Top News:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
AOL To Lay Off About 150 People, Mostly In Sales; Folding Joystiq, TUAW Into Engadget — Some more details are emerging around AOL's reorganization plans. Sources tell us that the company later today is expected to announce that it is laying off around 150 people, with the majority in sales.
Discussion:
The Verge, FishbowlNY, @reckless, 9to5Mac and The Next Web
Charlie Lankston For / Daily Mail:
Daily Mail online publisher DMG Media acquires millennial-focused website Elite Daily — DMG Media acquires top global millennial website Elite Daily — Elite Daily is one of the world's leading news sites for millennials, people aged between 18 and 34
Discussion:
Elite Daily, Business Insider, @profjeffjarvis, @henrymance, @pkafka, @pkafka and @neetzan
Tara Conlan / Guardian:
Police urge TV stations to scale back live coverage of any London terrorist siege — Met commissioner says he fears that broadcast of live images could increase difficulties for police and military and risk lives of hostages — Vikram Dodd, Mark Sweney and Tara Conlan
Discussion:
@paullewismoney, @lawfulrebelli0n and @clydelewis
Reuters:
Japan, Jordan working closely on fate of captive Japanese journalist — (Reuters) - Japan was working closely with Jordan on Friday to find out what was happening to a Japanese journalist held by Islamic State militants after a deadline passed for the release of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death-row in Jordan.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Associated Press, @daveedgr, CNN, @reutersmaris and @reutersmaris
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:
The Maynard Institute …, @aaronmedwards, @sdkstl, Poynter, @bluechoochoo, @jamilsmith, @justinnxt and @sulliview
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:
Capital New York, bookforum.com, @ivorytowerjourn, @kristenhare, @markgurman, @mathewi and Fox News
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:
Publishers Weekly, NetNewsCheck Latest, Pocket-lint, Home Media Magazine, BuzzFeed and @emilysteel
RELATED:
Eric Johnson / Re/code:
Twitch hit 100M unique viewers in December 2014, more than double the 45M from a year ago — Twitch's Monthly Viewers More Than Doubled (Again) in 2014 — Video game streaming site Twitch, now owned by Amazon, said today that it has crossed 100 million monthly unique viewers …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Daily Dot, San Francisco Chronicle, @laurengoode and The Official Twitch Blog
Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:
Politico tries to replicate its own business model around targeting influentials in local and international markets, others should follow its lead — Newsonomics: From national, Politico expands into global — and local — Twenty years ago, Jim VandeHei took an unassuming job …
Discussion:
Business Insider
Todd Shields / Bloomberg Business:
FCC considers formal complaint process for reviewing paid peering deals like those for Netflix — Netflix Deals With Broadband Providers Said to Get Oversight — Don't Miss Out — (Bloomberg) — U.S. regulators plan to issue rules next month allowing them to review …
Discussion:
Gigaom
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Jay-Z takes on Beats and Spotify with acquisition of music-streaming services Tidal and WiMP for $56M — Here's an interesting piece of acquisition news for a Friday morning: International rapping superstar Jay-Z is on the verge of buying Swedish company Aspiro AB — the firm that owns …
Discussion:
Business Wire, Reuters, Music Ally, New York Times, TechCrunch, Bloomberg Business, Telegraph, NME, Financial Times, TIME, Guardian, Business Insider, CNET, Gizmodo, City A.M., The Verge, Engadget, Pocket-lint and The Next Web
Jeet Heer / The New Republic:
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:
FishbowlDC, bookforum.com, @coreyrobin, The Huffington Post, @tomsugrue, @seanmcelwee, @mazmhussain, @rortybomb, @nickfoxnyt, @clairegroden, Gawker and Politico
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:
Nieman Lab, @craigmod, @pbump, @exiledsurfer and Techdirt