Mediagazer: Viacom joins Twitter Amplify program to pump up second-screen volume (and insert more ads) (John Koetsier/VentureBeat)

3:10 PM ET, June 19, 2013

Top News:

James Poniewozik / TIME:

Michael Hastings and Who Journalists Really Work For — I'm not the person to write a personal appreciation of Michael Hastings, the 33-year-old investigative journalist who died in a car crash in Los Angeles yesterday. I never met him; I don't know if he was a good guy, or a bad guy, or both in what ratio.

Discussion: New York Times and LAist

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:

Michael Hastings Dead at 33 — The bold journalist died in a car accident in Los Angeles — Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33.

Discussion: Guardian, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, The Wrap, Boing Boing, PublishersWeekly.com, Slate, FishbowlDC, WorldViews, KTLA 5, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, PandoDaily, Corey Pein, Publishers Lunch, Los Angeles Times, @romenesko, GalleyCat, USA Today, Newsy, CBC News, LAist, msnbc.com, @7im, Digital Spy, Capital New York, Mother Jones, Daily Mail, @idreamin4d, @mariamdena, @mollyknefel, LA Observed, @tommyxtopher, @joseiswriting, @gillianmae, @antwoabboud, @varyagi, @britmccandless, @peterlauria3, @buzzfeedandrew, @rachelsklar, @emptywheel, @trevortimm, @robsondan, @skippable, @scottstenholm, @dtxjoe, @hprynne, Gawker, Mediaite, Mashable, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Wire, Pressing Issues, @freedomofpress, Democracy Now, The New York Observer, Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo! News, Politico, @tobyharnden, @ariannahuff, @buzzfeedandrew, The Maddow Blog, @ggreenwald, @trevortimm, @chrisgeidner, @zekejmiller and @adamserwer

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Missing Michael Hastings — One of the great reporters of his generation died Tuesday at 33. The stories he wrote, and the ones he didn't live to write. — Michael Hastings was really only interested in writing stories someone didn't want him to write — often his subjects; occasionally his editor.

Discussion: Slate, Poynter, Guardian, FishbowlDC, The New Yorker Blog, Hillman Foundation blogs, Business Insider, BBC, KTLA 5, msnbc.com, Rolling Stone and The Huffington Post

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Michael Hastings - journalists pay tribute to ‘fearless’ war correspondent — Reporter who was killed in a car accident on Tuesday had little time for ‘spinmeisters’ and an incredible instinct, say colleagues — Tributes have poured in for the award-winning journalist and war correspondent …

Discussion: The Week, BuzzFeed, FishbowlNY, Mediashift, Rolling Stone and Business Insider

Beth Healy / The Boston Globe:

At least 8 potential purchasers may give offers to Times Co. — At least eight potential buyers, ranging from former newspaper executives with local roots to private equity investors from the West Coast, are weighing bids for The Boston Globe as the June 27 deadline for submitting offers approaches …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Poynter, Media Nation, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY and Prof Chris Daly's Blog

Thomas Beller / Page-Turner:

The Ongoing Story: Twitter and Writing — I was in the Time magazine archives recently, doing research for my biography of J. D. Salinger, when I pulled open a drawer and found a small box containing a bunch of discarded typewriter heads for the I.B.M. Selectric typewriter—the cutting-edge writing technology of my youth.

Discussion: @robinsloan, @robinsloan and @qhardy

Adam Haigh / Bloomberg:

News Corp. Spinoff Falls in Sydney After Murdoch Split — News Corp. (NNC), the Wall Street Journal publisher spun off by Rupert Murdoch, fell in its Sydney debut as stock in the billionaire's newspaper assets started trading separately in a split from his entertainment businesses.

Discussion: Guardian, Insider Monkey, Hollywood Reporter, HeraldSun, Wall Street Journal, TheAustralian, Business Spectator and Guardian

Guardian: Rupert Murdoch donates $50,000 in memory of late correspondent

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:
Rupert Murdoch splits empire but keeps faith in tomorrow's newspapers

Discussion: Big News Network.com

Jason Deans / Guardian:

ITV buys US production company Thinkfactory Media — UK broadcaster continues US spree, paying £19m for 65% stake in producer behind Kevin Costner drama Hatfields & McCoys — ITV has made its third foray into the US TV production sector, paying $30m (£19m) …

Discussion: The Wrap, C21Media, men, Telegraph, Hollywood Reporter, screendaily.com and Variety

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

BT chief steps down to take UK government role as Sky Sports battle intensifies — Ian Livingstone, the chief executive of BT is stepping down from his role at the head of the company to take up the position of Minister of State for Trade and Investment in the UK.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
U.K. Regulator Launches Review of BT Competition Complaint Against BSkyB

Discussion: Guardian and Reuters

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

How PBS Won at Digital — Millions of Americans can point to PBS as a third parent, as the network that helped raise them with programs like “Sesame Street” and “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.” — But PBS is not immune to the transition from analog to digital and needs to continually reinvent itself.

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Apple TV Finally Gets HBO GO And WatchESPN, iTunes Shoppers Now Buying 800K TV Shows Per Day — Apple has added two major new content sources to Apple TV today, via HBO GO and WatchESPN integration. The new streaming services adds a considerable selection of content to the company's streaming …

Discussion: Apple, AdAge, Variety, AllThingsD, CNET, Bloomberg, Home Media Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, GigaOM, The Next Web and The Verge

John Reynolds / Guardian:

P Diddy to launch cable music channel Revolt TV — US hip-hop star aims to fill gap left when MTV stopped playing music videos with the ‘first channel of the social media age’ — Sean “P Diddy” Combs is to launch a cable music channel, Revolt TV, which he claims will be the …

Discussion: Business Insider and @peterlauria3

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

AP CEO Says Government Sources Won't Talk After Justice Department Probe — “The government may love this,” says the AP CEO. “I suspect that they do.” — Image by CBS, Chris Usher / AP — WASHINGTON — The CEO of the Associated Press told an audience Wednesday that the Department …

Discussion: Associated Press, FishbowlDC, FishbowlNY, Associated Press, Reuters, @monicangray, @shannonbream, @ndiblasio, @ap_corpcomm and @evanmcsan

Reuters:

Dish abandons Sprint bid for now to focus on Clearwire — (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp said it would not make a new offer to buy No. 3 U.S. wireless provider Sprint Nextel in time for a Tuesday deadline and will instead focus on its tender offer for Clearwire Corp.

Discussion: Multichannel.com, AllThingsD, VentureBeat, The Verge and Engadget

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The Advance Publications name game — The old Newhouse Pledge and the company's corporate shuffle — The Oregonian is about to get Newhouse'd. — As the billionaires' Advance Publications has rolled out its newspaper-liquidation plan across the country, it has engaged in a curious bit of corporate name-shuffling.

John Koetsier / VentureBeat:

Viacom joins Twitter Amplify program to pump up second-screen volume (and insert more ads) — Movie and TV giant Viacom hopped on the Twitter Amplify program to pump up the second-screen volume, starting with its 2013 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on August 25.