Mediagazer: Pandora founder fights back against RIAA, dispels artist royalty myths (Ken Yeung/The Next Web)

9:55 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: Mediaite, Politico, @dankennedy_nu, @feldmaniac, @blakehounshell, Techdirt, @jeremyscahill, @fmanjoo and pressgazette.co.uk

Alex Berenson / New York Times:

Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist — FOR a spy novelist like me, the Edward J. Snowden story has everything. A man driven by ego and idealism — can anyone ever distinguish the two? — leaves his job and his beautiful girlfriend behind. He must tell the world the Panopticon has arrived.

Discussion: msnbc.com

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

Discussion: Politico

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

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: Politico, Poynter, Poynter, BuzzFeed, Poynter, Forbes, Gawker, @stefanjbecket, Talking Biz News, The Huffington Post 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, Inside Cable News, All Things CNN and FishbowlNY

CNN:
Crossfire Returns — Newt Gingrich, S.E. Cupp, Stephanie Cutter …

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

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? — Twitter knows that it has a problem: a replay problem. — The social network that's now used by about one in five Americans is at its best during a live news event. There's no substitute …

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

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: lohud.com, Poynter and FishbowlNY

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Pandora founder fights back against RIAA, dispels artist royalty myths — Pandora's co-founder Tim Westergren is seeking to clear the air about some misconceptions being hurled at his company's direction. In a blog post today, he struck back at opponents who claim that the service's royalties are not what they should be.

Discussion: Pandora Blog

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:
Cue the fight music: Pandora responds to Pink Floyd's op-ed on lower royalty rates

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Forbes, GigaOM, Plagiarism Today, CNET 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

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 and TechCrunch

Declan Walsh / New York Times:

As World Awaits News on Mandela, Tensions Rise Over Media Swarm — JOHANNESBURG — As a close friend and former fellow inmate of Nelson Mandela, Mac Maharaj has long played a pivotal role in bringing Mr. Mandela's story to the world. — In the 1970s, when both men were held …

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 …