Mediagazer: Herring Plans to Launch New Conservative News Network (Keach Hagey/Wall Street Journal)

8:10 AM ET, March 15, 2013

Top News:

Reuters' Matthew Keys indicted for conspiring with hacker group ‘Anonymous’ — Matthew Keys, a deputy social media editor at Thomson Reuters, has been charged in an indictment for allegedly conspiring with members of the hacker group “Anonymous” to hack into a Tribune Company website, the Justice Department announced today.

The United States Department of Justice:

Former Web Producer Indicted in California for Conspiring with “Anonymous” Members to Attack Internet News Site — A former web producer for a Tribune Company-owned television station in Sacramento, Calif., was charged today in an indictment for allegedly conspiring with members of the hacker group …

Reuters:

Thomson Reuters employee indicted for aiding hackers: court filing — (Reuters) - A federal grand jury has indicted Matthew Keys, deputy social media editor at Reuters.com, for conspiring with members of the Anonymous hacking collective to break into the computers of his former employer …

Discussion: Politico, Vancouver Sun, New York Magazine, @ryanjreilly, @ryanjreilly, @rabite, @rabite, KTLA 5, @mikeisaac, The Huffington Post, L.A. NOW, @gaberivera, Big News Network.com, @gerryshih, The Daily Beast and Gawker

Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:
Reuters Employee Exposed as Alleged Anonymous Agent (Updating)

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Adweek, Poynter, ZDNet, Boing Boing, Twitchy, L.A. NOW, Mashable! and VentureBeat

Jim Romenesko:

Boston Phoenix is folding — Boston's alt-weekly, founded in 1966, is closing. I'm waiting for more information to post.

Discussion: @bostonphoenix, Boston Globe, 10,000 Words, Media Decoder, The New York Observer, talkingnewmedia.blogspot.co.uk, @longform, @monikabauerlein, bizjournals, @talkingnewmedia and @zseward

Justin Peters / Columbia Journalism Review:

Boston Phoenix, down in flames — On Thursday afternoon, Boston Phoenix publisher Stephen Mindich announced that the 47-year-old alt-weekly would cease publication effective immediately. The past few years “have been extremely difficult times for our Company,” Mindich said in a statement …

Discussion: Media Nation, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Huffington Post and New York Magazine

Digg Blog:

We're Building A Reader — Like many of you, we were dismayed to learn that Google will be shutting down its much-loved, if under-appreciated, Google Reader on July 1st. Through its many incarnations, Google Reader has remained a solid and reliable tool for those who want to ensure …

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Digg announces plan to build an RSS reader with 'the best of Google Reader's features,' including its API

Discussion: SlashGear, VentureBeat, Betabeat and The Atlantic Wire

Wall Street Journal:

Facebook Working on Incorporating the Hashtag — Facebook Inc. is getting ready to take on a symbol of rival Twitter: the hashtag. — Facebook is working on incorporating the hashtag, one of Twitter Inc.'s most iconic markers, into its service, said people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Media News, Wired, TechCrunch, The Wall Blog, Softpedia News, AdAge, Lost Remote, Marketing Land, Daily Dot, CNET, GigaOM, Fast Company, The Verge, Business Insider, The Next Web, Pocket-lint, Gizmodo, Mashable!, New York Magazine and WebProNews

Felix Salmon / Reuters:

Did Google just kill RSS? — On Tuesday, Google paid $7 million to settle charges with a coalition of 38 states in relation to its privacy breaches. The 14-page agreement is pretty detailed, and includes promises from Google to spend a substantial amount of effort educating the public about the importance of securing wifi networks.

Discussion: The Verge, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, Fortune and Forbes

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:
Google Reader Still Drives Far More Traffic Than Google+

Discussion: Guardian, Mashable!, ZDNet, The Daily Beast, ReadWrite, The Wall Blog, Guardian and TechCrunch

Om Malik / GigaOM:
Google Reader lived on borrowed time: creator Chris Wetherell reflects

Discussion: Slate, Building Feedly, cortesi, TechCrunch, Publishing Executive …, pressgazette.co.uk, Marco.org, Motherboard, NYT Bits, Fast Company, VentureBeat, Dave Winer, Forbes, Reuters, paidContent, BBC, ZDNet, The Dish, GeekWire, Marketing Land and Softpedia News

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Web Video: Bigger and Less Profitable — People in the media business say that the future is online video. Just how many companies will be able to profit is the big question. — Online video-advertising rates continue to fall. Prices for ads on top-tier sites last year were down by 10% …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest and The Huffington Post

Janko Roettgers / paidContent:

Hulu's content chief Andy Forssell officially takes over as acting CEO — Hulu has officially announced that its SVP of content Andy Forssell is going to become its acting CEO when founding CEO Jason Kilar leaves the company at the end of the month. Kilar made the announcement himself Thursday afternoon on Hulu's blog, writing:

Discussion: Hulu Blog, AdAge, SlashGear, C21Media, Los Angeles Times, The Next Web, Variety, Home Media Magazine and Broadcasting & Cable

Paul Bond / The Hollywood Reporter:

Billionaire Eli Broad Teams With Financier to Make L.A. Times Bid — The Los Angeles Times Building and 2nd and Spring streets downtown — The philanthropic Los Angeles businessman has joined with former Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner to make the Tribune Co.'s largest newspaper a nonprofit.

Discussion: Poynter and LA Observed

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

Netflix Chief Product Officer: expect 4K streaming within a year or two — Neil Hunt talks site outages, streaming 4k, and the company's gold mine of user data — Neil Hunt is likely the most important Netflix executive that nobody's ever heard of. While everyone in tech media knows CEO Reed Hastings …

Discussion: Home Media Magazine, VentureBeat, Engadget and Fortune

Sambuddha Mitra Mustafi / Columbia Journalism Review:

The crime that altered India — In the wake of a brutal rape, a flawed media led a national self-examination — In Delhi, according to the police, a woman is raped every 18 hours, on average. So it is worth wondering why the gang rape and murder of one 23-year old woman …

Jordan Zakarin / Hollywood Reporter:

ESPN Suspends Bill Simmons From Twitter After Criticizing Network — One of the sports network's biggest personalities called a segment that aired on “First Take” on Monday “awful and embarrassing,” allegedly drawing his employer's ire. — ESPN has suspended star commentator …

Discussion: USA Today, The Verge, Daily Dot, Deadspin and Mashable!

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Google Reader's demise is awful for Iranians, who use it to avoid censorship — Google's announcement that it's killing off Google Reader, the company's beloved, if not wildly popular, tool for consuming RSS feeds, was met with outrage from journalists and other, largely American nerds …