Mediagazer: CNN Promises ‘Unbiased’ Coverage Of 2012 Conventions (Michael Calderone/The Huffington Post)

10:35 AM ET, August 15, 2012

Top News:

Times Co. Names Mark Thompson Chief Executive — The New York Times Company has named Mark Thompson, the departing director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, as its new president and chief executive. — Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the chairman of the Times Company and the newspaper's publisher …

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

NYT's new CEO: BBC's Thompson is custodian and curator, not digital creator — Mark Thompson's appointment as president and CEO of The New York Times Company is an eyebrow-raiser. But it may yet prove inspired. So who is Mark Thompson, and what will he bring to the Gray Lady?

Discussion: BBC and @gabrielsherman

Ken Doctor / Newsonomics:
BBC's Mark Thompson Jumps Out of the Frying Pan and into the New York Times Cauldron

Discussion: Capital New York and Media Decoder

Richard Gingras / Poynter:

Google's Gingras: ‘The future of journalism can and will be better than its past’ — The following address was given by Richard Gingras, director of news and social products at Google, as the opening keynote of the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication …

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:
Google acquires media companies without becoming one

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Skift and Forbes

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Should we trust Google when it comes to piracy and search?

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, The Week and ReadWriteWeb

David Frum / The Daily Beast:

A False Charge Against Fareed Zakaria — Is Fareed Zakaria a quote thief? This is the latest charge brought against the CNN host. From both hard evidence and direct personal experience, I can answer: No. Last week, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg charged that Fareed Zakaria had used work of Jeffrey's without attribution.

Discussion: Poynter, Baltimore Sun, @davidfolkenflik and Mother Jones

Michael Barthel / Salon:
Cut, paste, plagiarize

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @penenberg, @penenberg, @penenberg, @penenberg, @penenberg and The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Fareed Zakaria: ‘People are piling on with every grudge or vendetta’

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, The Atlantic Online, American Thinker and The Daily Beast

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Fareed Zakaria Responds to the Charge of Quote-Stealing

Discussion: Poynter, American Journalism Review and Washington Post

Stephen Foley / The Independent:

Bad news for Reuters — It is 161 years since Paul Julius Reuter, a German-born entrepreneur whose first venture in the news business was sending carrier pigeons across Europe, installed himself in the London Stock Exchange, called himself the Reuter's Telegram Company and started selling …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Andrew Torchia / Reuters:

Reuters blogging platform hacked, false Saudi blog posted — (Reuters) - The blogging platform of the Reuters News website was hacked on Wednesday and a false posting saying Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had died was illegally posted on a Reuters journalist's blog, the company said.

Discussion: Big News Network.com and CNBC

RT:

Correa: Assange asylum rumors false, no decision yet — President Rafael Correa took to social networking site Twitter to dispel rumors he had granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum. Correa added that no decision has yet been made. According to an earlier report in The Guardian …

Discussion: @mashirafael, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and @wikileaks

Irene Caselli / Guardian:
Ecuador ‘to grant’ Julian Assange asylum

Discussion: openDemocracy, Reuters, Bloomberg, Telegraph, WebProNews, Wired, Mashable!, Digital Spy, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, Foreign Policy, New York Times and CNET

Estelle Shirbon / Reuters: Assange seeks London-Quito ticket but Sweden looms

Erik Wemple:

Politico puts ‘stop reading’ sign in article — Politico today tells us that there's an “unmistakable consensus” among Republican Beltway operatives that the choice of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate “has only a modest chance of going right — and a huge chance of going horribly wrong.”

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Forbes, Guardian, The Week, Change of Subject and Politico

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Bars Press From Ryan, Adelson Event

Discussion: Gawker, Politico, Reuters, Yahoo! News and The Huffington Post

BuzzFeed:

“Wired” To Publish Jonah Lehrer — Jonah Lehrer, the New Yorker ideas writer fired for fabricating Bob Dylan quotes in a nonfiction book, is set to re-emerge as a writer for Wired, where he spent several years and wrote the Frontal Cortex blog, a magazine spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

US site Homicide Watch DC in crowdfunding bid for ‘student reporting lab’ — Via a Kickstarter campaign launched this week, the site wants to raise $40,000 to help it take on five interns who can help keep the site ‘alive’ — US site Homicide Watch DC, which tracks and records every homicide case …

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:
After a deal falls apart, Homicide Watch D.C. is going on hiatus

Discussion: Homicide Watch DC and Kickstarter

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Getty Images bought by private equity firm Carlyle Group — Co-founders Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein will remain investors as world's biggest picture agency acquired for £2.1bn — The world's biggest picture agency, Getty Images, has been acquired for $3.3bn (£2.1bn) by the private equity firm Carlyle Group.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @joshhalliday and Business Wire

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Netflix Heads to Scandinavia — Here's the next stop on Reed Hastings's world tour: His video service plans to launch in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland by the end of the year. — The move is both expected and a sore spot with some Netflix investors.

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, The Wrap, Guardian, CNET, Pocket-lint and TechCrunch

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

With Nearly 10 Percent Drop in Week After Alibaba Cash Switch, Yahoo Shareholders in “Marissery” — Never let it be said that Yahoo shareholders aren't expressive. — After a 9.2 percent drop in its stock this week — from climbing to $16.30 a share last Wednesday to a downward-sliding $14.73 close today …