Mediagazer: Twitter libel: Sally Bercow's tweet about Lord McAlpine ruled libellous (James Legge/The Independent)

7:35 AM ET, May 24, 2013

Top News:

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Obama: Leak Investigations Could ‘Chill Investigative Journalism’ — President Obama said Thursday that he is “troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.” — In a major speech on national security …

Discussion: Open Channel, Mediaite, Fox News, Techdirt, @ryanlizza, @howardkurtz, Politico, @ggreenwald, Washington Times, @natives, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, @lheron, @intelligencer, @mirandacgreen, @digiphile and The New Yorker Blog

Leonard Downie Jr / Washington Post:

Leonard Downie: Obama's war on leaks undermines investigative journalism — Leonard Downie Jr. is a vice president at large of The Washington Post, where he served as executive editor from 1991 to 2008. He is the Weil family professor of journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism …

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: Agence France Presse, Bloomberg and BBC

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

Karen Fratti / 10,000 Words:

The Old Grey Lady: The Times Needs to Get Over ‘Snow Fall’ — Like most people, I have a fear of getting really old. You know how sometimes you see an old, grey lady in the supermarket grumbling about the price of milk and scowling at the clerk who tries to help her? I don't want to be her one day.

Discussion: Capital New York, New York Magazine and FishbowlNY

Ronald Grover / Reuters:

Hulu video site auction attracts four bidders: sources — (Reuters) - Former News Corp president Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Electronista, CNET and The Verge

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: SlashGear, AppleInsider, CNET and The Mac Observer

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Hearst Taps Demand Media's Bradford and Yucaipa's Johnson to “Redefine” the San Francisco Chronicle — Media giant Hearst has hired two senior execs — Demand Media's Joanne Bradford and former Los Angeles Times CEO Jeffrey Johnson — in a significant move to digitally turbocharge and jumpstart …

Discussion: ZDNet, @rajunarisetti and FishbowlLA

Keach Hagey / Digits:

Twitter Cozies Up to Television With New Ad Products — Twitter rolled out two advertising products on Thursday aimed at showing it wants to be television's friend, not foe. — The social networking site, powered by its recent acquisition of social media data company Bluefin Labs …

Discussion: Bloomberg and AllThingsD

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twitter Launches TV Ad Targeting, Twitter Amplify For Real-Time Videos In Stream

Discussion: Twitter Advertising, SocialTimes, BtoB Magazine, Marketing Pilgrim, @robinsloan, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, CNET, WebProNews, AdAge, Adweek, Digiday, Capital New York and Engadget

David Banks / Guardian:

Woolwich attack footage will stir debate over contempt laws — With videos and pictures being posted online and tweeted hundreds of times what does it mean when a trial comes about? — If there was one thing that was unprecedented about the Woolwich attack, as well as the savagery, it was the way it played out in the media.

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk

Leon Lazaroff / TheStreet.com:

Bloomberg's ‘Spygate’ Marks Murdoch's Latest Salvo — NEW YORK (TheStreet) - It's been 13 days since The New York Post's Mark DeCambre broke the news that Bloomberg reporters allegedly used proprietary information from the company's terminals to write about investment bankers, including those at Goldman Sachs (GS).

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News: Bloomberg News hires Boston Globe's ME

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC increases pay offer to lowest earners in bid to head off strikes — Bectu general secretary says £50 hike to pay rise for staff earning less than £60,000 a year is an insult — The BBC has attempted to head off a potential summer of strikes by increasing its annual pay offer to its lowest-earning staff.

John Cook / Gawker:

Rob Ford Crackstarter Update — As of this writing, the Rob Ford Crackstarter—our attempt to crowdfund $200,000 to purchase and publish a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine—has exceeded $145,000. At the rate it's going, we will reach our goal by Saturday, if not sooner.

BuzzFeed:

Old Media Is Not Dead: Why Hedge Funds Have Fallen In Love With CBS — Some of the smartest money on Wall Street is betting that CBS shares can go a lot higher. How the oldest of old-media companies became a hedge fund darling. — Even though shares of CBS have gained an astounding 1,500% …

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 …