Mediagazer: NewsRight, ambitious attempt at licensing newspaper content, quietly folds (Rick Edmonds/Poynter)

8:35 AM ET, May 17, 2013

Top News:

Will Yahoo Try to Get Its “Cool Again” by Doing a Deal for Tumblr? — Earlier this week, Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman spoke at JP Morgan's Global Technology conference and underscored the need for the aging Silicon Valley Internet giant to attract more users from the coveted 18-to-24-years-old age bracket.

Discussion: GigaOM, Media News, The Wall Blog, TechCrunch, Softpedia News, The Atlantic Wire, The Next Web and Mashable

Mike Shields / Adweek:

Yahoo in Talks to Acquire Tumblr: Deal could reach as high as $1 billion — Is Marissa Mayer about to make a game-changing acquisition? It appears so. — Yahoo is in serious talks with Tumblr to acquire the social blogging site, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks.

Discussion: The Verge, Electronista, UPROXX, @alexgriendling, CNET, @bluechoochoo, @dannysullivan, @strobist, @bluechoochoo, VentureBeat, Pocket-lint and Valleywag

Nitasha Tiku / Gawker:

The Hidden Dossiers Bloomberg Reporters Keep on Powerful Clients — If you are an influential user of a Bloomberg terminal—the $24,000-per-year glorified computers that the company sells to Wall Street trading firms, politicians, and banks—there's a chance the company's news division …

Discussion: Forbes, Globe and Mail, @nealunger and Wonkblog

The Huffington Post: Bloomberg Scandal Raises Ethics Questions For New Media

Nieman Foundation News:

Nieman Fellows selected for class of 2014 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has selected 24 journalists as members of the 76th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. The group includes reporters, editors, columnists, digital media leaders and producers in print …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab and Associated Press

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post Co. shuts Maryland papers — The Washington Post Co. announced Wednesday it would stop publishing the Frederick County, Md., editions of its Gazette newspapers. Post-Newsweek Media CEO Karen Acton said the move “became necessary due to changes in the market conditions in Frederick …

Discussion: Gazette.Net Maryland …

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Sun paywall needs more than 300,000 subscribers to cover outlay, say analysts — Sun+ service predicted to result in drop in online ad revenue with NI also paying £30m-plus for digital Premier League rights — The Sun will need to attract more than 250,000 subscribers …

Sabrina Siddiqui / The Huffington Post:

GOP Splits On Media Shield Bill — WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday he would co-sponsor a media shield bill with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) after the Justice Department secretly seized two months of Associated Press phone records. The two senators penned a letter urging …

Discussion: New York Times

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

ComScore Wins Clients for Online-Ad Rating System — The battle between companies measuring the reach of online ads is heating up. — Ad-buying giants Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia said they have signed on to use comScore Inc.'s online advertising ratings system …

Tim Cushing / Techdirt:

Why ESPN's Offer To Pay To Have Its Content Bypass Data Cap Meters Plays Right Into The Hands Of Wireless Providers — ESPN has been making a little bit of noise recently about being willing to throw a few bucks towards wireless providers in exchange for letting its content roll through to users without affecting their data caps.

Adam L. Penenberg / PandoDaily:

Bitcoins, Wikileaks, 3D printers, PGP and the gov's battle against information — The U.S. government has a hard enough time parrying foreign threats like terrorist groups and hostile nations but it's the unfettered distribution of information in the form of software that could pose the greatest threat of all.

Discussion: Source, Nieman Journalism Lab and 10,000 Words

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Amazon Taps NBCUniversal To Bring Covert Affairs, Grimm, Suits, And More To Prime Instant Video — Amazon has just announced a new content deal with NBCUniversal, bringing a host of new television series to the video streaming platform. — Some of those titles include Covert Affairs, Defiance, Grimm, Hannibal, and Suits.

Discussion: Amazon.com, Home Media Magazine, Engadget, Softpedia News, GeekWire, WebProNews, CNET, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Campaign to Buy Los Angeles Times Hopes to Crowdfund $660 Million — Nicole Carty, 23, speaks during a meeting for participants of Zuccotti Park's Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York. — Want to buy the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and six other daily newspapers?

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter, WWD Media Headlines, Nieman Journalism Lab and @jayrosen_nyu

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
Tribune CEO Says Furor Over Koch Newspaper Sale Is Premature

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest, DNAinfo.com New York, Hit & Run, Mediaite and @edmundlee

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

NewsRight, ambitious attempt at licensing newspaper content, quietly folds — Analyst Ken Doctor reports at Nieman Labs that NewsRight, an industry-owned agency that has tried to license content to aggregators, has gone out of business. — NewsRight's own news release describes the dissolution …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Mediashift and Kirk LaPointe's …

Washington Post:

Some question whether AP leak on al-Qaeda plot put U.S. at risk — For five days, reporters at the Associated Press had been sitting on a big scoop about a foiled al-Qaeda plot at the request of CIA officials. Then, in a hastily scheduled Monday morning meeting, the journalists were asked …