Mediagazer: L.A. Times, NY Daily News feature graphic Libya ambassador photo on front page (Julie Moos/Poynter)

3:15 PM ET, September 13, 2012

Top News:

Obama-rooting reporters — In these days of media conspiracy-mongering, wherever there's a live mic, there's a potential scandal. Right now that prospect hovers over a video that captures the voices of reporters before Mitt Romney's press conference yesterday regarding the fatal attacks against U.S. personnel in Libya.

Discussion: Mediaite and National Review

Erik Wemple:
Fact-checkers say no to Romney ‘apology’ claims

Discussion: Mashable!

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
Romney's Team Turns On The Press

Discussion: Forbes, The American Conservative and The Daily Dish

Julie Moos / Poynter:

L.A. Times, NY Daily News feature graphic Libya ambassador photo on front page — The New York Times said Wednesday that it was not planning to use a graphic photo on its Thursday front page of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador killed in Libya this week.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and New York Times

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

The Times Denies State Department Request to Remove Photo From Web Site — The State Department asked The New York Times on Wednesday afternoon to remove a photograph of the dying ambassador to Libya from a gallery on the newspaper's Web site. The ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens …

Discussion: Forbes, The Caucus, PandoDaily, New York Times, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Newspaper Guild, Religion Dispatches, The Week, Yahoo! News and DCist

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Was Photo of Dead Ambassador Acceptable?

Discussion: Capital New York, PetaPixel, New York Times, The Snitch, @joshsternberg, The Daily Beast, DCist, Mashable!, Mediaite, @hilaryduffcbc and New York Magazine

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

After ‘Today’ Criticism, NBC News Chief Apologies to Affiliates — As it promised, NBC did not apologize on the air Wednesday for its decision not to observe a moment of silence during the “Today” show on Sept. 11. — But Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, did send out a message …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Erik Wemple, Los Angeles Times, TVNewser, Deadline.com, TVSpy, Inside TV, New York Magazine, TVLine and The Huffington Post

Jim Romenesko: Wall Street Journal's front page ignored 9/11 anniversary, too

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

‘USA Today’ Redesigns — USA Today is about to roll out the biggest redesign in its history, but is it too late? On the eve of the paper's 30th anniversary, John Hartman, author of The USA Today Way, said the paper is showing “all the makings of a death spiral” and predicted that it would shut down within three years.

Discussion: New York Times, AdAge, USA Today, Capital New York, FishbowlNY, MediaPost, Mashable! and @ckrewson

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Nomad Editions Calls it Quits — Nearly three years after launching Nomad Editions, Mark Edmiston is all but calling it quits—providing yet another example of just how hard it is to start a mobile-only publication from scratch. Edmiston, a former president/CEO of Newsweek turned media investment-banker …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Peter Walker / Guardian:

WikiLeaks criticised for linking Benghazi attack to Julian Assange case — WikiLeaks has been accused of crass self-centredness after it intimated that its founder Julian Assange's current refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London in part explained or even justified Wednesday's attack …

Discussion: Betabeat, Telegraph, mediabistro.com and Forbes

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:
The ‘facts’ from Benghazi

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, Guardian, The Daily Dish, Featured stories, Wall Street Journal and Reason

David Benoit / Wall Street Journal:

TheStreet Buys The Deal for $5.8 Million — TheStreet Inc . has purchased The Deal LLC, owner of the mergers-and-acquisition publication The Deal, for $5.8 million, TheStreet confirmed Wednesday morning. — The magazine will be closed and staff will be laid off, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Deal Journal, NYConvergence.com, eMedia Vitals and Folio

Phillip Swarts / The Washington Guardian:

Investigation questions EPA money spent to fund newspaper — Once a month, a free print publication gets delivered to mailboxes, coffee shops and libraries across the Mid-Atlantic with the latest news about how the government and private sector are trying to protect one of America's natural crown jewels: the Chesapeake Bay.

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild

Gillian Flaccus / Associated Press:

California man confirms role in anti-Islam film — LOS ANGELES (AP) — The search for those behind the provocative, anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egypt and Libya led Wednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role …

Adrian Chen / Gawker:
‘It Makes Me Sick’: Actress in Muhammed Movie Says She Was Deceived, Had No Idea It Was About Islam

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Muhammad Film Consultant: ‘Sam Bacile’ is Not Israeli, and Not a Real Name

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Lawyer: 4 — not 3,000 — interns have joined class action suit against Hearst — When I aggregated Kayleen Schaefer's New York magazine piece about a former unpaid intern at Harper's Bazaar whose lawsuit against Hearst has become a class-action suit, I incorrectly interpreted this passage to mean 3,000 interns had joined the suit:

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Afghanistan bans YouTube page for Prophet Mohammad video that led to the murder of a US ambassador [Updated] — Update: It turns out that YouTube has not been banned in Afghanistan, contrary to previous reports, including this one at The Next Web (the original story is below), which cited Reuters.

Discussion: CNN and WebProNews

Brian Womack / Bloomberg:
Google's YouTube Blocks Film Behind Protests in Libya

Discussion: Wired, Reuters, @mathewi and BuzzFeed

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

Bob Costas Rips NBC's Olympics Coverage — Even NBC News' own Bob Costas is blasting the network over the Olympics. The network was hit with wave after wave of criticism for various gaffes and editing decisions in its broadcast of the 2012 summer games. Costas, NBC News' primetime host …

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

CBS News, Showtime To Launch ‘60 Minutes of Sports’ Newsmagazine — CBS News and sister pay cable network Showtime are partnering on a new sports newsmagazine, “60 Minutes of Sports.” The program will air on Showtime, greatly bolstering the pay cabler's sports news output.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Broadcasting & Cable and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Phone-hacking: Hugh Grant and others file high court claims — Hugh Grant, a leading celebrity campaigner against press intrusion into private lives, has joined the ranks of those seeking damages from News International over alleged News of the World phone-hacking and has vowed to give any money he gets to helping fellow victims.