Mediagazer: Amazon launches Storyteller to turn scripts into storyboards — automagically (John Koetsier/VentureBeat)

3:20 PM ET, June 7, 2013

Top News:

Blogger, With Focus on Surveillance, Is at Center of a Debate — After writing intensely, even obsessively, for years about government surveillance and the prosecution of journalists, Glenn Greenwald has suddenly put himself directly at the intersection of those two issues, and perhaps in the cross hairs of federal prosecutors.

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation — No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable — We followed Wednesday's story about the NSA's bulk telephone record-gathering with one yesterday …

Discussion: VentureBeat, BuzzFeed, Wonkblog, Forbes, Businessweek, ODNI Newsroom Feed, Slate, BetaNews, Motherboard, The Hill, The Huffington Post and Taylor Marsh

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

The NSA surveillance story reinforces why an entity like WikiLeaks is so important — WikiLeaks, the secretive repository for government malfeasance, hasn't been in the news much lately except for occasional updates about founder Julian Assange, who remains in exile inside the Ecuadorian embassy in Britain.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Guardian, Washington Post, Quartz, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online and @ggreenwald

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Washington Post Began PRISM Story Three Weeks Ago, Heard Guardian's ‘Footsteps’ — NEW YORK — The Washington Post revealed on Thursday the existence of a secret National Security Agency program code-named PRISM, which reportedly allows the U.S. government to tap directly into the servers …

Discussion: GigaOM, Forbes, Businessweek and Business Insider

Michael Arrington / Uncrunched:
Triangulating on Truth - The Totalitarian State

Discussion: Guardian, Business Insider, Betabeat, Fortune, The Week, Motherboard, Gawker and The Huffington Post

Gregory Katz / Associated Press:
Guardian making big splash in US with scoops

Discussion: Associated Press and @davelee

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Was Change in Obama Editorial a ‘Softening’ of The Times's Position? — The Times's editorial about President Obama's surveillance state was scathing. Some called it a “vivisection.” But a few hours after “President Obama's Dragnet” went online Thursday afternoon, one particularly notable sentence had been changed.

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Poynter, Gawker, Pressing Issues, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, VentureBeat, Mediaite and Business Insider

Cord Jefferson / Gawker:

The New York Times Quietly Softened Its Scathing Obama Editorial — When the Paper of Record published a blistering editorial on President Obama's overbearing national security precautions today, one line stood out from the dozens of others as being the most vicious: “The administration has now lost all credibility.”

Discussion: Washington Post, The Next Web, New York Times, Fast Company, Politico, Slate, National Review, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Hit & Run, The Week, @sulliview, PolicyMic and Mediaite

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Why NY Times Tweaked Tough Obama Editorial — The New York Times' blistering editorial about privacy fears during the Obama years got significant pick-up when published late afternoon Thursday, prior to running in Friday's print edition. — The Times editorial board is often on the same page …

Discussion: Capital New York, Politico, CBS Boston and Hit & Run

Jim Romenesko:

[UPDATED] New York Post cuts 13 full-time positions — UPDATE: Capital New York has names and more details about the layoffs. — From: Col Allan — To: Newsroom — Date: 6/7/2013 — Subject: Announcement to newsroom staff — To all staff: — As we continue to strengthen …

Discussion: Capital New York and The New York Observer

Daniel Engber / Slate:

Is There Plagiarism in Jonah Lehrer's New Book Proposal? — Yesterday, I reported that disgraced science journalist Jonah Lehrer had sold his new book on the power of love to Simon & Schuster. In a follow-up story last night, the New York Times quoted the book's new editor, Ben Loehnen …

Discussion: Forbes, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, @chanders, Gothamist and New York Times

Jeff Elder / San Francisco Chronicle:

Mary's Meeker's misinformation has influence — The average smartphone user looks at his or her phone 150 times a day - did you see that headline last week? It seemed to be everywhere after a hugely influential investment guru presented it onstage at a major tech conference.

Discussion: VentureBeat and Valleywag

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Apple Signs Sony Up for iRadio, Now Has All Three Major Music Labels on Board — Sony Music has signed on to Apple's forthcoming iRadio service, according to a person familiar with negotiations between the two companies. — The deal means that Apple now has agreements with all three major music labels.

Associated Press:

Italian Journalist Missing in Syria Contacts Wife — Italy's Foreign Ministry has confirmed that a war reporter for the Turin daily La Stampa has been in touch with his family for the first time since disappearing in Syria in April. — La Stampa's editor-in-chief Mario Calabrese broke …

Discussion: ansamed.info, Reuters and HeraldSun

John Koetsier / VentureBeat:

Amazon launches Storyteller to turn scripts into storyboards — automagically — Upload your script, choose some backgrounds, and magically created a professional-looking storyboard of your movie. Or the graphic novel version of your text-based anything. — Amazon Studios released …

Discussion: The Next Web, TechCrunch, Nieman Journalism Lab, ZDNet, AppNewser and Variety

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:

Magazines Find Success Selling iPad Ads — Most magazines witnessed a slight decline in print ad sales in the first quarter of the year, with a few exceptions in the food, beauty and fashion categories. But while print sales were lackluster, one area did see a nice uptick in growth: sales of ads on iPad editions.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab

Associated Press:

US gives political asylum to Mexican journalist — EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. government officials have granted political asylum to a Mexican newspaper photographer who fled his home state of Veracruz after unknown assailants killed his father. — A Thursday statement from El Paso lawyer Carlos Spector …

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

CBS Anchor Scott Pelley On The Surprising Renaissance Of The Evening News — That the evening news is a dinosaur headed for extinction has been a truism since long before people started getting their headlines from Twitter or the Huffington Post. But lately, in their steady march toward the tar pits …

Discussion: TVNewser

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Cable TV redoubling their investment in advanced set-tops boxes — To compete in a multiscreen world, MSOs are redoubling their investment in advanced set-tops — The set-top box may find living rooms increasingly crowded with other video-delivery devices, but as next week's annual industry confab …

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Time Warner Cable enables out-of-home streaming on Mac and PC — Time Warner Cable customers can now stream select live and on-demand content from outside of their homes, right within their desktop browser of choice. While TWC already allowed in-home streaming on the desktop …

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Amazon Demanded Same Terms From Publishers For Which Apple is Now On Trial — When Apple negotiated its e-book contracts with the five publishers with which it would ultimately launch iBooks, the company demanded a “most favored nation provision” that required publishers to match in its bookstore …

Discussion: GalleyCat, Wall Street Journal, Softpedia News, GeekWire and The Verge