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, The Local, Index on Censorship, 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
RELATED:
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.
Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:
NBC News internal probe into Brian Williams continues; third-party investigator may become involved, source says — What else has NBC News dug up on Brian WIlliams? — Brian Williams' future at NBC News may hinge on just how many other examples of exaggerations and fibs are found.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, @dangillmor, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, Mediaite, The Huffington Post and Washington Post
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Within NBC, an intense debate over whether to fire Brian Williams
Discussion:
NPR, Hot Air, Gothamist, @peterfhart, Fox News, @tvnewslab, @allahpundit and @brianstelter
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
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:
@ba_friedman, @janefriedman, @moorehn, @nickbilton, @poniewozik, @joegermuska, @tomscocca, @gregobr, @fostersarah, @digiphile and @tomscocca
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
Jeremy Barr / Capital New York:
News Director Jared Keller fired from Mic.com after plagiarism accusations — Jared Keller out at Mic — Mic news director Jared Keller has left the company. A source with knowledge of the decision said that Keller's departure was not voluntary. — Keller's work was the subject …
Discussion:
The Desk, Politico, Gawker, Poynter, @noahhurowitz, @adampopescu, @markgimein, @gawker, @allymanning, @james_dasilva, Talking Points Memo, The New York Observer and @existentialfish
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, mUmBRELLA, Reuters, Talking New Media, Media Wire Daily, MinOnline, Reuters, Bloomberg Business, Wall Street Journal and WWD
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
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
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
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
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
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
Nicole Levy / Capital New York:
Jason Whitlock on The Undefeated, ESPN's site focused on race and sports launching this summer — Inside ESPN's plans for ‘The Undefeated’ — It's been 17 months since sportswriter Jason Whitlock returned to ESPN to launch a site about the intersection of race and sports …
Discussion:
Variety and NetNewsCheck Latest
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
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