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:
Gigaom, Mumbrella Asia, Poynter, Index on Censorship, The Local, wort.lu, Shanghaiist, Vocativ, The Local, South China Morning Post, Hurriyet Daily News, See it First, The Moscow Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Ecumenical News, Associated Press, UPI, EUobserver, Business Insider, PC World, The Times of Israel, www.eng.24.kg, DW.DE, Voice of America, Agence France-Presse, American Press Institute, @pankajpachauri, @postbaron, @rdewan and @meritwager
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Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
U.S. Drops to 49th in World Press Freedom Rankings, Worst Since Obama Became President — Each year, Reporters Without Borders issues a worldwide ranking of nations based on the extent to which they protect or abridge press freedom. The group's 2015 ranking was released this morning, and the United States is ranked 49th.
Jon Ronson / New York Times:
How One Stupid Tweet Ruined Justine Sacco's Life — Credit: Photo illustration by Andrew B. Myers. Prop stylist: Sonia Rentsch. — As she made the long journey from New York to South Africa, to visit family during the holidays in 2013, Justine Sacco, 30 years old and the senior director …
Discussion:
@janefriedman, @moorehn, @nickbilton, @poniewozik, @joegermuska, @tomscocca, @gregobr, @fostersarah, @digiphile and @tomscocca
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, Hot Air, @peterfhart, Gothamist, Fox News, @tvnewslab, @allahpundit and @brianstelter
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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
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, New Yorker, CNNMoney, TVNewser, @nytimesbusiness, Salon, Bloomberg Business, Inside Cable News, The Buttry Diary and PoliticusUSA
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
Lester Holt seen as heir apparent to Brian Williams at ‘Nightly News’
Discussion:
CNNMoney, MadameNoire, The Maynard Institute …, Washington Post, Mashable, The Daily Beast and USA Today
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, TVNewser, THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, @poynter and @niemanreports, Thanks:@benmullin
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.
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, AdAge, Reuters, Talking New Media, Media Wire Daily, MinOnline, Reuters, Bloomberg Business, Wall Street Journal and WWD
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:
@nils_gilman, @dangillmor, @georgemonbiot and Guardian
Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
Editors at 11 Time Inc. magazines worked on a print ad campaign for Google Chrome mobile app last fall, CEO Joe Ripp tells investors — Time, InStyle Editors Helped Create Print Ads for Google Campaign — Cost Cutting Boosts Profits During Fourth Quarter — TV and Technology
Chris Smith / Digiday:
Publisher departures, technical glitches, and lack of signups led to the failure of Piano Media's countrywide Slovenian paywall — How a countrywide paywall faltered — Publishers on the hunt for digital media are increasingly turning to paywalls or metered-access systems.
Discussion:
@digiday and American Press Institute
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:
CNNMoney, TVNewser, New York Post, NY Daily News, TVNewser, CBS New York, @scottpelley, TVNewser, Variety, New York Times, FishbowlDC, bizjournals, CBS San Francisco, Poynter, @howardfineman, @mariakiro7, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Gothamist, LA Observed, The Newspaper Guild, UPROXX, Gawker, abc7chicago.com, Hollywood Reporter, Fox News, The Wrap, @xeni, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, The Week, Politico, @jenearlyspeakin, @jaketapper, Business Insider, @carr2n and Broadcasting & Cable
Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:
CBS Q4 2014 beats estimates with $3.68B revenue on football, local political ads, but net earnings down due to NFL payments — NFL Pushes CBS Revenue Up, But Cuts into Profits — CBS reported lower profits in the fourth quarter because of big payments to the NFL for Thursday Night Football offset gains in advertising revenue.
Discussion:
The Wrap, AdAge, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Variety
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, @niemanlab and China Digital Times
Kevin Draper / Deadspin:
Yahoo deleted blog post last year and considered firing its writer after the owner of Cleveland Cavaliers complained to Marissa Mayer — Dan Gilbert Didn't Like A Yahoo Blog Post, So Yahoo Deleted It — Quicken Loans is a predatory lender. It's impossible to read the numerous lawsuits …
Discussion:
@cityofthetown, @caseynewton, @willoremus, @karaswisher, @ekoreen and @kevinmdraper
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:
TVNewser, New York Times, Al Jazeera America, Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, @bahrooz, Associated Press, Associated Press, @petergreste, Mirror.co.uk, CBC News, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Firstpost, Toronto Star, Haaretz, Reuters, CP24, See it First, Daily Mail, BBC, Deadline, Foreign Policy, Gulf News, CityNews, NEWS.com.au, Sky News, Mashable, ABC, Globe and Mail, Telegraph, ITV and Voice of America
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
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