Top News:
Associated Press:
Mother of Japanese reporter Kenji Goto makes public appeal for his life after Islamic State abduction — Japanese Isis hostage Kenji Goto's mother makes tearful appeal — Junko Ishido calls for end to hatred as supposed deadline approaches for paying ransom for two captured men
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and NBC News
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Antoni Slodkowski / Reuters:
Japanese reporter's bid to save friend led to Islamic State abduction
Discussion:
The Independent and TIME
J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
NYPD increasing patrols near Gawker, BuzzFeed, Daily Beast offices after Charlie Hebdo attack — The NYPD Is Patrolling Gawker Because of the Charlie Hebdo Attack — The New York City Police Department has assigned police officers to guard the Manhattan offices of at least three media outlets …
Discussion:
JIMROMENESKO.COM, Capital New York, PandoDaily, Mediaite, @brianstelter, Politico, @mlcalderone and The Week
Linda Ge / The Wrap:
DreamWorks Animation to Cut 500 Jobs, Release Fewer Films — DreamWorks Animation will release two films per year, down from three, and cut approximately 500 jobs across the board in a restructuring of its core feature animation business, the company announced Thursday.
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Journalist and Anonymous advocate Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison on charges stemming from Stratfor hack — Barrett Brown has been sentenced to 63 months in prison — After years of legal battles, Barrett Brown's legal saga has finally come to a close.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Bill Gates is guest-editing The Verge in February — Technology will build a better, safer, healthier world by 2030 — I'm very excited to announce that Bill Gates will be The Verge's first ever guest editor in February. This is a new type of collaboration for us, but there's no one better …
Discussion:
Poynter, UK Blog on The Huffington Post, @caseynewton, @verge, @urbanstrata, Forbes, @jasonkirksbn, @jyarow, @adrjeffries and FishbowlNY
Economist Group:
Zanny Minton Beddoes appointed new editor of The Economist — The Economist Group announced today (January 22nd) that Zanny Minton Beddoes has been named as the 17th editor of The Economist. — She succeeds John Micklethwait, the editor for the past nine years, during which time the circulation grew from 1.1 million to 1.6 million.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, @maggiejordanacn, Politico, Guardian and @bklynmiddleton
Michael Roston / Nieman Lab:
Don't try too hard to please Twitter — and other lessons from The New York Times' social media desk — The past year brought major changes to The New York Times. The social media desk's editors joined a new department, Audience Development. Our team gained new resources as we combined efforts …
Discussion:
@niemanlab
Jay Rosen / Pressthink:
Journalism site success means uniquely defining beats and a different mission than industry standard — A brief sketch of the “full stack” (intellectually speaking...) news and information company. — Meaning: it has its own way of doing things, its own ideas about what is worth doing, and it implements them from end to end.
Discussion:
Andreessen Horowitz, @jayrosen_nyu and @monkbent
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
The case for Marissa Mayer, as key metrics suggest the turnaround at Yahoo is on track — Marissa Mayer's Plan for Yahoo Takes Hold. The Question Now Is Time. — When Marissa Mayer was offered the chief executive job at Yahoo in the summer of 2012, she had a script for returning …
Discussion:
@pmarca, @_maggiehenry, @sicilydickenson, @ruikaneya, @wucker and @anildash
Mark Wilson / Co.Design:
The Upshot: Where The New York Times Is Redesigning News — Should I buy a condo or continue renting? I'd been asking myself that question as I perused Chicago real estate, uncertain how market gains, taxes, tax breaks, maintenance costs, homeowners insurance, mortgage payments, and assessments would add up for me financially.
John Otis / Committee to Protect Journalists:
How Ecuador's plans to make communications a public service is threat to free press — Attempts to amend Ecuador's constitution to categorize communications as a “public service” has sparked a fierce debate, with one critic drawing comparisons to the way dictators such as Stalin and Hitler used …
Discussion:
@albertocairo
Eric Athas / Nieman Lab:
NPR tests audio to find what people share: explainers, strange sounds, storytelling, quick reviews — From explainers to sounds that make you go “Whoa!”: The 4 types of audio that people share — Editor's note: Public radio produces a lot of audio — but it doesn't always get the attention …
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
The case for, and against, integrated print-digital newsrooms — In the dot-com days, publishers tended to treat their online counterparts as second-class bolt-ons to their print editions. When it became clear the Web was here to stay, they had to demonstrate they were serious about growing their Web operations.
Discussion:
@marcwalder
Simon Houpt / Globe and Mail:
After conflict of interest allegations, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. bans on-air journalists from paid appearances — In wake of Amanda Lang controversy, CBC bans on-air journalists from making paid appearances — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is banning all outside paid appearances …
Discussion:
Globe and Mail, @josh_wingrove, @marcooved, @allansorensen, @stuartxthomson, @globeandmail and Talking Biz News
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Television Becomes a Force at Sundance Film Festival — PARK CITY, Utah — The Sundance Television Festival this is not. — That snarky, small-screen nickname is nonetheless being tossed around by some of the Hollywood attendees who are gathering here for the 31st Sundance Film Festival, which starts on Thursday.
Discussion:
@nytimes and The Corsair
Paul Rosania / The Twitter Blog:
Twitter rolls out “While you were away” feature to iOS users, coming soon to Android and web — While you were away... Today we're introducing something new to your home timeline: a recap of some of the top Tweets you might have missed from accounts you follow.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @jayrosen_nyu, @johnbattelle, The Wrap, Cult of Mac, Re/code, Ubergizmo, @twitterads, SocialTimes, TechCrunch, New York Times, App Advice, Mashable, GeekWire, VentureBeat, The Next Web, The Verge, MacStories, MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, Engadget and iMore
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
New possible metrics for the value of news and ads: time spent, time well spent, time saved — Time spent or time well spent — how to think about Web traffic — The search for meaningful digital audience metrics took a turn for the better in 2014 when Chartbeat and others began touting …
Discussion:
@rickedmonds, @cfrech, @mbusse and @chartbeat
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Tumblr's Creatrs Network connects Tumblr's top artists with brands to help make ads — Tumblr wants its best artists to create ads people actually like — Tumblr's beautiful, GIF-filled feed is what keeps bringing visitors back, and it wants to make sure the feed stays that way even as brands begin to fill it with ads.
Discussion:
Wired, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, SocialTimes, Mashable, The Next Web and Wall Street Journal
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Saavn, 'India's Spotify', Reveals It Has 11M Monthly Users And Hires Ex-Google Exec — It's looking like 2015 will be a big year for India's music streaming space. A week after Rdio's arrival in the country, Saavn — a New York/India startup that was among the first to cater to India …
Discussion:
www.gizbot.com/, Music Business Worldwide, RAIN News, Music Week, @jonrussell and @mahesh10feb
Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:
How Björk and Madonna acted quickly when digital thieves leaked album tracks — Björk and Madonna Deal With Leaks of Album Tracks — When nearly 30 new Madonna songs, many of them unfinished demos, surfaced online last month, the singer and her team reacted both emotionally …
Discussion:
@kathryngoldman and @joecoscarelli
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