Mediagazer: How HBO Made It Look Like Critics Liked ‘The Newsroom’ (Jeff Bercovici/Forbes)

6:00 PM ET, July 23, 2012

Top News:

In Aurora, a Sadly Familiar Template Kicks In for the News Media — When a lone assassin sets off on a rampage, there is very little sense to be made of what takes place. But, still, the news media, responding to sincere and frightened public appetites, attempts to bring order out of the chaos.

Discussion: Forbes, Adweek, The Atlantic Online, The Buttry Diary, Quote and Comment, Business Insider and New Statesman

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Reuters editor names theater-shooting ‘person of interest’ on Twitter — To understand why Reuters Deputy Social Media Editor Matthew Keys has earned such a wide Twitter audience, scan through the last 72 hours or so of his tweets. He's been an invaluable process-journalism firehose …

Discussion: Bits, CBS News, KDVR.com, WebProNews and The Skimm

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Holmes' mother suggests ABC News mischaracterized her statement — Arlene Holmes, the mother of Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes, says that ABC News mischaracterized her when it reported that her initial statement to the reporter, “you have the right person,” was a reference to her son.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Business Insider, msnbc.com and Runnin' Scared

Erik Wemple:

CNN host doesn't want bio of Aurora suspect — On his show “Reliable Sources,” CNN's Howard Kurtz votes for no biographical profile of alleged Aurora shooter James Holmes: … I care. Though Kurtz's aversion to turning the Aurora shooter into a celebrity is noble, it's also shortsighted.

Michael Holden / Reuters:

Murdoch allies await hacking charges update — (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper boss and Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief could find out on Tuesday whether they will be prosecuted in a phone-hacking inquiry that has shaken the British establishment.

Discussion: Guardian

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
NI staff ‘appeared to have data from stolen phones’

Discussion: The Independent and Press Gazette

Ben Dowell / Guardian: Phone hacking: mother of murder victim Clare Bernal sues NI

Josh Halliday / Guardian: Phone hacking: former NoW journalists to learn fate on Tuesday

Sandra Laville / Guardian: Police are using phone-hacking scandal to claw back control of information

Nick Cohen / The Observer: Persecuting the press diminishes us all

Dominic Ponsford / Editor's Blog: And then they came for me...the unprecedented wave of journalist arrests has become a threat to all of us

Peter Lauria / Reuters:

Exclusive: IAC takes control of Newsweek Daily Beast from Harmans — (Reuters) - The family of late billionaire stereo magnate Sidney Harman has stopped investing in the Newsweek Daily Beast Co joint venture that it co-owns with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, according to representatives of both companies.

Discussion: Adweek, New York Magazine, The Awl, FishbowlNY and The Huffington Post

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

National Journal Bars Quotations Tweaked by Sources — National Journal said it would ban the use of quotations that had been massaged or manipulated by its sources, joining a growing chorus of news organizations that are objecting to a practice that has become increasingly common in political journalism.

Discussion: Poynter, Chickaboomer, The Huffington Post, Prof Chris Daly's Blog and New York Magazine

Erik Wemple: National Journal boss on quote-approval: It's about control

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Justice Department slams Apple, refuses to modify e-book settlement — The Justice Department released a document today that characterized criticism by Apple and publishers of a controversial price-fixing settlement as “self-serving” and ill-founded. The Department also pointed to recent ventures …

Discussion: Fortune, TechCrunch, Media Decoder, PC Magazine, The Loop and Daring Fireball

Greg Sandoval / CNET:
Amazon's the villain, not Apple, e-book sellers say

Discussion: Computerworld and Bookseller news

Shira Ovide / Wall Street Journal:

For the Olympics, Twitter and NBC Form Partnership — As athletes parade into London's Olympic Stadium this Friday, Twitter Inc.'s Olympic hopes will play out in a spartan office in Boulder, Colo. — There, a handful of people will spend 20 hours a day to help corral millions of Twitter messages …

Discussion: PC Magazine, NewscastStudio Blog, Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Blog, Daily Dot, Deadline.com, CNET and eMedia Vitals

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Twitter as media: Its ambitions grow with NBC Olympic deal

Discussion: Lost Remote, Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel and The Verge

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

How HBO Made It Look Like Critics Liked ‘The Newsroom’ — Critical reception of “The Newsroom,” Aaron Sorkin's new HBO series set in the TV news business, has been generally cool. On Metacritic.com, which averages out reviews from all over, its score is a distinctly mediocre 57.

Discussion: Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs and @arrington

Max Fisher / The Atlantic Online:

CNN's Effusive Coverage of Kazakhstan Is Quietly Sponsored by Its Subject — The Republic of Kazakhstan is not the sort of country that you hear about much in American media. Newspapers and TV networks have limited space, after all, and with so much happening in places like China and the Middle East …

Discussion: TVNewser

Alexander C. Kaufman / The Wrap:

News Corp. Promotes Peter Rice, David Hill — Peter Rice, the chairman of entertainment for Fox Networks Group since 2010, has been named chairman and CEO of the division, News Corporation announced Monday. — Rice will oversee all programming and operations for Fox Broadcasting Company …

Discussion: Multichannel, Broadcasting & Cable, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg and Business Wire

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Zite adds LA Times, Chicago Tribune, others to its publishers program — Personalized reading app Zite is adding more publishers to its three-month-old ZitePublisher program. The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hearst's Harper's Bazaar, the International Business Times, Entrepreneur magazine …

Discussion: VentureBeat and Zite - Blog