Top News:

Inside Amtrak's (Absolutely Awesome) Plan to Give Free Rides to Writers — Amtrak has begun offering “writers' residencies” to, well, writers - long roundtrip rides aboard Amtrak trains dedicated solely for the purpose of writing. — After New York City-based writer Jessica Gross took the first …
Discussion:
The Paris Review, @rebleber, @arimelber, The Verge, @alexanderchee and @richmhuff
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Attorney General Signs New Rules to Limit Access to Journalists' Records — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who drew fire last spring over the Justice Department's aggressive tactics for secretly obtaining reporters' phone logs and emails as part of leak investigations …
Discussion:
USA Today, @emptywheel, @drudge, emptywheel, @kgosztola and Associated Press

Venezuela says CNN can stay, a day after saying ‘get out’ — (CNN) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told a CNN reporting team Friday that it could continue reporting in the South American country, a day after the government revoked or denied press credentials for CNN journalists.
Discussion:
Poynter, @romustgo, @jorgeramosnews, @statedept, MiamiHerald.com, US Department of State, Global Voices, @tv6tnt and Business Insider
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Venezuela Battles Media, Social and Otherwise, to Restrict Protest Coverage
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, Mashable, Feministing and The Verge
Frank Bajak / Associated Press:
Activists say Venezuela is blocking walkie-talkie app Zello and websites Pastebin and NTN24
Activists say Venezuela is blocking walkie-talkie app Zello and websites Pastebin and NTN24
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @wexler, @nancypelosi, Politico and BBC

Netflix packets being dropped every day because Verizon wants more money — Verizon wants to be paid by consumers and Cogent, but Cogent refuses to pay. — The battle over who should pay to carry Netflix traffic is heating up again, and one of the main players blames Verizon's greed …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, @binarybits, @al3x, Softpedia News, Media Channel, @caseyliss and CNNMoney.com
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Direct connection between Comcast and Netflix networks suggests peering agreement reached — Sources: Netflix and Comcast have reached a peering agreement — Consumers' troubles with online video may be subsiding — at least for Comcast customers. Comcast and Netflix appear to have resolved …

Since 2007, L.A. Times' Homicide Report has wrested stories from data — We've heard a lot about Chris and Laura Amico's Homicide Watch - and for good reason. The site tracks homicides in Washington, D.C., (and, as of just over a year ago, Chicago and Trenton) from police report to conviction …
Discussion:
@hfuhrmann and @rachelnixon

A different Olympics on TVs across the world — You are here — Home » Mao Asada » A different Olympics on TVs across the world — In Sweden, commentators have fun with Norway's misfortunes. The Dutch can't get enough of their speedskaters. Japan is so crazy about figure skating they show warmups.

Julian Assange's ghost writer breaks silence on failed autobiography — WikiLeaks founder a mercurial character who could not bear his own secrets, according to writer Andrew O'Hagan — The ghostwriter who collaborated with Julian Assange on his abortive 2011 autobiography has broken …
Discussion:
London Review of Books, @jamesrbuk, @arusbridger and Boing Boing

Getting into journalism: Just go out and do it, says VICE maverick Tim Pool — In the first of a series of blog posts on alternative ways to get into journalism, Chicago-born self-taught journalist Tim Pool, now an international correspondent for media company VICE, tears up the traditional rule book.
Discussion:
@bbccollege and @niemanlab

Report: Baltimore City Paper staffers will lose their jobs, but could be rehired by the Sun — Fern Shen reports Baltimore City Paper staffers met Thursday afternoon with their new boss at the Sun and were told that everyone loses their jobs, but could be rehired.
Discussion:
bizjournals, Baltimore Brew, @camilledodero, @maura, @carr2n and The Huffington Post
RELATED:
Tom Scocca / Gawker:
Baltimore Is One Step Closer to Being a Zero-Newspaper Town
Baltimore Is One Step Closer to Being a Zero-Newspaper Town
Discussion:
@objectguerilla, @johnmcquaid, @tomscocca, @crash_landers, @jackshafer and @max_read
Gautham Nagesh / Wall Street Journal:
Comcast Sees Time Warner Cable Deal Boosting Broadband Competition — Executive Says Deal Wouldn't Harm Home Users or Content Companies — A Comcast executive said Friday the company's planned $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable would create new competition in the commercial market …

Dish's Charlie Ergen: I'm Nervous About Comcast-TWC, Surprised Our Business Hasn't Been Worse — Optimism is supposedly one of the qualities people look for in politicians and business leaders. Apparently no one told Charlie Ergen, who seemed less concerned with soothing investors …