Top News:
Justin McCurry / Guardian:
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
RELATED:
Antoni Slodkowski / Reuters:
Japanese reporter's bid to save friend led to Islamic State abduction
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Telegraph, International Business Times, The Independent, TIME, New York Times, NBC News and New York Times
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:
Gigaom, The Verge, @warjesseagle, @mathewi and @carmeldea
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, Politico, @brianstelter, @mlcalderone and The Week
Jess Yu / New York Times:
New Yorker's Peter Hessler says China Daily used his byline on an editorial he didn't write — New Yorker Writer Is Surprised by Byline in Chinese Newspaper: His Own — Readers of Peter Hessler, the author of “River Town” and other well-received books about China, may have been surprised …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Cairo Scene, Shanghaiist, Business Insider and Associated Press
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Spotify updates iOS app with Touch Preview, a quick way to sample and discover music using gestures — Spotify unveils Touch Preview, a beautiful new music discovery tool — An audible solution for a visual problem — Last year was a busy one for Spotify. It hit 10 million paid subscribers.
Discussion:
CNET, TechCrunch, Pocket-lint, Engadget, Ubergizmo and The Next Web
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, @stuartxthomson, @josh_wingrove, @allansorensen, @globeandmail, @withfilesfrom, Talking Biz News and @marcooved
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.
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:
CNNMoney.com, @nytimes and The Corsair
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.
Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:
Persado Raises $21 Million to Replace Human Copywriters With Computers — Persado Inc. has raised another $21 million for software that aims to replace copywriters with computers, in another demonstration of the power of machines to solve problems that used to be the sole domain of humans.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, @kevinroose, bizjournals, Wired, Forbes, Consumerist and TechCrunch
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
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.
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:
@paulg, @pmarca, @_maggiehenry, @sicilydickenson, @ruikaneya, @wucker and @anildash
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:
@bydanielvictor, @sona and @niemanlab
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 …
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
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:
Mashable, Mediaite, Voice of America, TheBlaze.com, Mashable and White House.gov Blog
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.
The Information:
Viacom weighs buying three comedy sites: the Onion, Funny or Die, and CollegeHumor — Viacom Ponders Rollup of Comedy Sites — Through its ownership of Comedy Central, Viacom has a lock on the television funny space. Now the company is contemplating whether to extend that presence in the digital realm.
Discussion:
@cityofthetown and @alexweprin
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
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