Top News:
Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:
NYT's executive editor Dean Baquet writes memo to staff, outlines goals for 2015, announces creation of audience development department — Dean Baquet's ‘Charting the Future’ Note to Times Staff — A turbulent year at The Times is over, and with that, the executive editor, Dean Baquet …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Verizon approached AOL about possible acquisition or joint venture to strengthen mobile-video offerings — Verizon Said to Approach AOL About Possible Takeover or Venture — Verizon Communications Inc. has approached AOL Inc. (AOL) about a potential acquisition or joint venture …
Discussion:
AdAge, CNBC, Consumerist, FishbowlNY, @jledbetter, Wall Street Journal, @timkarr, VatorNews, ThinkProgress, Light Reading, @ggreeneva, @benmuessig, @sherman4949, @tactical_intel, @pkafka, @howardlindzon, @jyarow, @rakeshlobster, Quartz, @om, ReadWrite, @peter_tl, @pkafka, @mattzeitlin, @caseynewton, @rafat, The Week, Telegraph, The Verge, Business Insider, The Wrap and USA Today
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Ina Fried / Re/code:
Verizon CEO Says Video Effort to Debut in Second Half, AOL Acquisition Report Inaccurate — Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam threw cold water on the idea his company was in talks to acquire AOL, but reiterated the company's interest in offering a video service, saying it could debut in the second half of this year.
Discussion:
Consumerist
Tom Watson / Forbes:
Instead of building a platform, First Look's Reported.ly launches a decentralized approach to breaking news, using Twitter, Facebook, others — Inside The Decentralized News Network: Reported.ly's New Model For Journalism — Anyone who followed the Arab Spring on Twitter …
Discussion:
Medium, @lavrusik and @matwilcox
Capital New York:
NYT's Amy O'Leary, Innovation Report co-author, joining Upworthy as editorial director — New York Times' Amy O'Leary to join Upworthy as editorial director — New York Times deputy international editor Amy O'Leary is leaving for a new job as editorial director of the viral content site Upworthy.
Discussion:
Upworthy Insider, Politico, Poynter, @amy_harmon, @agolis, @emilybell, @heyfeifer, @daveweigel, @mlcalderone, @jeremymbarr and @jamesrbuk
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CNBC To Opt Out of Nielsen Ratings for Daytime Programming - Report — Business-news network CNBC is planning to stop using Nielsen ratings as the basis for the sale of advertising on its daytime schedule to advertisers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday morning …
Discussion:
TVNewser, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, New York Times, Talking Biz News and Inside Cable News
Ev Williams / Medium:
Metrics based on a single number, like MAU, are a poor proxy for value for Internet companies — A mile wide, an inch deep — I was recently quoted as saying, “I don't give a s**t” if Instagram has more users than Twitter. If you read the article you'll note there's a big “if” before my not giving of said s**t.
Discussion:
Gigaom, Wall Street Journal, PandoDaily, @k_tighe, @dansinker, @patrickklepek, @jdickerson, @clockwerks, @marksluckie, @nixxin, @chafkin, @sacca, @neilperkin, @stevenlevy, @mikeisaac, @nxthompson, @arctictony, @marginalutility, @lmirani, @rosskimbarovsky, @lpolgreen, @josh_wills, @destraynor, @montalvo_d, @agolis, @wblau, @kate_day, @harrybr, Business Insider, @betashop, @mattcutts, @pkafka, @werner, @fmanjoo, @jukayhsu, @ptraughber, @peteshelly, @nilofer, @howardlindzon, @cwhogg, @bznotes, @sippey, @jakeludington, @margarita, @om, @mm, @erickschonfeld, @startupljackson and @alex
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Meet Nate Cohn, New York Times' new young gun on data — When The New York Times lost statistics star Nate Silver and his high-traffic 538 franchise to ESPN in July 2013, it found a way to fill the void by assembling a data-driven politics and policy brand called The Upshot …
Discussion:
@derekwillis, @albertocairo and @jayrosen_nyu
Charlotte Eyre / The Bookseller:
Kickstarter publishing projects raised $22m in 2014 — Publishing projects launched on crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter raised $21.8m (£15m) internationally in 2014, according to the company's end-of-year round-up. — Last year, 22,252 Kickstarter projects reached their funding goals thanks …
Discussion:
VG247, GalleyCat and The Next Web
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Journalist Joshua Hersh Named BuzzFeed's Michael Hastings Reporting Fellow — NEW YORK — BuzzFeed News named journalist Joshua Hersh on Tuesday as the site's next Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellow, a one-year appointment given in honor of Hastings, an award-winning journalist killed in a car accident in 2013.
Discussion:
Poynter, @jonleeanderson, @joshuahersh, @williamsjon, @joshuahersh and @buzzfeedben
PEN American Center:
Survey: concern about surveillance is nearly as high among writers in democracies as among those in non-democracies — Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers — Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers is a new report demonstrating …
Discussion:
@joelcpj, The Paris Review, PEN American Center, New York Times, The Intercept and The Hill
Jordan Chariton / The Wrap:
Fusion, Vox, Al Jazeera and The Verge Partner With Newscast App ‘Watchup’ (Exclusive) — Watchup, a free video news app that allows users to cobble together their own personalized newscasts from local, national and international sources, partnered with Fusion, The Verge …
Discussion:
TVNewser