Mediagazer: The Times of London, navigating audience with a strict paywall, retires its opinion Tumblr (Linda Kinstler/Nieman Journalism Lab)

3:25 AM ET, June 20, 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, The Huffington Post, The Informer, Slate, New Yorker, LAist, Hollywood Reporter, Hillman Foundation blogs, Business Insider, FishbowlDC, Boing Boing, Poynter, FishbowlNY and BuzzFeed

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Sree Sreenivasan to leave chief digital officer post at Columbia University — Sree Sreenivasan, the journalism professor and social-media evangelist, is leaving his full-time job at Columbia University, where he's taught for two decades, sources tell Capital.

Discussion: @columbiaspec, @ryanbeckwith, @jasonchupick, @fbonacci, @columuniversity and @rubinafillion

Linda Kinstler / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Times of London, navigating audience with a strict paywall, retires its opinion Tumblr — When you bet on a strict, un-leaky paywall as The Times of London has, you're forced to get creative about how to put your work in front of new audiences — particularly if you're trying to influence their opinions.

Discussion: pressgazette.co.uk, SocialTimes and Big News Network.com

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Wired Editor Michael Copeland Joins Andreessen Horowitz To Lead New ‘Content Strategy’ — Wired Senior Editor Michael Copeland is joining venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. We've confirmed with the VC firm that Copeland will be leading Andreessen's new ‘content strategy.’

Discussion: @mvc

Bloomberg:

News Corp. Spinoff Pegs Value of Publishing at $9.1 Billion (2) — News Corp. (NWSA)'s publishing spinoff began trading today at a market value of about $9.1 billion, one-seventh the size of the entertainment side of the media empire, underscoring the business's growth challenges.

Discussion: Reuters

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

Adam Haigh / Bloomberg:
News Corp. Spinoff Falls in Sydney After Murdoch Split

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

Kevin Fitchard / GigaOM:

With Dish (mostly) out of the way, the path is clear for Sprint-SoftBank deal — Dish Network is shelving its plans to acquire Sprint, letting the deadline to counter SoftBank's $21.6 billion buyout bid pass on Tuesday. That pretty much clears the way for the Sprint-SoftBank deal to close …

Discussion: Forbes and The Next Web

Reuters:
Dish abandons Sprint bid for now to focus on Clearwire

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

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:

Dan Abrams To Become ABC Nightline Anchor And Expands Role At Good Morning America — We've just learned that “The Bossman,” a.k.a., Mediaite's founder and publisher Dan Abrams is expanding his role with ABC News, becoming an anchor of Nightline and gaining the title of Chief Legal Affairs Anchor for ABC News.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, TVNewser, TVWeek.com, Hollywood Reporter, The New York Observer, Los Angeles Times, FishbowlNY, Deadline.com, Broadcasting & Cable and The Huffington Post

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

Sen. Cantwell Criticizes Gannett/Belo Deal — Calls it effort to skirt local media ownership rules — Media consolidation critic Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) Tuesday criticized Gannett over its proposal to buy Belo stations, including three in Washington state, to create a so-called Super Group.

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Older TV viewers driving audience growth, but it's a mixed blessing — Call it the “Matlock” effect: TV viewing among older Americans is on the rise. (Los Angeles Times) — By 2015, almost half of all television viewing will be done by folks over the age of 50, says media analyst Todd Juenger …

Jennifer Martinez / Hillicon Valley:

McCain, Blumenthal want FCC to move ball forward on sports blackout rule — Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Wednesday pressed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move the ball forward on potentially changing its sports blackout rule.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek and Radio & Television …

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

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Cleveland Plain Dealer staffers facing layoffs — The Cleveland Plain Dealer plans to lay off staffers in the marketing, finance, information technology, pre-press and building service departments, according to the Save the Plain Dealer Campaign's Facebook page.

Discussion: Facebook and WKYC-TV

Dominic Ponsford / pressgazette.co.uk:

Guardian spying revelations were in breach of DA-Notice guidance, but this doesn't explain lack of follow-up by other media — Detailed revelations about how British security services spied on foreign powers when the UK hosted a G20 summit in 2009 were splashed across the first five pages of The Guardian on Monday.

Discussion: Guardian

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Ex-LAT editor Sallie Hofmeister signs on with Sitrick — Sallie Hofmeister is the latest former entertainment editor and reporter at the Los Angeles Times to try her hand at crisis PR with Sitrick And Company. She was at the LAT for 17 years, first as a business reporter covering media and Hollywood.

Discussion: Deadline.com

Annie Machon / Using Our Intelligence:

Edward Snowden — the Globalisation of Whistleblowing — I have held back from writing about the Edward Snowden NSA whistleblowing case for the last week — partly because I was immersed in the resulting media interviews and talks, and partly because I wanted to watch how the story developed, both politically and in the old media.

Discussion: Jack Shafer, Washington Times, BetaNews and National Review

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, Hollywood Reporter, screendaily.com, men, Telegraph, Variety and C21Media

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 and The Next Web