Mediagazer: Music labels push to limit free streaming as licenses come up for renewal, but Spotify has leverage with large subscriber base and proven revenue growth (Glenn Peoples/Billboard)

12:35 AM ET, March 25, 2015

Top News:

Felix Salmon / Fusion:

How Facebook could kill the news brand — It seems my prediction is coming true: Facebook wants news stories to live within its own app. That's better for Facebook's readers, who don't need to click on links and wait for clunky external websites, and it's better for Facebook …

Discussion: Poynter, The Atlantic Online, @lpolgreen, @newswhip, @ow, @ryanchittum, @gaberivera, Medium, PRNewser, CNBC, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, PCMag Australia Feed, The Verge, Marketing Land, Gawker and New York Times

The Information:
Facebook is in talks with several media firms, including Vice, The Onion, and Vox Media, to produce high quality short-form sponsored videos

Discussion: @cityofthetown and Engadget

Justin Ellis / Nieman Lab:

Atavist revamps its publishing software to push design and readability to the fore — The web made it easier for anyone to put their writing out in the world. But what happens after the crowd gets used to becoming publishers? They want it to look good, naturally.

Discussion: Co.Design and Capital New York

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Instead of building bespoke platforms, publishers are turning to others, like Facebook — A wave of distributed content is coming — will publishers sink or swim? — Last August, when BuzzFeed announced a new $50 million round of venture capital investment, a lot of journalists heard …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Medium, @davewiner, @raju, @jayrosen_nyu, @jbenton, @nicolasmagand and @mattwaite

Capital New York:

The 60-second interview: Mat Honan, San Francisco bureau chief, Buzzfeed News — CAPITAL: On Feb. 23, Buzzfeed announced four more hires for its San Francisco bureau, which has been staffing up of late. Some have wondered, only partially sarcastically, whether there will come …

Discussion: @lauraolin, @miriamelder, @niemanlab and @margarita

Steven Perlberg / Wall Street Journal:

BuzzFeed launches podcasts focusing on race, gender, web and pop culture — BuzzFeed Joins the Podcast Frenzy — BuzzFeed is famous for its ability to draw in the eyeballs of a vast, young audience. Now it wants their ears, too. — The entertainment and news website will on Tuesday launch …

Discussion: Advertising & Branding, Poynter, FishbowlNY, @shaliniwsj, @perlberg, @digitalshields and @taylorlorenz

Tim Adams / Observer:

A photographer's project in Philadelphia documents the hollowing out of US metro newspapers — The slow death of the great American newsroom — The newspaper industry in the US is in freefall as the shift to digital news accelerates. One photojournalist has spent five years lamenting the decline, and charting what has been lost

Emily Steel / New York Times:

Netflix, Amazon and Hulu No Longer Find Themselves TV's Upstarts — Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have suddenly found themselves playing a new role: the establishment. — After years of waging an assault on the traditional television business, these companies now must defend their turf …

Glenn Peoples / Billboard:

Music labels push to limit free streaming as licenses come up for renewal, but Spotify has leverage with large subscriber base and proven revenue growth — Much Ado About Streaming: Why Free Listening Isn't Dead — The controversy over free streaming is reaching a boiling point reminiscent …

Discussion: Quartz, Forbes and Electronista

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Hearst president David Carey: 'We're a content company with a platform mentality' — This is Executive Summary, a new Digiday series featuring media company leaders talking about how they're meeting the demands of the shifting digital media landscape. To kick off the series …

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

The Scene of the Crime: A reporter's journey to My Lai and the secrets of the past — There is a long ditch in the village of My Lai. On the morning of March 16, 1968, it was crowded with the bodies of the dead—dozens of women, children, and old people, all gunned down by young American soldiers.

Discussion: @annehelen and Common Dreams

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Jason Kilar's Vessel Will Not Offer Long-Form TV Content Like Netflix — Vessel, the digital subscription-video startup founded by Jason Kilar — the founding CEO of Hulu — officially launched Tuesday, looking to take a bite out of YouTube. — But, he says, the TV content service …

Discussion: Fast Company

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar launches Vessel, a $2.99/month early access online video subscription service; 12 months free if you sign up within 72 hours

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @jasonkilar, TechCrunch, @joan_e, @smpfilms, Vessel, Re/code, Reuters, Engadget and The Verge

Jasper Jackson / Guardian:

Times website develops edition-based publishing model — Proposed plan for morning, lunchtime and afternoon editions is part of wider initiative called Project D — The Times is developing a new edition-based digital publishing model that would see its website refreshed at set times throughout the day …

Discussion: @fleetstreetfox and @markfergusonuk

Ken Doctor / Capital New York:

Profile of NPR CEO Jarl Mohn, detailing his outreach efforts to smaller NPR stations — What are they thinking? Jarl Mohn, putting the ‘R’ back in NPR — To inaugurate his tenure as NPR's fifth C.E.O. in six years, Jarl Mohn took a page from the playbook of campaigning politicians and embarked on an unconventional listening tour.

Discussion: @radiofinn and @davidfolkenflik

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Trade group led by AT&T and Verizon sues FCC to overturn net neutrality — FCC calls early lawsuit “premature and subject to dismissal.” — The Federal Communications Commission's new net neutrality rules haven't taken effect yet, but they're already facing lawsuits from Internet service providers.