Mediagazer: China shuts 50 websites and social media accounts (Adam Rose/Reuters)

4:45 PM ET, January 13, 2015

Top News:

Emily Smith / Page Six:

‘Unhappy’ Ann Curry finally leaves NBC — Ann Curry's tearful exit from “Today” opposite Matt Lauer. — Ann Curry is finally leaving NBC over two and a half years after her excruciating departure from “Today,” Page Six can exclusively reveal. — NBC is expected to imminently announce …

Discussion: Adweek, Variety, Deadline, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, Mediaite, Capital New York, Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, @farhip, New York Magazine and The Week

Alexandra Topping / Guardian:

With borrowed space and computers, Charlie Hebdo's staff produced a paper and vowed to continue — Charlie Hebdo's new edition ‘made with joy as well as pain’ — Editor-in-chief and cartoonist describe process of putting together latest edition of satirical magazine

Discussion: New York Magazine

Susie Cagle / Pacific Standard:

Tech companies support free speech only when it doesn't endanger their ability to make a profit — Do Tech Companies Really Support Free Speech? — “Freedom of speech” has perhaps never looked so confused. — In the days immediately following a massacre at French comics magazine Charlie Hebdo …

Discussion: @susie_c, Gigaom, @sydell and @catekustanczy

Associated Press:
Despite free speech protests, French authorities investigating comedian Dieudonné for offensive remark

Discussion: Guardian, @ggreenwald, @lex_looper and @epic_morphism

Austin Hunt / BuzzFeed:
Here's Who Is And Isn't Publishing The New Charlie Hebdo Cover Image

Discussion: Guardian, Mashable, Flatworld, Mother Jones, Yahoo! News, Hit & Run, Talking Points Memo, BillMoyers.com, @mattwelch, @tomgara, Poynter, @passantino, @mlcalderone, @miriamelder and mUmBRELLA

Henry Samuel / Telegraph:
Charlie Hebdo's Wednesday edition to include Prophet Mohammed cartoons

Discussion: USA Today, New York Times, Adweek, Reuters, Poynter, @szanajafi, @ericuman, @raju, @mirandachale, @imbimallick, Wall Street Journal, The Dish, CNNMoney.com, Gawker, Latest News & Headlines, The Huffington Post and Guardian

Sophie Louet / Reuters:
First print run of this week's Charlie Hebdo will be 1M copies, compared to normal 60K; 2M more possible

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, @timobrien, Washington Post, The Wrap, Associated Press and Talking Points Memo

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Publisher Macmillan Signs On With E-Book Subscription Services Oyster And Scribd — Macmillan, one of the “Big Five” book publishers in the United States, is making its titles available on subscription e-book services Oyster and Scribd, starting today. — The news isn't exactly a surprise …

Discussion: Mediashift, Publishers Weekly, VentureBeat, Bookseller News, Gigaom, Digital Book World and Mashable

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

By refusing to compete with sites like Business Insider for ad dollars, Quartz hopes to build a profitable news business — Quartz's Digital Media Strategy Begins to Crystallize — When Atlantic Media introduced business-news publication Quartz in September 2012, it spent about $10 million on the launch …

Discussion: @raju, @miamabanta, @kevinjdelaney, @zseward, @nwquah, @msebastian, @mhbergen, @jayrosen_nyu and @marklittlenews

Knight Foundation:

Columbia University's Tow Center gets $3M Knight grant to fund newsroom innovation research — Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism to foster news innovation with $3 million in new support from Knight Foundation — Recruitment for new Knight News Innovation Fellows begins this month

Discussion: @rosental, @knightfdn, @susanemcg, @emilybell and @towcenter

Jeremy Barr / Capital New York:

A.J. Daulerio's ‘Ratter’ has raised more than a million — Ratter, a network of city-specific news sites, raised between $1.1 million and $1.2 million in a fundraising round that ended Oct. 15, founder A.J. Daulerio told Capital. — The site has received funding from Gawker Media C.E.O. Nick Denton …

Discussion: AdAge and @ratterofficial

Mario Aguilar / Gizmodo:

Neil Young's PonoPlayer promises high-res audio, but with no discernible sound improvement and massive file sizes, it's not worth the $400 price tag — Don't Buy What Neil Young Is Selling — Neil Young's “high resolution” PonoPlayer goes on sale for $400 today. You shouldn't buy it.

Discussion: Business Insider, RAIN News, @harrymccracken, New York Post, @jyarow, @mathewi, @scottgum, @edbott, @splitsurround, @stevesilberman and hypebot

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Al Jazeera initially pulled interview with French National Front leader Marine Le Pen because she critcised Qatar — Al Jazeera Runs Interview With French Far-Right Leader After Accusations Of Censorship — Marine Le Pen criticized Qatar, which owns the channel, leading editors to pull the interview, sources said.

Discussion: @acarmody, @miriamelder, New York Times, Mediaite, Mashable, NPR, @jo_bouk, Talking Points Memo and The Week

Business Wire:

Adweek Integrates Mediabistro Editorial Properties to Form the Adweek Blog Network — With migration of nine popular industry blogs, Adweek bolsters its coverage of marketing, advertising, public relations and social media; Mediabistro to focus exclusively on professional development and recruitment services

Discussion: Adweek, @sarahw, @laurahazardowen, Adweek, @flobombin and @joshsternberg

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:

Washington Post Folds Storyline into Wonkblog — A rare contraction in the ever-expanding Bezos era. — The Washington Post will combine Storyline, a data-driven storytelling site it launched last July, with Wonkblog. Both verticals cover public policy.

Discussion: @rachel_sadon, @washingtonian and @abeaujon

Adam Rose / Reuters:

China shuts 50 websites and social media accounts — (Reuters) - China has closed 50 websites and social media accounts for violations ranging from pornography to “publishing political news without a permit”, Beijing's cyberspace watchdog said on Tuesday. — The government is pursuing a crackdown on unwanted material online.

Discussion: Xinhua News Agency

Christopher Massie / Columbia Journalism Review:

Former blogger Brown Moses is trying to build his own type of investigative news operation — Former blogger Brown Moses is trying to build his own type of investigative news operation — In November 2013, The New Yorker's Patrick Radden Keefe called Eliot Higgins, an unemployed man from Leicester …

Discussion: @checkdesk and @futureofmedia