Mediagazer: Leveson data protection plans ‘could have chilling effect on journalism’ (Josh Halliday/Guardian)

1:55 PM ET, January 8, 2013

Top News:

Las Vegas Review-Journal is dropping the Associated Press — A Romenesko reader writes: “I'm told that the Las Vegas Review-Journal is going to dump the AP, saving $45K a month.” — Associated Press spokesman Paul Colford confirms that the paper has given notice (he doesn't confirm the savings figure, though), and adds:

New York Times:

Faceoff in Chinese City Over Censorship of Newspaper — GUANGZHOU, China — Protests over censorship at one of China's most liberal newspapers descended into ideological confrontation on Tuesday, pitting advocates of free speech against supporters of Communist Party control who wielded red flags and portraits of Mao Zedong.

Discussion: DealBook, BBC, The New Yorker Blog, The Week, Agence France Presse, The Independent, Telegraph, Corporate Intelligence, China Real Time Report, Los Angeles Times, Channel 4, Quartz, Guardian, Business Week and TIME

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Leveson data protection plans ‘could have chilling effect on journalism’ — Information commissioner Christopher Graham says there are ‘legitimate concerns’ about impact of proposals on journalism — Lord Justice Leveson's proposals for tougher data protection laws could have a …

Discussion: @coreypein, ico.gov.uk and Kirk LaPointe's …

John Letzing / SmartMoney.com:

AOL Says One Out of Nine Patch Sites Profitable — AOL Inc. (AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong said Monday about 100 of the company's 900 Patch sites are now profitable, as the Internet media firm seeks to use its costly local online news network to help fuel an ongoing turnaround effort.

Discussion: Noted and Business Insider

Jim Romenesko:

Washington Post to start doing polling work for outside clients — Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron tells his staff this morning that the paper's polling operation will become an independent polling group of Washington Post Media so it can start doing work for outside clients and “grow a new business for the company.”

Discussion: Capital New York and mediabistro.com

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Charlie Ergen Ticks Off the TV Guys, Again — Last year, Charlie Ergen used CES to lob a bomb at the TV establishment, and ended up fighting the TV networks in court. 2013 could end up shaping up the same way. — Yesterday, Ergen's Dish Network used the gadget show to unveil several …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Reuters, Variety, SlashGear, Los Angeles Times, TechRadar.com, Mashable!, ABCNEWS and Engadget

Jade Walker / The Huffington Post:

Richard Ben Cramer Dead: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist And Author Dies At 62 — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Richard Ben Cramer died Jan. 7 of complications from lung cancer. He was 62. — Born in Rochester, N.Y., Cramer studied at Johns Hopkins University …

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, Philly.com, The Daily Beast, BuzzFeed, Poynter, Remembrances and The Daily Beast

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Does aiding WikiLeaks equal aiding Al Qaeda? — Prosecutors and lawyers for alleged WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning were back in court Tuesday, sparring over one of the central questions in his case: does giving sensitive government information to the media equate to aiding Al Qaeda?

Discussion: The Independent

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Aereo will take its TV distruption to 22 new cities this spring — Aereo, which offers a way for people to watch and save TV shows on their mobile devices, has so far been available only in New York City. Now, Aereo is undertaking a rapid roll-out that will take it to over 90 million consumers in 22 new cities.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Betabeat, Hillicon Valley and The Verge

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

Power of the indie: Macmillan strikes partnerships with e-publisher Entangled — In the latest example of a big-six publisher tapping the power of indies, Macmillan announced two new partnerships with Entangled, the independent romance publisher behind bestsellers like Jennifer Probst's The Marriage Bargain.

Discussion: world.einnews.com, PublishersWeekly.com and Dear Author

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

$100 Million Pledged To Indie Film On Kickstarter... And 8,000 Films Made — Less than a year after being declared the darling of Sundance — especially for not having “the arrogance of a studio” — Kickstarter has announced that over $100 million has been pledged to indie film via its platform …

Michael Peel / Financial Times:

Is al-Jazeera too soft on Qatar and its allies? — ABU DHABI — Qatar's al-Jazeera television station provided a great ringside seat for the “day of rage” in Cairo almost two years ago that offered the first clear sign of the threat to the rule of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.