Top News:
Donald R. Winslow / NPPA:
Sports Illustrated Lays Off All Staff Photographers — The remaining six staff photographers at Sports Illustrated magazine were all laid off yesterday. — Staff photographers Robert Beck, Simon Bruty, Bill Frakes, David E. Klutho, John W. McDonough, and Al Tielemans were informed …
Kim Severson / New York Times:
Modern Farmer's future in doubt as editorial staff leaves; PR firm says magazine will be published again in summer with new staff — Modern Farmer Ceases Publication — Modern Farmer, the 100,000-circulation quarterly and website that tried to link effete urban farmers' market culture …
Discussion:
Poynter, Adweek, Columbia Journalism Review, Mashable, The New York Observer, AdAge, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, @modfarm, The Awl, @laurahazardowen, @dannosowitz, Mashable, @neetzan, @emilydreyfuss, @heyfeifer, Jezebel, @moneyries, @dansinker, @jgrovum, @dansaltzstein, @vandermy and Modern Farmer
Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Michael Bloomberg offered to buy the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said the paper not for sale — People Are Talking About Michael Bloomberg Buying the New York Times, Including Michael Bloomberg — If the former mayor tries, it won't be without its challenges.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Media & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, Gawker, @jyarow, @edmundlee, @samgustin, @samgustin, @bobbymacreports, Media Wire Daily, @justinjm1, @andyaholt, The Daily Beast, @nxthompson, @fmanjoo, @brianstelter, @gabrielsherman, @sarahw, Talking Biz News and The Week
Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:
Is Times Vulgarity Policy Wise? Or Full of ‘Slop’? — When Jonathan Martin jumped through hoops last week to avoid using a vulgarity in the lead anecdote of his story, some readers let me know they didn't like it. — The first two paragraphs of his story on Republican options for 2016 went like this:
Discussion:
Poynter, Washington Post, Mediaite, @richarddeitsch, @deanpwright, @joumana_khatib, @sapinker, @picardonhealth, @mlcalderone and @jayrosen_nyu
Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
Bob Dylan Gives Away 50,000 Copies of His New Album to AARP The Magazine Readers — Kind of Like U2's iTunes Strategy — Bob Dylan is borrowing a page from U2's playbook to help promote his new album “Shadows in the Night” — although Mr. Dylan's approach is far more analogue than U2's …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Hit & Run, Mediaite and Associated Press
Ken Doctor / Capital New York:
Cerberus, Apollo bidding for Digital First Media — After one cost-cutting private equity company has spent close to half a decade wielding the knife at Digital First Media, how many new “efficiencies” might a second P.E. buyer find? That's the question we may soon see answered …
Discussion:
Media & Entertainment
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Walmart starts selling its Vudu Spark streaming stick for $25 — Remember Walmart's very own HDMI streaming stick, which I spotted in the FFC's online database two months ago? Turns out Walmart already started selling it for just $24.95, and is now getting ready to make it more widely available.
Discussion:
Multichannel News
USA Today:
Air catalog SkyMall seeks bankruptcy protection — The company that produces SkyMall, the in-flight shopping catalog that entices airline travelers with offers for iFetch ball launchers for dogs and mini clap-on alarm clocks, is bracing for a hard financial landing.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Wired, Fusion, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, The Verge, Poynter, Gizmodo, New York Times, @usatoday, @philjimeneznyc, Mashable, Motherboard, @ernestodmorales, @heyiamlex, @carlhancock, Skift, Red Alert Politics, Refinery29 and Boing Boing
Gideon Lichfield / Quartz:
How The Economist chose its first female editor-in-chief — This post has been corrected. — Yesterday The Economist chose Zanny Minton Beddoes to be the first female editor-in-chief in its 171-year history. “About time,” you might say. — But among its peers, the venerable British publication …
Discussion:
Guardian, @orskov, @tomstandage, @zseward and Economist Group
New York Times:
Scorsese documentary on Bill Clinton shelved over disagreements about control over interview questions and final cut — A Scorsese Documentary on Bill Clinton Is Stalled — Martin Scorsese has tackled the mob, the Dalai Lama and the real-life Wolf of Wall Street.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, @tackettdc, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times and Digital Spy
Leo Barraclough / Variety:
Citing ban on ads, foreign media ownership laws, and economy, NBCU pulls pay TV channels from Russia — NBCUniversal to Exit Pay TV Channels Market in Russia — LONDON — NBCUniversal's international arm Universal Networks Intl. has decided to stop operating pay TV channels …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Moscow Times, Advanced Television and Hollywood Reporter
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
Vice News debuts ‘virtual reality news broadcast’ of US Millions March — Digital artist Chris Milk and Spike Jonze's report was filmed at December protest in New York after death of Eric Garner — The current wave of interest in virtual reality technology may be fuelled by games …
Discussion:
New York Times, TechCrunch, VICE News, VideoInk and Pocket-lint