Mediagazer: BBC rejects Orwell statue as ‘too left-wing’ (Alison Flood/Guardian)

11:30 PM ET, August 22, 2012

Top News:

David Meyer / GigaOM:

Google lashes out at German copyright ‘threat’ — Google has launched a broadside against a proposed law in Germany that would see search engines forced to pay license fees for linking people to news stories. — Well, actually that's slightly inaccurate: the draft law would make search engines pay …

Discussion: PC World, InformationWeek, Muktware Daily Newsletter, Search Engine Land, Daily Dot, Softpedia News and paidContent

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Japanese Journalist's Final Report From Syria Is Released After Her Death — Two days after the Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto was shot and killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo, her news agency released some of the footage she recorded in her final hours.

Discussion: World Now

The Daily Telegraph:
Husband of Japanese journalist killed in Syria speaks of attack

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders

Guardian:
Syria: footage released of journalist Mika Yamamoto's final hours - video

Discussion: Reuters and The Huffington Post

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Limited Convention Coverage Will Leave Ann Romney Off Air — At 10:30 on Monday night, Ann Romney is scheduled to take the stage at the Republican National Convention, in Act 1 of her husband's four-day introduction to the nation. But tens of millions of people will not be able to watch.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, The Huffington Post, TVNewser and Slate

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Aereo sues to squash copycat BarryDriller — Broadcasters and Barry Diller are locked in lawsuits over Aereo, a service that lets subscribers watch TV on Apple products like the iPhone or iPad. The two sides appear to have found common ground, however , in their desire to shut down an Aereo competitor.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Radio & Television …, MediaPost and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jack Shafer / Reuters: Column: Barry Diller's deal of the day

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

Donations by Media Companies Tilt Heavily to Obama — Wall Street may lean Republican this presidential election cycle, but the New York media world is staunchly Democratic. — All the major media companies, driven largely by their Hollywood film and television businesses …

Discussion: The Week, Mediaite and Business Insider

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Second board member resigns from Red & Black — Charles Russell resigned from the board of University of Georgia student paper The Red & Black Tuesday, following the resignation of board member Ed Stamper. Russell released a statement (I have never covered a story that involved …

Discussion: Athens Daily News, Grady Newsource and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

How long-form journalism is getting ‘a new lease of life’ in the digital world — An in-depth look at in-depth journalism and some of the latest journalism and non-fiction platforms with long-form narrative at their core — Copyright: Digitzedchaos on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Mike Sallah joins Washington Post as first hire with Ford Foundation money — Michael Sallah will join The Washington Post as an investigative reporter and editor. Post honchos say in a memo to staff that his hiring is the paper's first using money from a grant the Ford Foundation made to the paper.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Eduardo Garcia / Reuters:

Ecuador's leader says open to talks with Britain on Assange — (Reuters) - Ecuador is ready to negotiate over the fate of Julian Assange if Britain withdraws a threat to raid its embassy in London where the WikiLeaks founder has sought refuge, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Guardian and Gawker

Laurie Penny / The Independent:
If you really believe in WikiLeaks, you must want Assange to face up to justice

Discussion: Reuters, @pennyred, @pennyred and @pennyred

Martin Hickman / The Independent:

Names of up to 600 victims of phone hacking to be revealed — Hundreds of alleged phone-hacking victims are about to be named for the first time, substantially raising the pressure on Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire. Alleged victims of voicemail interception, such as Wayne Rooney …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, The Daily Beast, The New Yorker Blog and Deadline.com

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Spiers' last issue of ‘The New York Observer’ — After sending this week's New York Observer to the printer last night, the newsroom staff headed south to Old Town, the 120-year-old Flatiron District watering hole. — They were at the scene of many a former Observer staffer's send-off …

Discussion: The New York Observer and Boing Boing

Shen Hong / Wall Street Journal:

Website of People's Daily Doubles Profit — SHANGHAI—Apparently, touting the Communist Party line can be good for business. — People.cn Co., the website of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, more than doubled its first-half net profit …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Tina Brown stands by Niall Ferguson — Newsweek editor Tina Brown is standing by Niall Ferguson following his controversial cover story about President Obama's handling of the economy, even as she said that she did not agree with many of the opinions he voiced in the article.

Discussion: Forbes, Mediaite, Slate, FishbowlNY and bookforum.com

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Newsweek's Barnett to head TNR redesign — Continuing its ongoing reinvention under new ownership, The New Republic has hired Newsweek creative director Dick Barnett to lead the magazine's redesign, POLITICO has learned. — Barnett's hire comes amid a hiring spree at TNR …