Mediagazer: Fox News CEO Roger Ailes blasts administration, praises his team (Joe Flint/Los Angeles Times)

1:15 PM ET, May 24, 2013

Top News:

Alex Pareene / Salon:

Eric Holder versus journalism — After AG signed off on warrant granting DOJ access to reporter's email, the question now is: Will Obama let him go? — Attorney General Eric Holder personally signed off on the warrant naming Fox News journalist James Rosen a “possible co-conspirator” …

Discussion: Mediaite, NewsBusters blogs, Open Channel and The Week

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes blasts administration, praises his team — Roger Ailes fired back at the Justice Department. — Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes sent a memo to the channel's staff critical of the Obama administration in the wake of revelations that the Justice Department was probing phone …

Leonard Downie Jr / Washington Post: Leonard Downie: Obama's war on leaks undermines investigative journalism

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Obama: Leak Investigations Could ‘Chill Investigative Journalism’

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Times, Mediaite, Fox News, Techdirt, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, @ryanlizza, @howardkurtz, Politico, @ggreenwald, @natives, Associated Press, @lheron, @intelligencer, @mirandacgreen and @digiphile

Gavriel Hollander / Press Gazette:

Sun and ITV defend ‘public interest’ in broadcasting Woolwich terror video which Sky News judged too ‘distressing’ — News organisations have defended their decisions to broadcast controversial video footage shot in the immediate aftermath of the Woolwich terror attack.

Discussion: Guardian, TVNewser, Guardian, Guardian, The Huffington Post and The Drum

David Banks / Guardian: Woolwich attack footage will stir debate over contempt laws

Crayton Harrison / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Publishing Unit Gets $500 Million Buyback Fund — News Corp. (NWSA) said its publishing division, which will become a separate company in June, will start out with a $500 million fund to repurchase stock. — The board authorized News Corp.'s split into two companies …

Discussion: Forbes, paidContent, Guardian, Associated Press, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal

BBC:
News Corp to split in two on 28 June

Discussion: The Next Web

The Lens:

A year after Times-Picayune announced cutbacks, news habits changing in New Orleans — A year ago today, news leaked that The Times-Picayune would cease daily publication, cut staff and focus on its website, NOLA.com. The paper and ink edition now hits doorsteps and newsstands just three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Discussion: Poynter

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

BBC axes £98m technology project to avoid ‘throwing good money after bad’ — Independent investigation launched after Digital Media Initiative, which aimed to digitise archive, results in catalogue of errors — The BBC has admitted that it has wasted almost £100m on a technology project …

Discussion: BBC, Guardian and PressGazette

James Legge / The Independent:

Twitter libel: Sally Bercow's tweet about Lord McAlpine ruled libellous — Sally Bercow says she is “surprised and disappointed” by the High Court ruling that her tweet about Tory peer Lord McAlpine was libellous. The tweet - which read: “Why is Lord McAlpine trending?

Discussion: Bloomberg, Agence France Presse and BBC

Nate Raymond / Reuters:

Judge says leaning toward U.S. in Apple e-books case — (Reuters) - In an unusual move before a trial, a federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence that Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-book prices.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Fortune, SlashGear, AppleInsider, The Mac Observer and CNET

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Telegraph cements place as only profitable mainstream ‘quality’ national with £58.4m surplus for 2012 — Telegraph Media Group has claimed a slight improvement in operating profit for 2012 despite a marginal fall in turnover. — The publisher of the Telegraph print titles …

Greg Sandoval / The Verge:

With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans — Streaming services, such as Pandora and Spotify, aren't as profitable for music publishers. They want to change that. — For years, when it came to driving negotiations with internet music services over licensing …

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

How Publishers Organize for Social Era — Publishers are seeing social as a big traffic driver across the board, but the question remains how to organize for this. — For some very socially savvy publishers like a Mashable, this can mean a team of five-strong and a detailed strategy …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals