run, Gawker, Mashable, Engadget, Digital Spy, The PJ Tatler, PandoDaily and NK News

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Sony Expands ‘The Interview’ to Pay-TV Providers, PlayStation Network, Vudu and 580-Plus Theaters — Sony Pictures Entertainment has reached agreements with top U.S. cable, satellite and telco TV providers to distribute “The Interview” via video-on-demand and pay-per-view services …

Discussion: New York Times, VentureBeat, Reuters, Deadline, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Washington Post, @pkafka and Engadget

Andy / TorrentFreak:
Sony About to Get Sued For Pirating Music in The Interview

Discussion: Guardian and @liarpoliticians

Jana Winter / The Intercept:

FBI bulletin says hackers who attacked Sony have threatened an unnamed news organization — Sony Hackers Threaten U.S. News Media Organization — The cyberterrorists who hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer servers have threatened to attack an American news media organization …

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

17 Hopes and Dreams for The Times in the New Year — 1. Presidential campaign coverage that does not seem based on the idea that the presidency is dynastic, and must be handed down to a Clinton or a Bush. — 2. More skepticism from the get-go. For example, when government officials say …

Discussion: @vikasbajaj, @raju, @rebeccagberg, @caraswill, @edmundlee, @michalskilaura, @kvox, @sulliview and @jayrosen_nyu

Nicole Levy / Capital New York:

Skift travel site to launch print magazine Jan 13 that focuses on annual travel trend forecast — Travel industry site Skift tries print — Skift, the travel-industry site, is the latest digital media operation to launch a print magazine, which comes out Jan. 13.

Discussion: @raju and @rafat

Brandon Weigel / Baltimore City Paper:

Fox 45 fires crew behind the bogus ‘kill a cop’ story — A screen grab from the Fox 45 story. — The reporter and the photographer responsible for misquoting Tyrone West's sister, Tawanda Jones, at a protest rally in Washington, D.C., reporting she and others chanted “kill a cop,” …

Discussion: FTVLive, Mediaite, Raw Story, @city_paper, Baltimore Sun and TVSpy

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

After two months in Kindle Unlimited program, profits for one Amazon author dropped 75% — Amazon Offers All-You-Can-Eat Books. Authors Turn Up Noses. — Authors are upset with Amazon. Again. — For much of the last year, mainstream novelists were furious that Amazon was discouraging …

Discussion: Seattle Weekly, retailwire.com, copyfight.corante.com, GalleyCat, @dianegreco, @qsteele1, @qsteele1, @leahraeder, @leahraeder, @jennibuchanan, @johntmarohn, @robspillman and @booklist_keir

John Scalzi / Whatever: Finite revenue pool makes Kindle Unlimited a zero-sum game for writers and publishers

Ben Quinn / Guardian:

Photojournalist arrested after filming with drone near Gatwick airport — Eddie Mitchell, with approval from the CAA to commercially operate small unmanned aircraft, held for hours by police — A freelance photojournalist who carries out aerial photography work using a flying drone …

Discussion: ITV, The Independent, Press Association and London Evening Standard

Reporters Without Borders:

Independent Siberian news channel TV-2 ceased over-the-air broadcast at midnight local time, limited to cable transmission until early February — Russia - Independent Siberian TV station's forced closure imminent — One of western Siberia's few independent TV stations, Tomsk-based TV-2 …

Discussion: Guardian, presstv.ir, The Media Freedom & Right …, Digital Journal, RTTNews and Siberian Times

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

The EU Is Plotting A New TV Channel To Counter Russian Propaganda In Europe — “Russian TV, particularly for the last couple of years, has been very aggressive,” the foreign minister of Latvia tells BuzzFeed News. — Kommersant Photo/Kommersant via Getty Images

Discussion: @miriamelder, @thekarami, @noahchestnut and @buzzfeedben

Guardian:

Newly released government files show British PM Thatcher considered forcing BBC to run ads — Margaret Thatcher considered forcing BBC to run advertising — Newly released government documents reveal Tory prime minister's concerns over the 'extravagance of some of the BBC's spending'

Discussion: RadioTimes, Business Insider, Daily Express, BBC, Bloomberg, BBC, Digital Spy, Telegraph and The Drum

MENAFN:

Egypt- Al Jazeera journalists await Thursday appeal session, hopes are on ‘intervention’ — (MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) The three Al Jazeera English journalists imprisoned in Egypt await an appeal on Thursday, while their hopes largely rely on foreign pressure on the Egyptian authorities.

Discussion: CBS News, Iowa Public Radio, Guardian and Associated Press

Anupam Saxena / Times of India:

India orders ISPs to block Dailymotion, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and 30 other websites — Pastebin, Dailymotion, Github blocked after DoT order: Report — NEW DELHI: A number of Indian users are reporting they're not able to access websites such as Pastebin, DailyMotion and Github …

Discussion: Quartz, @buzzindelhi, @pranesh_prakash, The Economic Times, TechCrunch, PandoDaily, @declanm, Digit, Tech in Asia, India - The Huffington Post, Quartz, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, TechWorm, The Indian Express, Scroll.in and Techdirt

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Disney enlists Maker Studios to create “Star Wars” short-form sponsored videos online ahead of next film release in December 2015 — Disney Enlists Maker to Create ‘Star Wars’ Series Online — Maker Studios, the Web video network owned by Walt Disney Co. (DIS) …

Discussion: /Film, @lucas_shaw and MakingStarWars.net, Thanks:@lucas_shaw