Mediagazer: Shield Law More Like a Cheap Umbrella (Peter Sterne/The New York Observer)

10:15 AM ET, May 29, 2013

Top News:

Ted Johnson / Variety:

IAC Seeking Buyers for Newsweek (EXCLUSIVE) — Newsweek appears to be on the block — again. — According to sources who have been briefed, IAC is sending out inquiries to prospective buyers who may be interested in purchasing the 80-year-old title, which ended weekly publication …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Adweek, Reuters, Politico, @daschles, @peterlauria3, @shirleybrady, @qhardy, @tunkuv, @grahamdavida, @jenzchang, @sarahw, @mattyglesias, @jayrosen_nyu and @felixsalmon

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

Apple's Tim Cook Has a “Grand Vision” for Television — And Still Won't Talk About It — No surprises here — at our 11th D: All Things Digital technology conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook is still staying mum on the company's plans for a proper TV set. — However!

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Dara Kerr / CNET:

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Discussion: GigaOM, VentureBeat and AllThingsD

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Thomson Reuters hires Economist Group chief to head news agency arm — Andrew Rashbass to leave publisher after 15 years, having led digital transformation from print to digital business — Andrew Rashbass, the chief executive of the Economist Group, is to join Thomson Reuters …

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Thomson Reuters: Thomson Reuters Announces Andrew Rashbass to Join in New Role Leading News and Media Business

RT:

Larry King joins RT with brand new politics show — Award-winning interviewer Larry King will host a mold-breaking political talk show on RT from next month, speaking to both leading establishment figures, and those who are not afraid to go against the grain.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, TVNewser, Gawker, Business Insider, Variety and The Huffington Post

Peter Sterne / The New York Observer:

Shield Law More Like a Cheap Umbrella — Faced with criticism over the government's secret spying on the Associated Press and Fox News, President Barack Obama has tried to burnish his free-press bona fides by pushing for the passage of a federal shield law to protect journalists and their confidential sources.

Discussion: Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable, New Yorker and Post Politics

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:
Attorney general signed off on Fox phone records subpoena

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Bill Mickey / Folio:

Study: One-Quarter of Tablet Owners Prefer Digital Magazines Over Print — As device sales grow, that metric could balloon to 65 percent by 2020. — Digital publishing consultancy Mequoda Group released results of a recent survey that examined the usage and content consumption of tablet owners.

Discussion: Mequoda Daily

Winnie Hu / New York Times:

At School Papers, the Ink Is Drying Up — The Clinton News used to be the source for everything that mattered to its readers in the northwest Bronx. It published 10,000 copies every other week in the 1930s and even circulated overseas among Bronx residents fighting in World War II.

Discussion: Garcia Media, @sulliview, @pressleybaird and @kathrynschulz

Alistair Barr / Reuters:

Amazon moving ahead with five original TV series — Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday that it will make five original TV series, having used viewer feedback to pick the shows out of a group of 14 pilots filmed by the world's largest Internet retailer earlier this year.

Discussion: The Wrap

Elias Biryabarema / Reuters:

Ugandan police fire tear gas at journalists protesting crackdown — (Reuters) - Ugandan police fired tear gas at journalists in the capital Kampala on Tuesday who were protesting against a media crackdown after press reports sparked a rare public debate on who will succeed aging President Yoweri Museveni.

Ali Velshi / Quartz:

Al-Jazeera host: The solution to what's wrong with American cable news — Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to changing viewer tastes and habits. After 12 years at CNN, I needed to better understand why doing more of the obvious isn't helping to grow an audience, even for long-standing brands.

Reuters:

News Corp promises “relentless” cuts at newspapers — Robert Thomson, chief executive of the new News Corp, said there will be “relentless” cost cuts in store for the newspaper business as it prepares to separate from Rupert Murdoch's entertainment empire. — The cornerstone of the company …

Discussion: @abeaujon

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
News Corp. Unveils Post-Split Logo Based on Rupert Murdoch's Handwriting

Discussion: Gawker, JIMROMENESKO.COM, The Huffington Post, @zseward, FishbowlNY and @djbentley

Ryan Graff / Knight Lab:

Chase Davis on data-driven decision making for news projects — If a model exists for the type of young journalist everyone's talking about and pining for these days, Chase Davis is probably it. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 2006 with a journalism degree …

John Mecklin / Columbia Journalism Review:

Citizen Wanes — The Bay Citizen brand winks out—and leaves behind a lesson about nonprofit governance — Way back in the distant mists of mid-2010, The Bay Citizen, a San Francisco experiment in nonprofit civic journalism, launched its website with grand ambitions and $5 million in support …