Mediagazer: Who Can Improve on Nature? Magazine Editors (Christine Haughney/New York Times)

5:30 AM ET, July 24, 2012

Top News:

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, Mediaite, KDVR.com, The Daily Caller, WebProNews and CBS News

Dylan Byers / Politico:
ABC News rebuts Arlene Holmes's claim

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Deadline.com and ABCNEWS

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Holmes' mother suggests ABC News mischaracterized her statement

Discussion: Associated Press, The Huffington Post, Politico, New York Magazine, Business Insider, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and Runnin' Scared

Erik Wemple: CNN host doesn't want bio of Aurora suspect

David Carr / Media Decoder:
In Aurora, a Sadly Familiar Template Kicks In for the News Media

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

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: MinOnline, Media Decoder, Adweek, New York Magazine, The Awl, The Daily Beast, FishbowlNY, The Huffington Post and Bloomberg

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Who Can Improve on Nature? Magazine Editors — The magazine editors knew they had their cover shot. The model, just emerged from a small pond, produced a look for the camera that exuded intelligence and confidence. The only problem was the water droplets clinging to the model's ears.

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

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

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

Discussion: New York Times, The Independent, Press Gazette, Guardian and Guardian

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

Discussion: Bloomberg

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

Discussion: Editor's Blog

Mike Fleming / Deadline.com:

Barry Diller And Scott Rudin In Talks To Launch E-Book Business — EXCLUSIVE: Barry Diller and Scott Rudin are in exploratory talks to launch an e-book business for both fiction and non-fiction. I'm told they have had a lot of exploratory conversations and I expect an announcement …

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

Globe publisher announces work-force reductions — The Boston Globe and its affiliated media properties are downsizing again, according to an internal memo from Globe publisher Christopher Mayer that was obtained by Media Nation earlier today. — No details, but Mayer writes that the work force …

Discussion: Boston Globe

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: Adweek, MediaPost, Multichannel, Reuters, Broadcasting & Cable, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg and Business Wire

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: National Review, Mediaite, @arrington and NewsBusters.org blogs

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Detroit Free Press, News offer buyouts to staffers — The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News are offering buyouts, Poynter has confirmed. The offer was made to 31 News staffers and 40 Free Press staffers, including managers, Deadline Detroit reports. Employees age 56 and up who have worked …

Discussion: Deadline Detroit and Gannett Blog

Trevor Timm / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Why the WikiLeaks Grand Jury is So Dangerous: Members of Congress Now Want to Prosecute New York Times Journalists Too — For more than a year now, EFF has encouraged mainstream press publications like the New York Times to aggressively defend WikiLeaks' First Amendment right …

CJR:

A helping hand — The Ford Foundation reaches out to broaden minority coverage — Anyone who cares about the future of newsrooms is on the lookout for omens. And there have been plenty of bad ones lately. Newspaper vital signs, for example, are pointing south—profit margins, stock prices, ad revenue, and valuations.

Discussion: @chanders

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, Melville House Books, Media Decoder, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, The Loop and Daring Fireball

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Dow Jones to sell newswires through WSJ.com - CEO — (Reuters) - When Lex Fenwick started his job as CEO of Dow Jones & Co more than five months ago, he found it strange that one of Wall Street's most historic and well-known brands did not have a direct pipeline into Wall Street itself.

Erik Wemple:

National Journal boss on quote-approval: It's about control — The quote-approval story is showing some legs as it stretches into its second week in the journo-newsiverse. On July 15, Jeremy W. Peters of the New York Times wrote about the Washington-centric institution in which sources …