Mediagazer: The real origins of Tumblr (Fernando Alfonso III/Daily Dot)

2:10 PM ET, May 26, 2013

Top News:

Sweeping Leak Inquiries Reveal How Wide a Net U.S. Has Cast — WASHINGTON — Even before the F.B.I. conducted 550 interviews of officials and seized the phone records of Associated Press reporters in a leak investigation connected to a 2012 article about a Yemen bomb plot …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @mlcalderone, Mother Jones, @mlcalderone, Dallas Morning News and Mediaite

Christine Haughney / New York Times:

Press Sees Chilling Effect in Justice Dept. Inquiries — President Obama's conciliatory gesture toward the press this week — a review of Justice Department investigations involving journalists — struck some national security reporters as closing the door after the sources have already bolted.

Discussion: @coreyhutchins and Boing Boing

Alex Pareene / Salon:
Eric Holder versus journalism

Discussion: News Desk, Jack Shafer, The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, The Hill, Wired, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, The Week and Kirk LaPointe's …

Josh Stearns / Free Press:
Come Clean: Groups Demand Transparency from Attorney General Eric Holder

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Free Press and Boing Boing

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Syrian Electronic Army compromises Sky News Android app — EXCLUSIVE: A screen capture provided to The Desk by a hacker with the Syrian Electronic Army purports to show the developer dashboard for several BSkyB Android applications. — The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility …

Discussion: National Updates, @skyhelpteam, The Desk, Softpedia News and The Next Web

T.C. Sottek / The Verge:

Sky's Android apps allegedly hacked by Syrian Electronic Army, removed from Google Play — Adding to a spate of recent infiltrations of major media outlets, the Syrian Electronic Army appears to have compromised the Android applications for the British Sky Broadcasting Group.

Discussion: The Verge, Gizmodo and The Desk

Reuters:
ITV News Twitter account hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

Discussion: Mashable and AllThingsD

Fernando Alfonso III / Daily Dot:

The real origins of Tumblr — Months before Yahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition turned him into an overnight media sensation, David Karp recounted the creation of Tumblr at the Austin Convention Center during the South by Southwest Interactive conference in March. “I wanted that presence myself.

Discussion: Business Insider and The Verge

Adam Rifkin / AllThingsD:

Why Tumblr Was a Massive Steal for Yahoo — The blockbuster acquisition of Tumblr by Yahoo for $1.1 billion — all cash — has been portrayed as a gigantic gamble on the part of the acquirer. However, for those of us who believe there can be specific guidelines around the valuation of interest graphs …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of value exchange and Google Surveys — What happens when a reader hits the paywall? — Only a small percentage slap their foreheads, say “Why didn't I subscribe earlier?” and pay up. Most go away; some will come back next month when the meter resets.

Discussion: Street Fight

Kevin Davis / NetNewsCheck Latest:

INN Starts Backing Nonprofit News Startups — After a 19-month wait to secure its own 501(c)3 status, the Investigative News Network has started to sponsor nonprofit news projects. “Fiscal sponsorship allows these early-stage nonprofits to accept donations from philanthropists and foundations …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Yet Another Hulu Bidder! Yahoo Is In, Too. — Add one more name to the Hulu bidding derby: Yahoo, which just announced plans to buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion, has made an offer on the video website as well. — The Web giant submitted a bid for the video site this morning, according to a person familiar with process.

Bloomberg:
KKR, Silver Lake Said to Join Bidding for Hulu Online Video Site

Discussion: Variety, The Next Web and Mashable

Alan Murray / Pew Research Center:

Introducing Fact Tank — Welcome to Fact Tank, a new, real-time platform from the Pew Research Center, dedicated to finding news in the numbers. — Fact Tank will build on the Pew Research Center's unique brand of data journalism. For years, our teams of writers and social scientists …

Kim Zetter / Wired:

WikiLeaks Donations Down to a Trickle — As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange approaches the one-year anniversary of his confinement in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, a report released Wednesday reveals that donations to the secret-spilling site have dwindled to a trickle.

Discussion: Gawker and thenation.com/blogs/163263

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Government should reopen talks on press regulation, says Alan Rusbridger — Guardian editor-in-chief also raises concerns over use of royal charter, saying it is ‘a mechanism controlled by ministers’ — The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has urged the culture secretary …

Discussion: Big News Network.com