Mediagazer: Leak Investigations Are an Assault on the Press, and on Democracy, Too (Margaret Sullivan/The Public Editor's …)

2:05 PM ET, May 15, 2013

Top News:

Mark Memmott / NPR:

Holder Isn't Sure How Often Reporters' Records Are Seized … As his Justice Department faces bipartisan outrage for searching phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, Attorney Gen. Eric Holder says he is not sure how many times such information has been seized by government investigators …

Discussion: Mediashift, The Huffington Post, Post Politics, The Daily Caller and Foreign Policy

New York Times:

Holder Defends Justice Department in Journalists' Records Seizure — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday defended the Justice Department's sweeping seizure of telephone records of Associated Press journalists, describing the article by The A.P. that prompted …

Discussion: emptywheel, Techdirt, Guardian, Senator Wyden's Press Feed, FishbowlNY, TVWeek.com, The Volokh Conspiracy, msnbc.com, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Politico, The New York Observer and The Huffington Post

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Leak Investigations Are an Assault on the Press, and on Democracy, Too — This was supposed to be the administration of unprecedented transparency. President Obama promised that when he took office, and the White House's Web site says so on this very day. It reads:

Discussion: Capital New York, The Wrap, Guardian, Politico, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

Washington Post:
Damage to press freedom likely outweighs national security gain

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters, FOX News Radio, The Huffington Post, Newsday, TheBlaze.com, FishbowlNY and Broadcasting & Cable

Erik Wemple:
AP subpoena: Journo says he lost sources in 2001 case

Discussion: Poynter

Timothy Lee / Washington Post:
In AP surveillance case, the real scandal is what's legal

Discussion: law.cornell.edu, Poynter, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Media Matters Action Network, Hit & Run, New Yorker and @ggreenwald

Associated Press:

Senate Dem revives media shield law — WASHINGTON — A top Senate Democrat plans to revive legislation that would protect journalists and their employers from revealing their sources, days after it was revealed that the Justice Department secretly obtained Associated Press phone records.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire and Associated Press

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Under Fire, White House Pushes to Revive ‘Media Shield’ Bill — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration sought on Wednesday to revive legislation that would provide greater protections to reporters from penalties for refusing to identify confidential sources, and that would enable journalists …

Discussion: Capital New York, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, @trevortimm, The New Republic and @dankennedy_nu

New York Times:

U.S. Now Paints Apple as ‘Ringmaster’ in Its Lawsuit on E-Book Price-Fixing — WASHINGTON — The e-mail, from Steve Jobs of Apple to James Murdoch of News Corporation, reads as if one old sport were trying to cajole another into joining a caper: “Throw in with Apple and see if we can all …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Hillicon Valley, Consumerist, TUAW, Business Insider, Kindle Review and NPR

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

Apple tells U.S. of tough talks, not collusion, with publishers — (Reuters) - Apple Inc responded to Justice Department accusations it conspired with publishers to push up electronic book prices, saying it negotiated with a number of publishing companies separately and crafted different agreements with each.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Bloomberg, Washington Post, App Advice, AppleInsider, CNET, 9to5Mac and iLounge

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of where NewsRight went wrong — Quietly, very quietly, NewsRight — once touted as the American newspaper industry's bid to protect its content and make more money from it — has closed its doors. — Yesterday, it conducted a concluding board meeting, aimed at tying up loose ends.

Discussion: @niemanlab

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

The New Yorker Launches Strongbox, an Open-Source Anonymous Tip Tool Built by Aaron Swartz — Technology gives journalists unprecedented power to track down information. And technology gives lots of other people the ability to follow journalists' footprints. Just ask the Associated Press.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, Poynter, New Yorker, Folio, paidContent, The New Yorker Blog, Foreign Policy, The Verge, Kirk LaPointe's …, deaddrop.github.io, Boing Boing and Pressing Issues

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Don't Look Now But AOL Sold Off Its Industry News Sites — Ever since they joined forces two years ago, Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington have been under the microscope, their every move dissected and critiqued. So it's impressive, in a way, that they were able to unwind one of their misadventures without attracting any notice.

Tania Branigan / Guardian:

China tries to rein in microbloggers — Authorities show determination to control burgeoning culture of social media by closing accounts of writers and intellectuals — China has launched a new drive to tame its boisterous microblogging culture by closing influential accounts belonging …

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

E-Book Sales a Boon to Publishers in 2012 — E-book sales, especially in the thriving romance genre, gave the book business a lift in 2012, according to a survey of publishers released Wednesday. — In a year that was monopolized by the “Fifty Shades” erotic novels and their various knockoffs …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and paidContent