Top News:
Reporters Without Borders:
Freedom of information declined in 2/3 of the 180 countries surveyed for World Press Freedom Index — World Press Freedom Index 2015: decline on all fronts — The Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index ranks the performance of 180 countries according to a range of criteria …
Discussion:
The Intercept, Business Insider, Associated Press, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, PC World, Voice of America, Agence France-Presse, The Local, wort.lu, Shanghaiist, DW.DE, The Local, @pankajpachauri, Hurriyet Daily News, See it First, Mumbrella Asia, The Moscow Times, @rdewan, EUobserver, @meritwager, @postbaron, The Times of Israel, www.eng.24.kg and American Press Institute
Emily Steel / New York Times:
Behind NBC's decision to suspend TV anchor Brian Williams, after an internal probe into his tales of facing danger in Iraq and New Orleans — Brian Williams Scandal Prompts Frantic Efforts at NBC to Curb Rising Damage — Hours before Brian Williams took the anchor's chair for the nightly newscast …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, CNNMoney, TVNewser, @nytimesbusiness, Salon, Inside Cable News, The Buttry Diary and PoliticusUSA
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Washington Post:
Within NBC, an intense debate over whether to fire Brian Williams — (Stephanie Klein-Davis/Roanoke Times via AP) — Senior NBC officials seriously considered firing anchor Brian Williams because he lied to his viewers about riding in a military helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during …
Discussion:
NPR, Fox News, Gothamist, Hot Air, @peterfhart, @tvnewslab, @allahpundit and @brianstelter
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
Lester Holt seen as heir apparent to Brian Williams at ‘Nightly News’
Lester Holt seen as heir apparent to Brian Williams at ‘Nightly News’
Discussion:
CNNMoney, The Maynard Institute …, Washington Post, MadameNoire, Mashable, The Daily Beast and USA Today
CBS News:
Longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, 73, dies in car crash in New York City — CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, 1941-2015 — NEW YORK — Bob Simon, the longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent and legendary CBS News foreign reporter died suddenly tonight in a car accident in New York City.
Discussion:
New York Post, NY Daily News, CNNMoney, TVNewser, TVNewser, Variety, @scottpelley, Poynter, New York Times, bizjournals, CBS New York, SPJ News, Talking Points Memo, @mariakiro7, @howardfineman, @xeni, @jaketapper, @jenearlyspeakin, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Gothamist, UPROXX, Politico, Gawker, abc7chicago.com, Hollywood Reporter, LA Observed, Fox News, Business Insider, The Wrap, @carr2n, The Newspaper Guild, The Huffington Post, The Week and Broadcasting & Cable
Will Steacy / Popular Mechanics:
How The New York Times Works — This is how the Gray Lady gets made in 2015 — Ernie Booth, the operations manager of the main printing plant of The New York Times, is walking the floor. The plant is a 515,000-square-foot building in Queens, on the Van Wyck Expressway, half a mile from LaGuardia Airport.
Discussion:
@msquinn, @nickconfessore, @monkbent, @antderosa, @mlcalderone, @grantwiggins, @viasimonromero, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY and American Press Institute
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
Major news organizations to reveal new freelancer safety guidelines … A coalition of prominent news outlets and journalism advocacy groups Thursday will release a set of guidelines at Columbia Journalism School for the protection of freelancers. — The recommendations …
Discussion:
dartcenter.org, @poynter and @niemanreports, Thanks:@benmullin
Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Le Monde owner's criticism of HSBC leak coverage lays bare fragility of press freedom — AJ Liebling's famous aphorism - “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one” - cannot be said often enough. — I imagine there are journalists in Paris saying something like this today.
Discussion:
@dangillmor, @nils_gilman, @georgemonbiot and Guardian
David Dawson / The Diplomat:
Chinese Authorities Snuff out Last Online Remnants of the New York Times — The paper's last social media account vanished from Sina Weibo this week. — Likes — On Monday the Chinese authorities played one of the last cards in their war against the New York Times in Chinese cyberspace.
Discussion:
@andrewjacobsnyt, China Digital Times and @niemanlab
Nicole Levy / Capital New York:
Time Inc. 2014 revenue $3.28B, down 2% from previous year, digital ad revenue up 6% for the year — In its first year on its own, Time Inc. hits some turbulence — Fiscal year 2014 was a difficult one for Time Inc., America's largest magazine publisher, which spun off last June …
Discussion:
Guardian, WWD, Media Wire Daily, Bloomberg Business, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Talking New Media
BBC:
Al Jazeera trial: Egypt court frees journalists on bail — A court in Egypt has ordered the release on bail of two Al Jazeera journalists, at the start of their retrial on the charge of spreading false news to help a terrorist group. — Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were imprisoned …
Discussion:
Al Jazeera America, New York Times, Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, NEWS.com.au, Daily Mail, BBC, Mirror.co.uk, Reuters, CBC News, Toronto Star, Deadline, @bahrooz, See it First, Firstpost, CP24, CityNews, Associated Press, Associated Press, Haaretz, @petergreste, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Foreign Policy, Gulf News, Sky News, ABC, Globe and Mail, Mashable, Telegraph, Voice of America and ITV
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Insider view of Jeff Bezos' involvement in product development for the Washington Post's Kindle Fire app — How involved has Jeff Bezos been at The Washington Post? Here's one data point — One question that's been asked a lot since Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post is how involved he is in the newspaper's evolution.
Discussion:
@josephjames, Fast Company and Washingtonian
Tim Peterson / AdAge:
Facebook to show live relevance scores for ads based on expected feedback from target audience, to let advertisers tweak ads for higher relevance, lower cost — It's a 10: Facebook Starts Telling Brands How Relevant Their Ads Are — Highly Relevant Ads May Cost Less for Advertisers
Discussion:
mUmBRELLA
Joellen Easton / Public Insight Network:
American Public Media reports on its evaluation of early crowdfunder Spot.us and officially sunsets project — Spot.us is going away, but its legacy inspires new chapters of crowdfunding playbook — A year ago, American Public Media decided to place the crowdfunding site Spot.us on hiatus …
David Uberti / Columbia Journalism Review:
Jon Stewart served as an irreverent media critic for a generation turned off by broadcast news — Why the media will miss Jon Stewart — The fake newsman gave viewers what many legacy outlets could not — I was a sophomore at Northwestern University in 2010 when The Daily Show's Jon Stewart …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Washington Post, USA Today, Slate, @cjr, @daviduberti, Media & Entertainment, New Yorker, WGBH News, The Huffington Post and Rolling Stone
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David Carr / New York Times:
Jon Stewart and Brian Williams were both kings of their crafts, with similar backgrounds and divergent futures
Jon Stewart and Brian Williams were both kings of their crafts, with similar backgrounds and divergent futures
Discussion:
Robert Feder, Mediaite, Washington Post, @nytimesbusiness, TVNewser, @nomadicnyer, @dangillmor, Digiday, Tyndall Report, Capital New York and Politico