Mediagazer: Pandora Buys Terrestrial Radio Station in South Dakota, Aims for Lower ASCAP Royalties (Glenn Peoples/Billboard)

7:55 PM ET, June 11, 2013

Top News:

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Majority Views NSA Phone Tracking as Acceptable Anti-terror Tactic — Overview — A majority of Americans - 56% - say the National Security Agency's (NSA) program tracking the telephone records of millions of Americans is an acceptable way for the government to investigate terrorism …

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Google Wants to Release Details on Classified Requests — SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Tuesday asked the government for permission to reveal details about the classified requests the technology company receives for the personal information of foreign users. — It is the first time that Google …

Discussion: AllThingsD, Forbes, VentureBeat, NationalJournal.com, Google Public Policy Blog, Mashable, @amac, Los Angeles Times and The Raw Story

Washington Post:
Investigators looking into how Snowden gained access at NSA

Discussion: Betabeat, CNN, New York Times, The New Yorker Blog, Guardian, National Review, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, BBC, Techdirt, Wonkblog, Lawfare, CNET and Post Politics

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Guardian US Eligible To Enter Pulitzer Competition

Discussion: New York Times, Salon, USA Today, Hit & Run and Guardian

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Investors Approve Breakup Plan — After years of being criticized by investors for his love of newspapers, News Corp. (NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch is now a step closer to cleaving off the declining publishing business. — Shareholders voted to approve the breakup plan …

Discussion: Guardian, paidContent, Broadcasting & Cable, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Hollywood Reporter and Seeking Alpha

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

News Corp. says no settlement with U.S. Department of Justice — News Corp. said Tuesday that it had not reached a settlement with U.S. officials over a corruption probe. Members of the media surround former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, center, as she gets into a car …

Christopher Harrison / The Hill:

Why Pandora bought an FM radio station — The internet isn't just the future of radio; it is radio. Today, 70+ million Americans listen to Pandora, accounting for more than 7 percent of all U.S. radio listening. Our Music Genome Project, the most comprehensive music analysis ever undertaken …

Discussion: CNNMoney.com, Hillicon Valley and hypebot

Glenn Peoples / Billboard:

Pandora Buys Terrestrial Radio Station in South Dakota, Aims for Lower ASCAP Royalties — Internet radio giant Pandora is taking an innovative route to lower ASCAP fees: The purchase of a small-market terrestrial radio station. The company announced Tuesday it has purchased KXMZ-FM in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Radio Ink Magazine and Seeking Alpha

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

Majority of Media and Entertainment Revenue Will Come From Digital by 2015, Study Finds — Nearly half of revenue of 550 leading media and entertainment companies comes from digital sales — For traditional media companies fighting to stay on top in the internet age it may no longer …

Discussion: ZDNet and Los Angeles Times

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

‘PBS NewsHour’ Plans Layoffs as It Closes Offices — WASHINGTON — The “PBS NewsHour,” the signature nightly newscast on public television, is planning its first significant round of layoffs in nearly two decades. — Facing a multimillion-dollar shortfall in the program's budget …

Discussion: Poynter and TVNewser

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

Exclusive: Al Jazeera America to Launch Week of Aug. 24 — Network sets primetime schedule with Velshi's ‘Real Money,’ ‘America Tonight,’ nightly newsmag — Washington - Al Jazeera America has set a launch date. The channel that bought out Current TV will flip the switch the week of Aug. 24 …

Discussion: TVNewser and Los Angeles Times

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:
Al Jazeera America Interviews Finalists For President Role

Discussion: TVWeek.com and Inside Cable News

BuzzFeed:

Obama Schmoozes Reporters At Secret Meeting — The president popped into an off-the-record briefing with reporters Monday. — Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP — WASHINGTON — President Obama held an off-the-record meeting with select reporters from some of the nation's largest print …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Bloomberg:

Dish-Sprint Talks Said to Falter in Part Over Breakup Fee — Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) demanded a $3 billion reverse breakup fee from Dish Network Corp. (DISH) during their merger talks, one of a series of disagreements that has kept them from reaching a deal, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: VentureBeat and The Verge

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Sprint Ends Talks About Sale to Dish Network, Supports Softbank Bid

Discussion: GigaOM, Forbes and Reuters

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

The Best (And Worst) Cities for Newspapers — Pittsburgh Tops Highest Readership; Atlanta Takes Honor for Lowest — The percentage of daily print newspaper readers in the U.S. has fallen nearly 20% since 2001, according to research firm Scarborough. But that drop has not been spread evenly …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Niki Kitsantonis / New York Times:

Greece Shutting Down State Broadcaster ERT — In a surprise move that angered labor unions and its junior partners, the conservative-led coalition government said the broadcaster, ERT, would shut down at midnight Tuesday.

Discussion: RT and Eurovision.TV

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Ex-BBC chief recalled to face Commons questions over earlier DMI evidence — Mark Thompson told public accounts committee in 2011 that parts of content management system were ‘already working’ — Mark Thompson, the former BBC director general, has been recalled to parliament over evidence …

Discussion: Deadline.com

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
BBC accused of misleading parliament over ‘catastrophic’ digital media project

Discussion: Variety and Hollywood Reporter

Mark Milian / Bloomberg:

The Rest of the World Will Have to Wait for Apple's iTunes Radio — Apple Introduces ITunes Radio at Conference — ITunes Radio, the streaming-music service Apple announced yesterday at the company's developers conference in San Francisco, is set to hit the digital airwaves this fall.

Discussion: Business Insider

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:
Apple introduces iTunes Radio, in bid for streaming market

Discussion: Guardian and The Verge

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Gawker Media is Relaunching Defamer — Gawker Media is relaunching Defamer, the Hollywood gossip site that was folded into Gawker proper back in early 2009. The website will temporarily be run by former Gawker editor in chief AJ Daulerio, he announced in a post this afternoon.

Discussion: Gawker

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Google's Not-So-Evil Plan To Lower Your Cable Bill — One of the more intriguing mysteries in the media/technology world is why Google is building out broadband fiber data networks in a handful of American cities. Google says it's just another attempt to create a profitable new business …

Discussion: Media Money …