Mediagazer: Cerberus, Apollo bidding for Digital First Media (Ken Doctor/Capital New York)

3:40 PM ET, January 23, 2015

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 …

Discussion: Capital New York, Folio, Poynter, Media & Entertainment, LA Observed, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, Poynter, @mathewi, Awful Announcing, Mashable and @romenesko

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.

Kim Severson / New York Times:

Modern Farmer ceases publication after longstanding battle between founder and primary investor — Modern Farmer Ceases Publication — Modern Farmer, the 100,000-circulation quarterly and website that tried to link effete urban farmers' market culture with the practicalities of actual farming …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter, The Awl, @modfarm, @laurahazardowen, @heyfeifer, @neetzan, @vandermy, @moneyries, Mashable, @dannosowitz, Modern Farmer, @dansinker, @dansaltzstein, @emilydreyfuss and @jgrovum

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, @deanpwright, @joumana_khatib, @sapinker, @picardonhealth, @mlcalderone, @richarddeitsch 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: Mediaite and FishbowlNY

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

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, @zseward, @tomstandage and Economist Group

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, Fusion, Poynter, Wired, Bloomberg, New York Times, Bloomberg, Refinery29, The Verge, Gizmodo, @usatoday, @philjimeneznyc, Mashable, Motherboard, @ernestodmorales, @heyiamlex, @carlhancock, Skift and Boing Boing

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, VICE News, TechCrunch, VideoInk and Pocket-lint

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: Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, @tackettdc, Washington Free Beacon, Mediaite, Washington Times and Digital Spy

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Filmmakers are finding more buyers at Sundance as digital firms join traditional buyers — Sundance goes digital: Why it's a great time to be a filmmaker — You've made a spellbinding drama or a heart-wrenching documentary. Now what? — Now you try to sell it to distributors, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Television Becomes a Force at Sundance Film Festival

Discussion: @nytimes and The Corsair

John McDermott / Digiday:

Sources: Snapchat's Discover feature will include content created by newly hired media team — Inside Snapchat's original media ambitions — Snapchat wants to be more than just a distribution channel for other media companies; it's planning on becoming a publisher itself.

Discussion: Tubefilter, Gigaom, Engadget, The Verge, @carmeldea, @mathewi, @zielina, @patrick_media and @warjesseagle

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Disney's Maker Studios Struggles to Migrate Its Audience To Maker.tv — Maker Studios reaches a huge audience on YouTube through videos created by its 50,000-plus creators. But attracting Web video fans to its own video site, Maker.tv, is proving tougher.

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, Hollywood Reporter, The Moscow Times and Advanced Television

Todd Spangler / Variety:

GoPro and NHL team up for live broadcast of player perspective beginning All-Star Weekend — NHL Players Strap On GoPro Cameras for Live TV Broadcasts — Hockey fans, get ready for some in-your-face action from the ice: The NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association reached …

Discussion: CNNMoney.com, NEWS IN ENGLISH, TechCrunch, bizjournals, ABC News, USA Today, CNET, The Next Web, CBSSports.com, Gizmodo and Engadget

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

Jezebel staffers express concern after Gawker Media seating chart is published — Staffers at Jezebel, Gawker Media's women's blog, are upset that Gawker's new seating chart was leaked to and published on The Awl, a blog founded by a former editor at Gawker.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Awl, @petersterne, Gawker and PandoDaily