Mediagazer: Bloomberg digital editor Josh Topolsky on uncomfortable news design, new ad units, and why they killed the comments. (Caroline O'Donovan/Nieman Lab)

8:20 PM ET, January 29, 2015

Top News:

The New Republic's Legacy on Race — A historical reflection — Legacies are never simple; they create victims as well as beneficiaries. The more substantial the legacy, the more heated the disputes are over who has title of ownership, who gets to enjoy an inheritance, and who is left out in the cold.

Discussion: @tomsugrue, Gawker, @nickfoxnyt, @seanmcelwee, @clairegroden, @mazmhussain, @rortybomb and The Huffington Post

Dylan Byers / Politico:

The New Republic's next issue to discuss its “perceived legacy of racism”, directly addresses past criticism — The New Republic addresses its ‘perceived legacy of racism’ — The forthcoming issue of The New Republic — its first since a mass staff shakeup in December …

Discussion: @gabrielsnyder, @theferocity, @mrwaltershapiro, @davidavrombell, @heminator, @pegobry, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The Wrap, @notjessewalker, @ericboehlert, @ggreenwald, @jayrosen_nyu, @davidharsanyi, @mlcalderone, @blakehounshell and FishbowlDC

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

After New York Times ends a focused beat on race, proof of its commitment to coverage of the topic remains to be seen — In a Time of Racial Turmoil, Why Change Course on Covering Race? — To state the obvious, it seems like an odd time to discontinue the one Times beat devoted solely to race and ethnicity.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, The Maynard Institute …, Poynter, @sdkstl, @bluechoochoo, @sulliview, @jamilsmith, @aaronmedwards, @justinnxt and FishbowlNY

Katie Hawkins-Gaar / Poynter:

NYT featured nine Instagram photos on its front page, but didn't tell photographers before publication — Instagrammers discover front-page NYT placement by chance — It was an exciting moment for user-generated content. The New York Times featured nine Instagram photos on the front page of its Wednesday edition.

Discussion: @mdeziel, @mathewi, @antderosa, @alexjamesfitz, @digiphile and BAGnewsNotes

Emily Bell / Guardian:

Emily Bell says digital news is askew, journalists need to be technically proficient and technologists need to be adept at news — Emily Bell's 2015 Hugh Cudlipp lecture - full text — The 12th annual Hugh Cudlipp lecture, as delivered by the director of Columbia University's Tow centre for digital journalism

Discussion: @lavrusik, @sulliview, @marklittlenews, @rifish, @miskaknapek, @mattmcalister, @cityofsound, @lisaocarroll, @dgtedford, @lisaocarroll, @acuity_design and @emilybell

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Al Jazeera English news director tells employees to continue leaking memos — Al Jazeera English has a plan to deal with the recent leaks that have aired the organization's preferences regarding style and usage: invite its employees to keep leaking. — Salah Negm, director of news …

Discussion: @markgurman, Capital New York, Fox News, @ivorytowerjourn, @mathewi, @kristenhare, National Review and Mediaite

Ross Miller / The Verge:

Associated Press now writes 3K stories per quarter on US earning reports after teaming with Automated Insights, plans to expand globally — AP's ‘robot journalists’ are writing their own stories now — Minutes after Apple released its record-breaking quarterly earnings this week …

Discussion: THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, Washington Post, @mtdukes, @eamonjavers, Poynter and @jameskotecki

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Amazon Spent $1.3 Billion on Prime Instant Video in 2014 — Amazon.com, which is gunning for Netflix in the subscription-video space, invested $1.3 billion in its Prime Instant Video last year, according to founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. — Netflix, by contrast, spent $3.8 billion in 2014 …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Pocket-lint, BuzzFeed and @emilysteel

Donna Tam / CNET:
Amazon posts $214M profit, $0.45 EPS in Q4 2014 on $29.33B revenue; Prime membership grows 53% year over year

Discussion: VentureBeat, Gigaom, Re/code, Bloomberg Business, New York Times, GeekWire, @awallenstein and The Verge

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Mashable raises $17M in series B funding led by Time Warner, Business Insider raises additional $25M led by Axel Springer — Mashable and Business Insider close large new financing rounds — Mashable announced late Wednesday night that it has closed a new round of financing worth $17 million …

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:

Bloomberg digital editor Josh Topolsky on uncomfortable news design, new ad units, and why they killed the comments. — Bloomberg launched a fresh, new Bloomberg Business Tuesday night, to both acclaim and confusion. Change has long been afoot lately at Bloomberg Media …

Discussion: @mathewi and @bobbymacreports, Thanks:@amandabcowie

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Indiana governor cancels controversial news site — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has told the Indiana press corps that he plans to cancel “Just IN,” a proposed state-run news source that some feared would be used as an end-around the press. — Maureen Hayden, Indiana statehouse bureau chief …

Discussion: Indianapolis Star and Talking Points Memo

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Super Bowl Halftime: Katy Perry to Pitch Merch on YouTube, Twitter, Roku and Connected TVs — Katy Perry will use her time in the spotlight of the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show as a launchpad to flog limited-edition products to her fans. — The songstress, in partnership with Universal Music Group …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Adweek, AgencySpy, Forbes, LostRemote, Globe and Mail, AdAge, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, CraveOnline and The Awl

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:

Time Warner Cable Q4: 38K cable subscribers lost, revenue up 3.8% year over year to $5.8B — Sub Losses Improve At Time Warner Cable — Q4 Is Best Subscriber Period in 7 Years — Time Warner Cable, in perhaps its last quarterly earnings release before it is acquired by Comcast …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Media & Entertainment, USA Today, @multinews, Bloomberg Business, Reuters and Home Media Magazine

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Imgur introduces new tool to make high-quality GIFs from streaming video like YouTube — Imgur's new tool makes the most beautiful GIFs on the web — Imgur has been on a quest to upgrade the GIF, and part of that means making GIFs look a whole lot nicer.

