EDITOR’S NOTE: Links to selected media news from the past week.

THE HEARTBLEED EFFECT: The massive OpenSSL security vulnerability, Heartbleed, affects everyone, but newsrooms need to take additional precautions to protect their sites, according to Mike Tigas at Source. The bug can decrypt all encrypted communications and reveal user cookies and passwords, damaging user privacy and exposing sites.

GOODBYE GIFS?: The Washington Post predicted that a recent move towards WebM — a micro-video format that has a higher resolution and smaller file size than GIF — from Internet trend-setter 4chan could mark the beginning of a WebM revolution.

SPJ REVISED ETHICS CODE SPARKS DEBATE: After unveiling the first draft of its revised code of ethics, the Society of Professional Journalists drew criticism for its omission of “transparency” as a central tenet and for falling short of properly laying out media ethics in a rapidly changing digital environment, AJR.org reports. 

STAY POSITIVE: Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, spoke at the International Symposium on Online Journalism about the future of journalism, arguing that “optimism is the only option.” His prepared remarks were published on Nieman Journalism Lab.

STUDENT NEWSPAPERS GO MOBILE: Papers such as Oklahoma State University’s 119-year old The Daily O’Collegian are reinventing themselves for the digital age, a trend Poynter ascribes to “waning interest” for traditional media. 

FOUR TRUTHS AND A SIGH: Michael Kinsley, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, declares four truths about the future of newspapers including that, “most newspapers aren’t very good and wouldn’t be missed by anybody who could get The New York Times or USA Today and some bloggy source of local news.” 

BEYOND “SNOW FALL:” Mindy McAdams, an online journalism professor at the University of Florida, writes on Medium about the term “multimedia journalism” — and comes up with a new, expanded definition. 

VOX MEDIA LAUNCHES VOX.COM: The New York Times reported that Vox Media, launched Vox.com,led by Ezra Klein, on Sunday night. The site was created to transform the technology and culture of journalism, and Vox Media has raised $80 million in capital.

TWITTER’S FACEBOOK COMPLEX: The changes to Twitter’s interface make it more like Facebook at a cost to active users, according to Selena Larson at ReadWrite.

FINDING THE BEST TWEET LENGTH: There’s a science behind the most effective length for all things published, including tweets, headlines, blog posts and Facebook posts, said Buffer.

This story includes contributions from Jessica Suss, Jim Bach, Adam Offitzer, Sarah Siguenza, Mike King, Olivia Owens, Kristin Musulin, Kaylin Bugos, Adriana Scott,