Mediagazer: Legal Case Strained Troubled Web Activist (Wall Street Journal)

11:05 AM ET, January 14, 2013

Top News:

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

MIT Responds to Death of Activist Aaron Swartz, Begins Internal Investigation — Two days after Internet activist Aaron Swartz took his own life, the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has issued a public response and will launch an internal investigation looking …

Discussion: New York Times, MIT, The Verge, CNET, MetaFilter, Media News, VentureBeat, @biellacoleman, Crooked Timber and MIT's Student Newspaper

Wall Street Journal:

Legal Case Strained Troubled Web Activist — Just days before he hanged himself, Internet activist Aaron Swartz's hopes for a deal with federal prosecutors fell apart. — Two years ago, the advocate for free information online, who was known to have suffered from depression …

Discussion: Mashable!, TIME, WebProNews, Digits and The Verge

Jay Rosen / Quote and Comment:
“If someone is in need of knowledge and you can provide it, but you don't, you are guilty …

Discussion: TechPresident, Poynter and New Yorker

Alex Stamos / Unhandled Exception:
The Truth about Aaron Swartz's “Crime”

Micah Allen / Neuroconscience:
Researchers begin posting article PDFs to twitter in #pdftribute to Aaron Swartz

Discussion: Science Citizen, Aid Economics, @drjaxon, @youranonnews, @venturejessica, @sarahkendzior, @jayrosen_nyu, Gizmodo and New York Magazine

Newsday:

Journal News gun permit map used by burglars to target White Plains home? — A White Plains residence pinpointed on a controversial handgun permit database was burglarized Saturday, and the burglars' target was the homeowner's gun safe. — At least two burglars broke into a home on Davis Avenue …

Discussion: National Review, Gannett Blog, The Daily Caller and Fox News

David Carr / New York Times:

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturbs — Should data have a conscience? — As a journalist, I am trained as an absolutist in matters of open data. Public records should be just that, public, and as agents of transparency, news media outlets should help cast sunlight on those records.

Discussion: BuzzMachine

Rachel McAthy / Journalism.co.uk:

New York Times to launch electronic corrections form — The New York Times website is to launch a new electronic corrections submissions form, to try and improve the reader's ability to report an error. Speaking to Journalism.co.uk for a podcast on best practice in online corrections …

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Condé Nast Contracts Cut Author's Share in Film Deals — It's a dream tucked in the backs of many journalists' minds: the article they write becomes a blockbuster movie and they reap a healthy share of the profits, a walk on the red carpet and — who knows? — maybe even an Oscar.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Robin Roberts Plans February Return to ‘Good Morning America’ — Robin Roberts, the “Good Morning America” host who signed off the show last August to receive treatment for a life-threatening bone marrow disorder, says she intends to return to work in February.

Discussion: Politico and The Wrap

Keith Stuart / Guardian:

News as games: immoral or the future of interactive journalism? — Apple's decision to reject an iPhone game exploring the conflict in Syria reflects wider unease about playing with news — Picture this. One morning, you visit the Guardian home page to find a headline article about …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Viggle Isn't Buying GetGlue After All — Last fall, social TV company Viggle announced that it was buying competitor GetGlue in a deal that could have been worth $70 million or more. — But that deal never closed, and tonight GetGlue says that it never will. — A blog post by GetGlue founder Alex Iskold doesn't say much.

Discussion: GetGlue Blog, AdAge, VentureBeat, VatorNews, Cable Television News, TechCrunch and Lost Remote

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Eugene C. Patterson, Editor and Civil Rights Crusader, Dies at 89 — Eugene C. Patterson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of The Atlanta Constitution during the civil rights conflicts of the 1960s and later the managing editor of The Washington Post and editor of The St. Petersburg Times in Florida …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, mediabistro.com, Poynter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, Poynter, Tampa Bay Times and The Huffington Post

Cornelius Rahn / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Wins Control of German Unit After Failed BSkyB Bid — Sky Deutschland AG (SKYD) agreed on a $1 billion financing deal with shareholder News Corp. (NWSA) and a group of lenders that allows Rupert Murdoch's company to increase its stake in the German pay-television unit to 54.5 percent.

Discussion: Deadline.com

Julie Moos / Poynter:

3 journalists get Golden Globe shout-outs — During Sunday night's Golden Globe awards, journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann received thanks from Jay Roach, whose HBO adaptation of their book “Game Change” won best miniseries/TV movie. Halperin and Heilemann are working on a sequel …

Discussion: New York Times, New York Times, Associated Press and Chickaboomer