Discussion: Re/code, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, SlashGear and The Imgur Blog

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:

NBA players and fans turn to Vine for game highlights — Vine: The Best Way to Watch the NBA — How Six-Second Videos Are Changing the Game for Fans; See Ballmer Dance and LeBron Ignore Waiters — It was a play that, in the olden days, no one would have remembered.

Reuters:

Facebook challenges Twitter with targeted ads during Super Bowl based on what people are talking about in real-time — Facebook to sell real-time Super Bowl ads, taking on Twitter — (Reuters) - This Super Bowl Facebook is taking a page from Twitter's playbook, for the first time during …

Discussion: Facebook, Forbes, The Content Strategist, @lavrusik, SocialTimes, Wired, LostRemote, Adweek, AdExchanger, New York Times, TIME, The Next Web, Pocket-lint, Engadget, VentureBeat, AdAge, Business Insider, Gigaom and AgencySpy

Andy Baio / Medium:

As Google leaves archival projects in limbo, the Internet Archive steps in to preserve digital history — Never trust a corporation to do a library's job — Google wrote its mission statement in 1999, a year after launch, setting the course for the company's next decade:

Discussion: @pbump, @exiledsurfer and Techdirt

David Ljunggren / Reuters:

Wife of flogged Saudi blogger says his health is worsening — (Reuters) - The wife of a Saudi rights activist, sentenced last year to 1,000 lashes for criticizing the Kingdom's clerics in his blog, said on Thursday her husband's health had worsened after the first round of flogging and that he could not survive the full punishment.

Amol Sharma / Wall Street Journal:

Dish's Reverse AutoHop to let viewers skip the Super Bowl and watch only the commercials — Attention Football-Hating TV Commercial Lovers - This Dish is For You — All those football haters who only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials have a new ally: Dish Network.

Discussion: Multichannel News, GeekDad, Gizmodo, Consumerist, Big Picture Big Sound and CNBC

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More News:

Maya Kosoff / Business Insider:
Spotify working with Goldman Sachs to raise $500M at possible $6B+ valuation; could delay IPO for another year

Discussion: The Verge and Mashable

Mike Corder / Associated Press:
Gunman taken into custody after entering Dutch national broadcaster, demanding airtime

Discussion: BBC

Harvey Weinstein / Variety:
Hollywood Must Find Ways to Make Up for Collapse of DVD Market

Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
HBO tech executives leave ahead of Internet launch as network's strategy changes

Discussion: App Advice

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nickelodeon to unveil stand-alone streaming video subscription service in February

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, CNBC, New York Post, @sub8u, CNNMoney, AdAge, ABC News, The Verge, Deadline, Ubergizmo, New York Times, TechCrunch, Mashable, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Consumerist, Gizmodo, @zseward, @xpangler, Broadcasting & Cable, WebProNews, Digital Spy and Gigaom

New York Times:
Talks with ISIS for release of Japanese journalist and Jordanian pilot said to have failed

Discussion: Rory Peck Trust, Canadian Press, Telegraph, CNN, The Independent, The Independent and Latest News & Headlines

Pew Research Center:
New study finds 60% of Americans who have heard of Hebdo attack are okay with published cartoons of Prophet, with 70% citing freedom of speech/press

Discussion: @mlcalderone, Washington Post, Forbes and The Week

Emily Steel / New York Times:
Showtime Plans a Global Push, Starting With a Canadian Deal

Discussion: PR Newswire and Globe and Mail

Earlier Picks:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Viacom Q1: profit down 8.6% to $500M, ad revenue down 6%, revenue up 4.4% to $3.34B but missing estimates

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Home Media Magazine

Agence France-Presse:
Mumbai Editor Arrested Over Charlie Hebdo Reprint

Discussion: dna and The Indian Express

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Chair of IPSO's funding body blasts new press regulator for failing to set up whistleblowers' hotline four months on

Guardian:
Andrew Miller to stand down as chief executive of Guardian Media Group

Discussion: MediaTel, Guardian and Press Gazette

Agence France-Presse:
US concerned about press freedom in China: senior diplomat

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Tumblr Takes On Medium With Upgrades To Its Writing Interface And More

Discussion: Tumblr Staff, The Next Web, Tumblr Staff, Ubergizmo, Marketing Land, Mashable, SlashGear, The Verge and Fast Company

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Andrew Sullivan fueled a blog ecosystem that rose from troublemaking to fatal respectability

Casey Newton / The Verge:
How one of the best films at Sundance was shot using an iPhone 5S

Discussion: 9to5Mac, TUAW and BGR

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Lee-Anne Mulholland / The Keyword:
Google files its proposed remedies in the DOJ's search antitrust lawsuit, including letting browser companies have multiple default agreements across platforms

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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