Mediagazer: Playing Defense — With digital information so vulnerable to theft … (Sherry Ricchiardi/American Journalism …)

11:55 PM ET, September 2, 2012

Top News:

Sasha Issenberg / Campaign Stops:

Why Campaign Reporters Are Behind the Curve — It becomes popular around this time of year to lament the fact that media coverage treats the presidential campaign as little more than a “horse race.” Journalists, this line of argument goes, choose to fixate on which candidate is a superior campaigner …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu

Jim Romenesko:

Free plagiarism checker finds more Jonah Lehrer journalistic misdeeds — From JUSTIN MEGAHAN: Last night I was wondering if a basic free plagiarism checker that is used by high school teachers to check their students work — The Plagiarism Checker — would find the plagiarized excerpts from Jonah Lehrer's “The Psychology of Nakedness.”

Discussion: @justinrmegahan

Charles Seife / Slate:
Jonah Lehrer's Journalistic Misdeeds at Wired.com

Discussion: GalleyCat, JIMROMENESKO.COM, EdCone.com, @sdkstl, @mathewi and Poynter

Evan Hansen / Wired:
Violations of Editorial Standards Found in WIRED Writer's Blog

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Julie Moos / Poynter: Wired.com investigator on Jonah Lehrer plagiarism: ‘I think the safety net has eroded’

Brad McCarty / The Next Web:

Here's how Samsung flew bloggers halfway around the world, then threatened to leave them there — Let's pretend that you're a blogger. You're given the chance to review new, hot hardware from a major company. All that's required is that you participate in some tasks, but these tasks would fit into your coverage so you agree.

Discussion: CNET, @clintonjeff, @bradmccarty and Gizmodo

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

A Reporter Who's Part of the Story — TAMPA, Fla. — There were no fewer than five people pointing cameras at the man who from a distance resembled a scarecrow: tall and broad-shouldered with long, long arms. Enlarge This Image Todd Heisler/The New York Times Carl Cameron …

Discussion: TVNewser

Somini Sengupta / New York Times:

Twitter's Chief Lawyer Defends Free Speech With Revenue in Mind — SAN FRANCISCO — Alexander Macgillivray, Twitter's chief lawyer, says that fighting for free speech is more than a good idea. He thinks it is a competitive advantage for his company. — That conviction explains why he spends …

Karl Taro Greenfeld / Business Week:

ESPN: Everywhere Sports Profit Network — ESPN's global headquarters span 18 buildings and 123 acres in Bristol, Conn. The campus occupies a fenced-in hillside, though deer frequently end up trapped inside the fence, and appears to be in a state of constant flux.

Discussion: TVNewser and @carr2n

Jonathan Stray / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Focus and web-only content: How the Deseret News supports a local newsroom with a national strategy — Salt Lake City's Deseret News faces the same challenging online economics as most American metropolitan newspapers: A local web audience isn't large enough to support the newsroom …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

MTV Embraces Viddy ("Twitter for Video") for Big Music Show Coverage — MTV is having scores of its staffers at the September 6 Video Music Awards use Viddy, a video sharing platform that allows users to upload and share 15-second videos, says Colin Helms, MTV's SVP for Digital in this interview with Beet.TV

Jeff Sonderman / Poynter:

HuffPost Highlights taps reader-powered curation of best passages — When your website puts out thousands of pieces of content a day, how do you consistently and efficiently surface the best stuff? — The simplest way is to just follow the cowpaths — the routes where reader behavior naturally flows.

Discussion: TechPresident

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of leapfrog news video — Our political conventions remind us that this is not the summer of love. But it may be the season we'll remember as the summer of video. — Certainly, video's — news video's — growth has been noteworthy for awhile.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Sherry Ricchiardi / American Journalism Review:

Playing Defense — With digital information so vulnerable to theft, it's imperative for journalists to be proactive in protecting confidential sources and data. But too few people are taking the threat seriously. — AJR senior contributing writer Sherry Ricchiardi (sricchia@iupui.edu) …

Emma Brown / Washington Post:

Sun Myung Moon dies at 92; Washington Times owner led the Unification Church — Sun Myung Moon, a self-professed messiah who claimed millions of religious followers in his Unification Church and sought to become a powerful voice in the American conservative movement through business interests …