Mediagazer: Pondering the possibilities and the challenges for journalism in virtual worlds as VR becomes mainstream (Taylor Owen/Columbia Journalism Review)

3:50 PM ET, December 13, 2016

Top News:

Taylor Owen / Columbia Journalism Review:

Pondering the possibilities and the challenges for journalism in virtual worlds as VR becomes mainstream — In June 2003, the San Francisco company Linden Labs launched a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game called Second Life. It quickly grew to over a million users …

Discussion: Oculus, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, @tim and Fortune

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Virtual reality game-maker Survios raises Series C round led by film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — Hollywood continues to spend big on virtual reality: Culver City, Calif.-based virtual reality startup Survios has raised a new Series C round of funding led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Discussion: The Wrap and VentureBeat

Kelsey Sutton / Politico:

Time Inc.'s president and COO of sales and marketing, Mark Ellis, is leaving the company; Chief Revenue Officer Mark Ford is stepping down from his role — Mark Ellis, Time Inc.'s president and COO of sales and marketing, is leaving the company in March, part of a handful of executive changes …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Folio and Media Wire Daily

Eve Peyser / Gizmodo:

Google refuses to change search results for ‘Did the Holocaust happen?’, despite previously manipulating results to favor its own products — If you Google “did the Holocaust happen” the first result is a link from Stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist forum that's widely regarded …

Discussion: The Daily Dot, @dannysullivan, @melaniehannah, @dannysullivan, @dannysullivan, @dannysullivan, @erikhinton, @obsoletedogma, @owillis, @carolecadwalla, @evepeyser, @mkonnikova, @holden, @carolecadwalla, @_psonice, Fortune, The Guardian and @tom_parkin_

Rick Gladstone / New York Times:

Committee to Protect Journalists: at least 259 journalists jailed in 2016, the highest number since CPJ began its annual census of imprisonments in 1990 — At least 259 journalists have been jailed around the world this year, a press advocacy group reported on Monday, the most since it began …

Discussion: @pamelapaulnyt, @hakbuyuk, @mike_giglio, @conradhackett and @jmalsin

James Vincent / The Verge:

Judge clears Backpage.com CEO and co-founders of pimping charges, says the listing site is not liable for user-generated content — A judge ruled the operators of the classified listings site could not be held accountable for users' content — The executives of classified listings site Backpage.com …

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Jim VandeHei's new site, Axios, will have a hub in its Washington D.C. HQ called Newsdesk; the site is currently recruiting reporters in D.C. and Silicon Valley — Politico founder Jim VandeHei is hiring for his new startup, and the job descriptions give a few clues about what he and co-founder Mike Allen are up to.

Discussion: @poynter

Jason Guerrasio / Business Insider:

Director Craig Atkinson claims Netflix blacklisted him from the service after he declined their offer to purchase the rights to his film — In just four years, Netflix has become by far the most watched destination for documentaries, beaming titles to 190 countries and an astounding 83 million global subscribes.

Discussion: @heymerrill, @alexeheath and @andybrodie

Scott Dadich / Wired:

Wired will publish its first ever fiction-only issue in January, featuring sci-fi stories by different authors — Why fiction? Glad you asked. We live in uncertain times. One of this publication's most important jobs is to see the big trends, spot important business models …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Trevor Timm / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

How the Obama administration laid the groundwork for Trump's coming crackdown on the press, starting with killing the ‘media shield’ bill — In the summer of 2009, less than a year after President Obama took office, one of the first orders of business for the newly empaneled …

Discussion: @johncusack

Oriana Schwindt / Variety:

BBC, ITV partner for US streaming service BritBox which will target US fans of British shows, launching 2017; AMC Networks will take minority stake — For nearly as long as the BBC and ITV have made their programming available for Brits to stream, there have been American viewers seeking …

Discussion: The Guardian, Home Media Magazine, TechCrunch and Pocket-lint

Salvador Rizzo / NorthJersey.com:

New Jersey judge orders the Trentonian newspaper to stop publishing articles about a child abuse case, a ruling experts say could violate the First Amendment — A New Jersey judge has ordered the Trentonian newspaper to stop publishing articles about a child abuse case …

Discussion: TheBlaze, @romenesko, @bgrueskin, @projomike, @estebanhrz and @rizzotk

Scott Nover / MediaFile:

Inside the battle between student-run GW Hatchet, a 112-year-old GWU paper, and DC as court rejects tax break request, says it isn't an educational organization — The District of Columbia is locked in a nearly two-year court battle against the student-run GW Hatchet at The George Washington University …

Discussion: @scottnover, @scottnover, @scottnover, @mlcalderone, @mediafiledc, @abeaujon and @benmullin

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Output Producer, CA — AP

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Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

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Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

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Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

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Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

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More News:

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Stephen Hayes named EIC of the conservative Weekly Standard; Bill Kristol, the magazine's co-founder and current EIC, will become editor at large

Discussion: @erikwemple, @hotlinejosh and @hadas_gold

Deirdre Edgar / Los Angeles Times:
LA Times EIC Maharaj says that two letters defending WWII internment of Japanese-Americans should not have been published, weren't “civil, fact-based discourse”

Discussion: @sarahlerner, Manzanar Committee, @afreshmind, LA Observed, Mediaite, @ourmaninchicago, @margarita, @cjcmichel, @schemaly, @nicole_soojung, @runolgarun, @kelseymsutton, @marcduvoisin, @mlcalderone, @hirokotabuchi and @latreadersrep

April Glaser / Recode:
On Friday, the Senate failed to reconfirm Democratic pro-net neutrality FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, portending new Trump era leadership and agenda

Discussion: AdExchanger, Techdirt, Radio & Television … and Vanity Fair

Nathan McAlone / Business Insider:
Amazon and Netflix make up 40% of Golden Globe nominations this year, receiving as many individually as the broadcast networks combined

Discussion: TechCrunch, /Film, Forbes, The Wrap, Observer, Adweek, Variety, Golden Globes and Daring Fireball

Earlier Picks:

Kerry Flynn / Mashable:
Facebook is hiring a Head of News Partnerships, seeking a news executive with 20+ years experience, as it struggles with the fallout from the fake news scandal

Discussion: WIRED UK, The Guardian, CNET, Nieman Lab, The Drum, Quartz, The Wrap and SocialTimes

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
In a letter sent Monday, National Amusements instructs Viacom and CBS to scrap merger talks, saying there is renewed confidence in Viacom under CEO Bob Bakish

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, Recode, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Radio & Television …, Adweek, Globe and Mail, Media Wire Daily, @lucas_shaw, Broadcasting & Cable, @jbflint and @keachhagey

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Politico's Chief Political Correspondent Glenn Thrush is joining the NYT to cover the White House; Thrush's roots are in tabloid journalism

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter, @oliverdarcy, Washington Post, @katebennett_dc, @amandawills and @jeremybowers

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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