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 …
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:
Media & Entertainment, FishbowlNY, @samgustin, @samgustin, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Media Wire Daily, @gabrielsherman, The Daily Beast, @nxthompson, @fmanjoo, @bobbymacreports, @jyarow, @sarahw, @justinjm1, @edmundlee, @brianstelter, @andyaholt, The Week and Talking Biz News
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, FishbowlNY, @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 Associated Press
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, Wired, Bloomberg, Poynter, Bloomberg, New York Times, Refinery29, The Verge, Gizmodo, @usatoday, @philjimeneznyc, Mashable, Motherboard, @ernestodmorales, @heyiamlex, @carlhancock, Skift and Boing Boing
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
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, Pocket-lint, TechCrunch and VideoInk
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, Digital Spy and Washington Times
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Walmart is getting ready to sell its Vudu Spark streaming stick — Remember Walmart's very own HDMI streaming stick, which I spotted in the FFC's online database two months ago? It looks like the retail giant is getting ready to sell its answer to Chromecast: Walmart's Vudu video streaming service …
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, Tubefilter, 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.
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.
Discussion:
New York Times