Good morning. Here are nine media stories.
- What’s going on at First Look Media?
Matt Taibbi has left the company, Pierre Omidyar announced Wednesday. “Our differences were never about editorial independence,” Omidyar writes. (First Look Media) | Andrew Rice reported earlier in the day that Taibbi “has been absent from the office for several weeks.” “I don’t comment about internal matters,” First Look executive John Temple told Rice. (New York) | “First Look exec on its radical culture of transparency: “I don’t comment…we’re a private company, so why would we?” (@tomgara) | “what has happened is bad and dumb and needless and not matt taibbi’s fault” (@johnjcook) | Omidyar gadfly Paul Carr published his half of an off-the-record conversation with Taibbi. (Pando) | “Off the record does not mean you can publish your half of a conversation with a source.” (@mtaibbi) | Michael Calderone, this time last year: “What exactly they’re building is unclear -– even to those directly involved.” (HuffPost)
- Denise Warren leaves NYT Co.
“A memo written by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the Times Company, and Mark Thompson, the company’s chief executive, said that they had decided to split Ms. Warren’s position into two jobs: an executive vice president for marketing and an executive vice president for digital. Ms. Warren declined to take either job and decided to leave the company, according to the memo.” (NYT) | “After Robinson was ousted in 2011, Warren was the No. 2 candidate for the C.E.O. slot that ended up going to Thompson, a former BBC bigwig, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Capital.” (Capital)
- Ben Bradlee’s funeral will be on TV
C-SPAN will broadcast the event today at 11 a.m. | An appreciation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. (WP) | Howard Simons, Bradlee’s managing editor, is a “forgotten man, without whom Bradlee might never have been seen as so great.” (Politico Magazine)
- Sun-Times owner launches national network of aggregated sites
Wrapports LLC has launched these things, whatever the heck they are, in 70 cities, including New York, D.C. and L.A. (Crain’s Chicago Business) | Ken Doctor: “The odds of major success seem long.” (Nieman Lab)
- Verizon is launching a tech news site
Just one problem with working at SugarString.com: “Other reporters, who asked not to be named, have confirmed that they have received the same recruiting pitch with the same rules: No articles about surveillance or net neutrality.” (The Daily Dot)
- Sharyl Attkisson’s loose wire
The former CBS reporter discovered a “stray cable dangling from the FiOS box attached to the brick wall on the outside of my house,” she writes in her new book, “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington.” A technician removed the wire, which later vanished. (WP)
- Captured and tortured in Syria
The journalist Theo Padnos recounts his nearly two years of capitivity. (NYT Magazine)
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
The Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia, leads with a spectacular photo of yesterday’s rocket explosion at Wallops Island. (Courtesy the Newseum)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Leigh Weingus is now trends editor at The Huffington Post. Previously, she was TV editor there. Carolyn Gregoire is now a senior writer for health and science at The Huffington Post. Previously, she was an editor at Healthy Living and Third Metric there. Lilly Workneh is now Black Voices editor at The Huffington Post. Previously, she was lifestyle editor at thegrio.com (Email) | Rich Ross is president of the Discovery Channel. Previously, he was chief executive of Shine America (The New York Times) | Monique Chenault is now executive producer of “The Insider.” Previously, she was a senior producer at “Access Hollywood.” (Mediabistro) | Job of the day: BuzzFeed is looking for a news fellow. Get your résumés in! (BuzzFeed) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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