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Andrew Sullivan to give up blogging; future of The Dish unclear — A Note To My Readers — One of the things I've always tried to do at the Dish is to be up-front with readers. This sometimes means grotesque over-sharing; sometimes it means I write imprudent arguments I have to withdraw …
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Andrew Sullivan fueled a blog ecosystem that rose from troublemaking to fatal respectability — My Life In The Blogosphere — One of the first, and last, great bloggers pulled the plug today. — John Gara/BuzzFeed — I first really understood the secret power of the early 2000s political blogosphere …
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Gawker, @johnness, @stephengutowski, @televisionary, @ddayen, @ecourtem, @sippey, @nycsouthpaw, @dylanlscott, @annehelen, @demfromct, @tomgara, @jrboh and Washington Post

Mashable raises $17M led by Time Warner, Business Insider raises $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, led by Time Warner Investments …
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Wall Street Journal, PRWeb, @gaberivera, @jennijenni, @petecashmore, @stacymartinet, @adamostrow, @mathewi, @petecashmore, @mathewi and @mathewi


Snapchat's new Discover feature could be a significant moment in the evolution of mobile news — You may have missed it in the #snowpocalpyse that wasn't1, but Snapchat unveiled a new feature called Discover Tuesday that puts news into the ephemeral chat app so popular among American teens and young adults:
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“SnapperHero” Snapchat Scripted Series to Debut with YouTube Stars
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Bloomberg Business, Variety, AdAge, @peterlauria3, The New York Observer, @jesseredniss, Digital Spy, The Next Web, Broadcasting & Cable, Tubefilter, Engadget and @mathewi

Snapchat's Discover feature for news could also function more broadly as an app platform
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@besvinick, @buster, @calebgarling and @caseynewton


BBC News director James Harding's multimedia look at the past, present, and future of news — Future of News … The disruption … The future of BBC News?
Discussion:
Press Gazette and Washington Post
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BBC releases report looking at its plans to cover news as it prepares for 2017 charter renewal — Here's how the BBC, disrupted by technology and new habits, is thinking about its future — As the United Kingdom's national broadcaster, the BBC operates under a royal charter …
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@lakitalki, @katieyaeger, @nywici and @amlwhere

Google says it fought gag orders in WikiLeaks investigation — Google has fought all gag orders preventing it from telling customers that their e-mails and other data were sought by the U.S. government in a long-running investigation of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks …
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@thomas_drake1, @avilarenata, @ioerror, Boing Boing, @apblake and @mattcutts


How one of the best films at Sundance was shot using an iPhone 5S — Tangerine, a breakout hit from this year's Sundance Film Festival, is full of surprises. There's the subject matter: transgender prostitutes working in a not-so glamorous part of Hollywood. And there are the characters: flinty, funny, nobody's victim.


Tumblr Takes On Medium With Upgrades To Its Writing Interface And More — Starting today, Tumblr is rolling out a series of updates to its online blogging platform designed to make the service more attractive and useful for content creators, and specifically for those writing long-form content.
Discussion:
Tumblr Staff, Fast Company, The Verge, SlashGear and The Next Web


Tesco Inks Deal For Rakuten's Kobo To Take On Blinkbox Books' Customers, Other Assets — Some closure in the ongoing story of retail giant Tesco offloading its digital content effort blinkbox. Assets from blinkbox Books — specifically customer accounts and existing e-book libraries …
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly and Ink, Bits, & Pixels


US concerned about press freedom in China: senior diplomat — 6 hrs ago — Beijing (AFP) - Washington is concerned about press freedom in China, a senior US diplomat said in Beijing Wednesday as some US news organisations face repercussions over their reporting of issues deemed sensitive by the ruling Communist Party.


The Guardian launches its new responsive website worldwide — Welcome to the new Guardian website — After more than 18 months of development, the Guardian has unveiled a new site for its readers in the UK and around the world — The Guardian has a history stretching back almost 200 years of creating world-class journalism.
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Digiday, The Next Web, @aizlewood, @arusbridger, Press Gazette, Business Insider, Press Gazette, Guardian, Guardian, @jayrosen_nyu, @brianboyer, @janinegibson and @stuartdredge
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Kenji Goto's reporting is voice of humanity in times of atrocity — Kenji Goto, the 47-year-old television journalist held captive by the Islamic State (IS), is not a typical reporter, nor is he typically Japanese. But his courage and commitment to broadcasting humane stories …
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@camanpour, @dgisserious, @ishaantharoor, DW.DE, NHK WORLD and Reuters