Mediagazer: Leaks bill: bad for journalism, bad for the public (Patrick B. Pexton/Washington Post)

1:25 AM ET, August 7, 2012

Top News:

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Time Warner Said to Buy Bleacher Report for Under $200M — Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Broadcasting System division acquired the Bleacher Report website for under $200 million, bolstering its online sports coverage, a person familiar with the deal said. The acquisition of the sports website Bleacher Report …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, The Wrap, FishbowlLA, FishbowlNY, paidContent, VentureBeat and Top Digital Journal News

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Bleacher Report and the evolution of the content farm — Turner Broadcasting confirmed on Monday that it is acquiring the sports-blogging network Bleacher Report for what some estimate to be about $175 million — a deal that was first reported by All Things Digital — to help the Time Warner unit bulk up its sports coverage.

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Turner Buys Bleacher Report — Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting unit has acquired sports site Bleacher Report, according to people familiar with the transaction. — I'm told the deal, which we told you about in June, closed Friday, and is scheduled to be announced today.

Discussion: Business Insider, Forbes, Media Decoder, VentureBeat, Adweek, CNET, Multichannel and AdAge

Luke MacGregor / Reuters:

Attempting to shoot the moon — With very little understanding of astronomy but with the aid of a phone app, I began a three evening attempt to capture the moon with the Olympic Rings. The rings have been hanging iconically on Tower Bridge for the London 2012 Olympic Games and it was suggested …

Discussion: The Verge

Patrick B. Pexton / Washington Post:

Leaks bill: bad for journalism, bad for the public — There's a bill zooming through Congress that would make it harder for Post reporters to inform readers about what their government is doing. — This bill, the annual authorization bill to fund the intelligence agencies …

Bill Keller / New York Times:
The Leak Police — In the months leading up to the invasion …

Discussion: Pressing Issues

Sean Ludwig / VentureBeat:

Amazon now renting old-fashioned paper textbooks — Amazon now offers physical textbook rentals as a cheaper option for college students, a move designed to keep Amazon as a dominant player in textbooks. — While Amazon has offered digital rentals of textbooks for more than a year …

Discussion: CNET, Engadget, TechCrunch, paidContent, PC Magazine and AllThingsD

Phil Bronstein / New York Times:

The Newsroom — ‘Yours in Truth,’ About Ben Bradlee, by Jeff Himmelman — Ben Bradlee is not God. — That's a hard truth for those who worked for him at The Washington Post, or who simply revere him. His many fans include Jeff Himmelman, whose new biography of Bradlee …

Daniel Frankel / paidContent:

Are the Olympics a bigger media draw than the Super Bowl? — Are the Games really bigger than the Big Game? — According to a Pew Research study released Monday, nearly 8 out of 10 Americans say they're following the London Olympics on either traditional television or via the internet.

Discussion: Pew Research Center …

David Bauder / Associated Press:

London 2012: What It's Like To Cover The Olympics From New York — NEW YORK — Between Olympic soccer matches, NBC analyst Marcelo Balboa fields texts and emails from friends who ask him, “How's London?” He wouldn't know. The three-time World Cup participant turned sportscaster …

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

At ‘The New York Observer,’ another account of the editor and president's departures — Aaron Gell, the newly appointed editor of The New York Observer, has hit the ground running. — In the paper's regular Friday editorial meeting, Gell, who was bumped up from executive editor several days ago …

Steve Beatty / The Lens:

Veteran editor and reporter joins The Lens for watchdog coverage — The Lens announces the addition of Steve Myers to its staff as deputy managing editor and senior staff writer. — Myers will help guide The Lens' development and digital strategy, ensuring that The Lens uses the latest tools …

Discussion: @abeaujon

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Google records show book scanning was aimed at Amazon — Google has so far spent more than $180 million on book scanning and, at the outset of the project, one of its stated goals was to keep web searchers away from Amazon. — These are among the details set out in a new court filing by the Authors Guild …

Discussion: VentureBeat