Mediagazer: Disappointing Fall for ‘Rock Center,’ a News Program With Big Ambitions (Brian Stelter/New York Times)

10:55 AM ET, June 22, 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 …

Discussion: BBC

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

Meenal Vamburkar / Mediaite:
The Guardian Responds To Sen. McCaskill's Charge Of Promoting ‘Agenda’ Through NSA Reporting

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Politico

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

Discussion: Guardian, Reuters and CNET

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Disappointing Fall for ‘Rock Center,’ a News Program With Big Ambitions — 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 any kind of show in prime time, for news programming, the task is even harder.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and TVNewser

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, @internjustice and The Wrap

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

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

Peter Osnos / The Atlantic Online:

An Egyptian Journalist's Nightmare — The ordeal of Yehia Ghanem, who was convicted in Egypt's notorious NGO trial. — In a long and distinguished career in Egyptian journalism, Yehia Ghanem has been a foreign correspondent and an editor for Al-Ahram, the country's most respected newspaper.

Marianne Brown / Voice of America:

Vietnam Urged to Release Bloggers on Journalism Day — HANOI — While journalists working for Vietnam's state-run media are receiving gifts for Revolutionary Journalism Day, bloggers and Internet activists are not so lucky. The Vietnamese government seems eager to celebrate the role …

Floyd Norris / New York Times:

Tribune Falls Afoul of Its Own Tax Strategy — It was perhaps the cleverest corporate tax strategy ever devised: no matter how much money the company made, neither it nor its shareholders would ever owe a penny in federal income taxes. — “In conception, it was brilliant,” said Robert Willens …

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Cord cutters alert: 60 million Americans now use an antenna to watch free TV — Antennas aren't just for grandma's boob tube anymore: 19.3 percent of all US TV households get their TV fix from free over-the-air broadcasts, according to a new GfK study released this week.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

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, @lmoses and FishbowlNY

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: App Advice, BetaNews, CNET, 9to5Mac, Engadget, AllThingsD, Betabeat, The Verge, Pocket-lint, Mashable, WebProNews 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