Mediagazer: How Anonymous Got Westboro to Back Off Aaron Swartz's Funeral (Alexander Abad-Santos/The Atlantic Wire)

2:50 PM ET, January 16, 2013

Top News:

Darrell Issa Probing Prosecution Of Aaron Swartz, Internet Pioneer Who Killed Himself — WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is investigating the Justice Department's prosecution of Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide on Friday …

Discussion: Guardian, Hillicon Valley, TIME, Associated Press, TechPresident, CNET, The Daily Beast and Quartz

Alexander Abad-Santos / The Atlantic Wire:

How Anonymous Got Westboro to Back Off Aaron Swartz's Funeral — Fresh off their most recent spat over the Newtown shootings, the reviled hate group protestors at Westboro Baptist Church and the do-gooder hacktivists from Anonymous faced off over the ongoing Aaron Swartz suicide controversy on Tuesday …

Discussion: Fast Company, Forbes, Adweek, CNET, ReadWrite, Guardian, Softpedia News and WebProNews

Sandra Guy / Chicago Sun Times:

Aaron Swartz was ‘killed by government,’ father says at funeral — At 26, Internet activist and visionary Aaron Swartz had long ago established himself as a hero and wise elder of people power through copyright reform and open access to online information. In a 2001 interview with WBEZ Radio …

Discussion: CNET, Media Nation, Hillicon Valley, The Daily Beast, BuzzFeed News, Stanford CIS Blog, ABCNEWS and The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Digital First newspaper to reduce print frequency — The Oneida (N.Y.) Daily Dispatch will print three days a week beginning next month, owner Digital First Media announced Wednesday. — As is customary with such announcements, DFM promises “expanded online, mobile and electronic offerings” for Daily Dispatch readers.

Discussion: Digital First Media, NetNewsCheck Latest and Connecticut Newsroom

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

News Corp. may convert Fox Soccer into entertainment network — Fox Soccer may become an entertainment network. (Fox Sports ) — News Corp. is considering revamping its Fox Soccer cable channel into a general entertainment network, according to people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: EPL Talk

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Weekly World News erects paywall, ending debate forever — The Weekly World News will move its website behind a paywall, the company announced Wednesday. Listen up, information-needs-to-be-free types: When Bat Boy goes behind a paywall, there's nothing left to discuss.

Discussion: Weekly World News

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Twitter pictures put in spotlight following London helicopter crash — Issue of image copyright highlighted as major media outlets use photos taken by Twitter account holders and posted on site — The fatal helicopter crash in London on Wednesday morning once again put Twitter in the spotlight …

Discussion: Business Insider

Erin Geiger Smith / Reuters:
News outlets improperly used photos posted to Twitter: judge

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Verge, Daily Dot, Plagiarism Today, CNET, Poynter, UPROXX, WebProNews, Fast Company, eMedia Vitals, Boing Boing and Mashable!

Dean Starkman / CJR:

Native ads' existential problem — L'affaire Atlantic/Scientology points up the format's built-in problems for news — The Atlantic's big mistake in the Scientololgy “debacle” has been variously described as: — 1. Running an ad in the first place for a strange and predatory money-obsessed cult …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The New Republic and Guardian

Jack Shafer:
When advertorial bites back — At about noon today …

Discussion: Adweek, 10,000 Words, TechCrunch, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Magazine, Business Week and Daily Dot

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Amazon's European Netflix Competitor, LOVEFiLM, Signs TV Series Streaming Deal With NBCU — Another day, another content licensing agreement in the online streaming space. Amazon-owned LOVEFiLM, a European Netflix competitor, has signed a new streaming deal with NBCUniversal International TV Distribution …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, Media Week, The Next Web, SlashGear, Pocket-lint and GeekWire

Lisa Campbell / The Bookseller:

Kobo claims 20% of global e-reading market — Kobo increased its global e-ink device sales by 150% in December, making it the “biggest month” for the company so far. — The Canada-based retailer said that contrary to suggestions that e-ink devices would decline in popularity over Christmas …

Joel Mathis / blogs.phillymag.com:

No One is Coming to Save Philadelphia Newspapers — These owners and these journalists will decide the fate of the Inky and Daily News. First they need a plan. Any plan at all. — Well, now we know: There will be no white knight to save Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers.

Discussion: Philly.com and Poynter

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Why Is CNN Devoting Airtime To Ridiculous Conspiracy Theorists? — In the past week, Anderson Cooper has twice spent an entire segment of his show on the horrifying, outlandish conspiracy theories over the Sandy Hook shooting. Cooper repeatedly clarified that he wouldn't normally bring …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Pressing Issues

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

N.Y.'s tough new gun law also prohibits disclosure of gun owners' names — The New York state Assembly will vote Tuesday on gun legislation that would broaden the definition of assault weapons and require mental health professionals to report anyone they thought may become dangerous.

Discussion: Associated Press, Hit & Run, The New Republic and New York Magazine