Mediagazer: Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist (Alex Berenson/New York Times)

7:50 PM ET, June 26, 2013

Top News:

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

The personal side of taking on the NSA: emerging smears — Distractions about my past and personal life have emerged - an inevitable side effect for those who challenge the US government — When I made the choice to report aggressively on top-secret NSA programs, I knew that I would inevitably …

Discussion: Politico, Techdirt, @jeremyscahill, @fmanjoo and pressgazette.co.uk

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Frank Rich just destroyed David Gregory — Frank Rich, the longtime New York Times columnist now with New York Magazine, has just written an absolutely devastating takedown of NBC Meet The Press host David Gregory, who last Sunday suggested Glenn Greenwald had aided and abetted former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Big News Network.com

CBS News:

Ecuador: Decision on Edward Snowden asylum could take months — Ecuador's foreign minister said Wednesday his government could take months to decide whether to grant asylum to fugitive U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. — Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case …

Discussion: Mediaite, Death and Taxes, Forbes, Ars Technica, Yahoo! News and Business Insider

Alex Berenson / New York Times:
Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist

Discussion: msnbc.com

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker: Secrecy Is the Problem — Some people say that Edward Snowden …

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:
WikiLeaks and Assange lawyer decides not to represent Snowden, claims his “whereabouts are unknown”

Discussion: WikiLeaks, BBC, FP Passport, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Associated Press

Gregory Kohs- / Examiner:
Jimmy Wales breaks Wikipedia rules in hunt for Snowden

Discussion: Techdirt, Softpedia News and Guardian

Erik Wemple:

Bloomberg News reporter had 18 ledes ready for Supreme Court rulings — Persistent mistakes by news organizations on big, national stories have spawned a growing consensus in journalism circles. Better to be right than first, goes the thinking. People won't remember who was first to report …

Discussion: Poynter, Politico, Poynter, Poynter, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Gawker, @stefanjbecket, Talking Biz News and Washington Post

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

CNN Lays Off Some Staff In DC — CNN has quietly laid off a handful of staffers in its Washington DC bureau. — We hear that most of the departures were senior level producers and staff, many on specific beats like the White House, national security and the Department of Justice, and who had been with the channel for a long time.

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Politico, All Things CNN and FishbowlNY

CNN:

Crossfire Returns — Newt Gingrich, S.E. Cupp, Stephanie Cutter, Van Jones to Host Debate Program — CNN today announced that Crossfire, previously the longest running political debate program on television, will return to the network this fall. Hosting from the right will be Newt Gingrich …

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, Politico, The Daily Caller, @dylanbyers, @sgallman and FishbowlDC

The Wrap:

Newsday Shuts Down Westchester, N.Y., Branch (Exclusive) — Cablevision, which owns Newsday, shut down its year-old Westchester site effective immediately, an insider with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. No statement from Cablevision yet, but its official Twitter account, @NewsdayNY, and Facebook is already gone.

Discussion: Poynter, lohud.com and FishbowlNY

Roger Yu / USA Today:

Twitter CEO sees role for editors: Weed through tweets — WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo urged newsroom editors in the U.S. to embrace the service and news media's increasingly important role in synthesizing and analyzing millions of tweets that are produced daily.

Eliza Kern / GigaOM:
Twitter is testing ways to replay live events, but can it separate signal from noise?

Discussion: TechCrunch, Nieman Journalism Lab, Washington Post, US News, Gizmodo and The Verge

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post Guild: ‘The Post would like to fire you’ — The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild says a Washington Post proposal for a new agreement with the union “would give managers the power to fire anyone for any reason” and also inserts a “poison pill that would make it even harder …

Liana B. Baker / Reuters:

Discovery explores Internet subscription service — (Reuters) - Discovery Communications is at work on an Internet streaming service that could charge cable subscribers a small fee to gain access to hours of documentaries and reality shows, executive chairman and founder John Hendricks said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Engadget, paidContent, FierceCable, Home Media Magazine, The Verge and bizjournals

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

San Francisco Examiner sues San Francisco Chronicle — The San Francisco Newspaper Company, which owns the San Francisco Examiner, says the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle “offered ad space to advertisers for a fraction of its cost on the condition that the advertisers not buy ads in the Examiner.”

Discussion: News, The San Francisco …, NetNewsCheck Latest and San Francisco Peninsula …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Maker Studios Founder Danny Zappin Sues Company Over ‘Ouster’ — Former CEO alleges breach of contract and fraud, after executive chairman Ynon Kreiz took over top role — Maker Studios co-founder Daniel Zappin is suing the YouTube multichannel network provider, alleging breach of contract and fraud in …

Discussion: AllThingsD, TechCrunch and The Wrap

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Rupert Murdoch's News International Rebrands as News UK Ahead of Split — The Australian arm of the post-split publishing company that will be the new News Cop also will change its name from News Limited to News Corp Australia. — News International, the U.K. newspaper arm …