Mediagazer: BBC told to improve online local news (Mark Sweney/Guardian)

7:40 PM ET, May 20, 2013

Top News:

A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe — When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

The day in government snooping — Journalists were already rattled by the Department of Justice's secret seizure of Associated Press phone records when Ann Marimow's disturbing scoop in The Washington Post about the U.S. Department of Justice investigating Fox News reporter James Rosen hit this weekend.

Discussion: USA Today, Guardian, Open Channel, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, msnbc.com, Business Insider, TVNewser, Erik Wemple, The Wrap, The Daily Caller and Boing Boing

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:

Here's Fox News' Scathing Statement On The Leak Investigation Into One Of Its Reporters — Fox News Executive Vice President Michael Clemente has released a scathing statement on the leak investigation involving Fox News reporter James Rosen. Here's the full statement, provided by a network spokesperson …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Carney: No comment on James Rosen case

Discussion: @zekejmiller, Talking Points Memo, @chanders, @matthewteague, @trevortimm and @huffpostmedia

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
Justice Dept. Tracked Fox News Reporter James Rosen's Movements, Obtained His Personal Emails

Discussion: CNN, Yahoo! News and Politico

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

It's Official: Yahoo Is Buying Tumblr For $1.1B, Vows To Keep It Independent — Yahoo has now officially confirmed that it is buying blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion mostly in cash, after reports on an impending deal first surfaced last week. It says it will keep it as an independent company …

Timothy B. Lee / Washington Post:

Yahoo can't decide if it's a media company or a tech company — Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr for $1.1 billion is a big gamble by Marissa Mayer, the company's recently-hired CEO. The microblogging site is a valuable asset, but media accounts of Mayer's thinking suggest she hasn't come …

Discussion: Anil Dash, Guardian, Guardian, Business Insider, TechCrunch, MediaFile, John Battelle's Search Blog, AllThingsD and Fast Company

Felix Salmon:
Why Yahoo-Tumblr makes sense

Discussion: Marco.org, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Business Insider and Forbes

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
WordPress' Mullenweg Claims 72,000 Blog Posts Imported From Tumblr in Just One Hour on Sunday

Discussion: Business Wire, Matt Mullenweg, TechCrunch, Forbes, Mercury News, NYT Bits, VatorNews, CNET, ReadWrite, The Week, Gizmodo, The Verge, Engadget, Plagiarism Today, Fast Company and VentureBeat

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:
Yahoo May Bring Ads to Tumblr Blogs — With Permission

Discussion: DealBook, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, ZDNet and GigaOM

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Jann Wenner's Kid Is the New Head of RollingStone.com — Rolling Stone owner Jann Wenner has a knack for picking talent. So we're sure his online staff will give a hearty welcome to their new boss: Jann Wenner's fresh-out-of-college kid. — Gus Wenner, 22, is an amazing media success story.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlNY, @hunterw, @en_cohen, @samanthajoleal, @ejjudge, @craigsj, @markhor, @saramorrison, @mobute, @saramorrison, @petersterne and New York Magazine

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

New York Times CEO calls digital pay model “most successful” decision in years — In a speech to Columbia business school graduates, the CEO of the New York Times described the company's role in media disruption. — In a commencement address to business students at Columbia University …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

NBC News confirms ITV's Deborah Turness as president — Editor of ITV News will be the first female head of a television network news operation in the United States — Deborah Turness, editor of ITV News, has been appointed president of NBC News in the United States. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe for the Guardian

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, Radio & Television …, TVNewser, @brianstelter, Reuters, The Huffington Post, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and NetNewsCheck Latest

Jane Mayer / New Yorker:

How far did PBS go to avoid offending a sponsor? — Last fall, Alex Gibney, a documentary filmmaker who won an Academy Award in 2008 for an exposé of torture at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, completed a film called “Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream.”

Discussion: Gannett Blog, Boing Boing and LA Observed

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:

Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry Finds — WASHINGTON— Even as Apple became the nation's most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and surprised experts …

Discussion: Forbes, GigaOM, Fortune and TUAW

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC told to improve online local news — Review by the BBC Trust says web services have improved, but coverage of regional news is ‘not particularly comprehensive’ — A BBC Trust report has said online services have improved since its last review in 2008, but local coverage needs to be developed.

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …