Mediagazer: Pre-roll ads can be patented: appeals court rules in Hulu case (Jeff John Roberts/GigaOM)

9:00 PM ET, June 21, 2013

Top News:

U.S. charges Snowden with espionage — Federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs, and the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain …

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire:

Army: Freedom of Information Does Not Include Edward Snowden's Military File — A Freedom of Information Act request from The Atlantic Wire for the military records of Edward Snowden was “withheld in its entirety” by the Department of the Army. Despite the public value of better understanding …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Edward Snowden isn't determining order of leaks, reporters say — The Guardian published a story Thursday afternoon that revealed, via leaked documents, some of the NSA's rules regarding collection of data from U.S. citizens. The Washington Post Friday published a story based on the same documents.

Discussion: The Week, Mother Jones and VentureBeat

Meenal Vamburkar / Mediaite:

The Guardian Responds To Sen. McCaskill's Charge Of Promoting ‘Agenda’ Through NSA Reporting — The NSA surveillance story has elicited strong reactions from those on both sides of the issue. Among them was Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) who, on CNN yesterday, attacked the Guardian for having an …

Discussion: Politico and The Huffington Post

Noreen Malone / New Republic:

Sources of Discomfort — National security reporting in the age of leak hunts — It doesn't take a top-secret data-mining algorithm to tell you that national security reporting has changed in the years since 9/11. A would-be whistle-blower is newly able to share vast amounts of classified information by simply tapping a mouse pad.

Discussion: Poynter

David Goetzl / mediapost.com:
NSA Snooping Could Impact Media Research

Discussion: Guardian, Reuters and CNET

Christie Smythe / Bloomberg:

Gawker's Unpaid Interns Sue After Fox Searchlight Ruling — Gawker Media LLC was sued by unpaid interns who allege the online publisher violated minimum-wage law, 10 days after a federal judge ruled in a similar case that interns at Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. should have been paid.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter and @internjustice

Edmund Lee / @edmundlee:
Former interns sue @Gawker for violating minimum-wage laws. Suit filed in Manhattan federal court.

Discussion: Business Insider, @edmundlee, @sarahw, BU Today and @robynurback

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Rolling Stone Publisher Fired: Matt Mastrangelo was there 3 years — Jann Wenner has dismissed the publisher of his flagship Rolling Stone, Matt Mastrangelo. Mastrangelo had been in the position for three years (12 years in all at Wenner Media), and first-quarter ad pages were up 17 percent year-over-year to 190.

Discussion: The New York Observer, FishbowlNY and @lmoses

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:

AOL is launching a Google Reader replacement Monday: ‘All your favorite websites, in one place’ — As the end of Google Reader nears, AOL is planning to announce its own alternative to the service: “AOL Reader.” — As you can see on the current landing page for the service, which is public …

Discussion: Betabeat, AllThingsD, CNET, Pocket-lint, Engadget, 9to5Mac, The Verge, WebProNews, Mashable and Gizmodo

Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:

Yahoo's Mayer shines spotlight on video — Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo, answers questions during the Reuters Global Technology Summit in the Thomson Reuters offices in San Francisco, California, June 20, 2013. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach — As Marissa Mayer approaches …

Discussion: Business Insider and @peterlauria3

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

Here Is the Archive of the Famous Liberal Media ‘Journolist’ — Way back in 2009, the hottest media story was the exposure of the existence of “Journolist,” a private listserv of several hundred mostly liberal journalists, talking to each other about crap. This was perceived as a big scandal!

Discussion: The Wrap, @delrayser, @daveweigel, @daveweigel, @hamiltonnolan, @moorehn, @j_strong, The Atlantic Wire, @daveweigel, Mediaite, @ledbetreuters, @pjtatler and Softpedia News

Howard Sherman / Monkey See:

AP Kills Off-Broadway, Opera, Dance Reviews: Will It Hurt The Arts? … Ever so quietly this week, the national arts scene became a bit more fragmented, a bit more stratified and a lot more invisible. The Associated Press has just spiked regular coverage of opera, dance and off-Broadway theater.

Discussion: Poynter and BroadwayWorld.com

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

The ax falls at The Oregonian — Not that long ago, The Oregonian was one of the better news organizations in the country. — In 2008, Editor & Publisher named Sandy Rowe and Peter Bhatia its Editors of the Year and reported that The Oregonian had 315 full-time journalists in its newsroom the year before.

Discussion: Willamette Week, Oregon Business, Oregonian, GeekWire, bizjournals and Willamette Week

Wired:

Introducing Aaron's Law, a Desperately Needed Reform of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — The Internet is up for grabs. — Foreign countries want to control it. Military regimes use it to spy, to oppress, and to attack public and private institutions. ‘Big Content’ sought to censor it and dismantle its architecture.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Ars Technica, Slate, The Huffington Post, Hillicon Valley, Techdirt, The Verge, Mashable, The Raw Story, Broadcasting & Cable, RT and Electronic Frontier Foundation

Scott Shackford / Hit & Run: 'Aaron's Law' Proponents Talk About Restraining Prosecutorial Abuse

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

High-Ranking Washington Post Editor Considering Government Job — NEW YORK — Douglas Frantz, the national security editor for the Washington Post, is considering taking a job with the State Department and is currently on leave from the paper, according to newsroom sources.

Discussion: @johnrussell99

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Demise of ‘Rock Center’ Shows Difficulty of Creating a Newsmagazine — If “Rock Center With Brian Williams” has proved anything in the last year and a half, it is this: however hard it is to gather an audience for anything in prime time, for news programming, the task is even harder.

Discussion: TVNewser

Mary Ann Milbourn / Orange County Register:

Register owner starts naming rights unit — Freedom Communications Inc., owner of the Orange County Register, has launched a new venture that focuses on selling corporate sponsorships for naming or presentation rights to companies and organizations. — The company has signed three contracts …

Discussion: LA Observed

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Pre-roll ads can be patented: appeals court rules in Hulu case — The country's top patent court has ruled that playing an ad before someone watches a piece of content on the internet is not an abstract idea, but is the subject of a valid patent. — The decision, issued on Friday by the Court …

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, @eff, Techdirt and Forbes