Top News:
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, Politico, Mediaite, PandoDaily, @brianstelter, @mlcalderone and The Week
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.
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, @bklynmiddleton, Politico and Guardian
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.
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, @jasonkirksbn, UK Blog on The Huffington Post, @caseynewton, @urbanstrata, @verge, @jyarow, @adrjeffries, Forbes and FishbowlNY
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
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
Antoni Slodkowski / Reuters:
Japanese reporter's bid to save friend led to Islamic State abduction — (Reuters) - It is an unlikely friendship that ties the fates of war correspondent Kenji Goto and troubled loner Haruna Yukawa, the two Japanese hostages for which Islamic State militants demanded a $200 million ransom this week.
Discussion:
The Independent and TIME
RELATED:
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, @johnbattelle, @jayrosen_nyu, Cult of Mac, Re/code, Ubergizmo, @twitterads, SocialTimes, The Wrap, TechCrunch, New York Times, App Advice, Mashable, GeekWire, VentureBeat, The Next Web, The Verge, MacStories, MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, Engadget and iMore
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
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
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
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
Jaime Fuller / Washington Post:
Three YouTube stars interview US president and bring both serious and frank questions — This is what happens when the White House does a YouTube interview — President Obama met with three YouTube stars — each with millions of followers — to discuss his State of the Union address on Thursday.
Discussion:
Voice of America, TheBlaze.com, Mashable, Mashable and White House.gov Blog
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:
Music Business Worldwide, @jonrussell, Music Week, www.gizbot.com/, @mahesh10feb and RAIN News
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 …
Discussion:
Poynter
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
Garrett Graff named editor of Politico Mag — Garrett Graff, the former editor-in-chief of the Washingtonian, will be editor of Politico Magazine, Politico editor Susan Glasser announced in a staff memo Thursday. — Graff, who succeeded Glasser as acting editor when she became editor …
Discussion:
FishbowlNY and Capital New York
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Amazon launches Kindle Textbook Creator to help schools turn PDFs into digital books — Amazon has unveiled a new program designed to help educational establishments and authors produce ebooks for students. — With KDP EDU and the Kindle Textbook Creator, Amazon is expanding its Kindle Direct Publishing …
Discussion:
Amazon.com, GeekWire, TechCrunch, Engadget, Gigaom, GalleyCat and The Next Web
Marc Graser / Variety:
Annapurna Pictures Forms Virtual Reality Division — Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures has formed a virtual reality division as part of a joint venture with VRSE.farm, a partnership with artist Chris Milk. — New venture will give filmmakers the opportunity to develop virtual reality content and explore new ways of storytelling.
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
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
Bruce Weber / New York Times:
Tony Verna, Who Started Instant Replay and Remade Sports Television, Dies at 81 — The Army-Navy game of 1963 was an important one in that season's college football landscape. With a Heisman Trophy winner and future pro star at quarterback, Roger Staubach, Navy, the No. 2 team in the nation …
Discussion:
@dleonhardt
Gregory Ferenstein / VentureBeat:
Netflix says piracy is still a major competitor, cites Popcorn Time's rise in the Netherlands — Netflix CEO shows why piracy is a major threat again (in 3 charts) — Netflix had thought it beat back the threat of piracy. Back in 2011, when it popularized movie streaming …
Discussion:
Cult of Mac, @startupljackson, Businessweek, The Verge and TorrentFreak