Mediagazer: GI returns to Fort Meade for pretrial hearing in WikiLeaks case; seeks dismissal of charges (Associated Press)

8:10 AM ET, November 27, 2012

Top News:

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Old media's problems are the costs not the lack of paywalls — GigaOm's Mathew Ingram is one of my favorite bloggers (who doesn't work at PandoDaily), so I'm delighted that this time, I actually agree with him on something. — Go read his post on why paywalls are not the answer to dying newspapers right now.

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Why pushing for a paywall at the Washington Post completely misses the point

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest

Dean Starkman / CJR:
The Washington Post needs a paywall—now

Discussion: ReadWrite, Capital New York and @jbenton

Andrew Pugh / Press Gazette:

Lord Patten: BBC needs ‘sufficient heft’ to take on Google and Apple — The BBC needs “sufficient heft to be able to argue its corner” with global corporations likes Apple and Google, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten said last night. The peer also accused the press of trashing the reputation …

Nigel Morris / The Independent:

Lord Patten: Licence fee payer will foot the bill for Jimmy Savile sex abuse investigation — The cost of two BBC inquiries set up following the exposure of the Jimmy Savile scandal will be borne by licence fee-payers, but will not affect the budget for programmes, corporation chiefs have told MPs.

Discussion: PressGazette, Telegraph and ITV News

Associated Press:

GI returns to Fort Meade for pretrial hearing in WikiLeaks case; seeks dismissal of charges — FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army private charged in the biggest security breach in U.S. history is trying to avoid trial by claiming he was already punished enough when he was locked up alone in a small cell …

Discussion: PRI's The World, NPR and Baltimore Sun

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Bradley Manning to speak for first time since arrest in pre-trial testimony — Soldier allegedly behind WikiLeaks documents leak to be called as a witness Tuesday in first public statement since 2010 — Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of being behind the largest leak of state secrets in US history …

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Guest on Fox News to Discuss Benghazi Attack Is Given a Quick Exit — Thomas E. Ricks, the veteran defense reporter and author, said he expected his Monday morning appearance on Fox News to last about three minutes. It ended, in fact, after 90 seconds — his last sentence was a description …

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine, TVNewser, Softpedia News, The Huffington Post and Pressing Issues

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
Fox Interview Ends After Guest Accuses Network Of Operating As ‘Wing Of The Republican Party’

Discussion: Politico, The Raw Story and Erik Wemple

Alison Flood / Guardian:

Former OED editor covertly deleted thousand of words, book claims — Efforts to rewrite the dictionary in the 70s and 80s to omit entries with foreign origins described as ‘really shocking’ by author — An eminent former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary covertly deleted thousands …

Discussion: Telegraph, Melville House Books, The Verge, Gawker and bookforum.com

Robert Andrews / paidContent:

Guardian and BBC battle for traffic in the Big Apple — The Guardian is making a song and dance about its web traffic having surpassed that of BBC News in the U.S. (via release). — That is a significant milestone for the UK publisher in the battle to win American hearts, minds, eyeballs — and advertisers.

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:
The Guardian goes responsive with its new mobile site following a month-long beta trial

Discussion: Guardian

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

With ‘Defiance,’ Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames — On a sprawling soundstage on the outskirts of Toronto, Kevin Murphy is giving a tour of the alien world he's helping bring to life. As silver-eyed humanoids stroll silently past, Murphy …

Cary Spivak / American Journalism Review:

Are These Guys Crazy? — It has happened in newsrooms across the country. News breaks that somebody is buying a newspaper, undoubtedly at a deeply discounted price. Buyout-weary reporters and editors look around their own newsrooms filled with empty desks and wonder: “Who are these guys buying newspapers?

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

How we read, not what we read, may be contributing to our information overload — Every day, a new app or service arrives with the promise of helping people cut down on the flood of information they receive. It's the natural result of living in a time when an ever-increasing number …

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Where Are You Android Users? — Over at BusinessInsider, Henry Blodget has a post up that gets to at a topic I've wondered a lot about — both as someone just interested in tech but also as a news publisher. In short, with so many Android devices out there, why does so little mobile traffic seem to come from them?

Discussion: parislemon and Business Insider

Jim Romenesko:

Cox Media Group to launch website for ‘heartland conservatives’ — Cox Media Group is launching “a national news website for conservative audiences that is independent, anti-propaganda and rooted in the South away from the right and left coasts,” according to ads on the Cox website.

Discussion: News & Views …

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Report: Cameron will oppose calls from Leveson for ‘state meddling’ in the press — With Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly set to oppose any calls from Lord Justice Leveson for ‘state meddling’ in the press, leader of the opposition Ed Miliband has insisted that Leveson's recommendations should be implemented.

Discussion: CNN, Guardian, Telegraph and Guardian

Robert Peston / BBC: Leveson: Cameron's dilemma

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Say What? BuzzFeed has 30 Million Monthly Unique Visitors w/ Zero Banners — MONACO — BuzzFeed, the fast-growing digital news publisher, will average 30 million unique monthly visitors this year, but won't host a single banner ad, says founder and CEO Jonah Peretti.

Thanks:@beet_tv

John Koblin / Deadspin:

Media Experts Dan Okrent, Jack Shafer, and David Carr Discuss ESPN's Plagiarism Problem: “If I Were Them, I Would Be Embarrassed” — It's now been 138 days since we turned up ESPN entertainment writer Lynn Hoppes's extensive habit of copying and pasting from Wikipedia.