Mediagazer: Apple Spells Out iTunes Radio Terms (Geoffrey A. Fowler/Digits)

2:00 PM ET, June 27, 2013

Top News:

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

WikiLeaks Volunteer Was a Paid Informant for the FBI — On an August workday in 2011, a cherubic 18-year-old Icelandic man named Sigurdur “Siggi” Thordarson walked through the stately doors of the U.S. embassy in Reykjavík, his jacket pocket concealing his calling card: a crumpled photocopy of an Australian passport.

Discussion: Fast Company, Mashable, The Week, @dylanbyers, Pressing Issues, @mlcalderone and Talking Points Memo

Jessica Testa / BuzzFeed:

How Glenn Greenwald Became Glenn Greenwald — Before he was the Guardian's eyes on the National Security Agency, Greenwald was a Manhattan litigator with an itchy trigger finger. “He doesn't care if the entire world hates him.” — Before Glenn Greenwald was the journalist who broke …

Discussion: NY Daily News, paidContent, Politico, @katienotopoulos, @tomgara, @tomgara, @tomgara, The Daily Caller and Gawker

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
The personal side of taking on the NSA: emerging smears

Discussion: FishbowlDC, The Dish, Techdirt, PolicyMic, Capital New York, New York Magazine, @dankennedy_nu, @feldmaniac, @blakehounshell, Mediaite, @jeremyscahill, @fmanjoo, CBS News, Politico, Gawker, pressgazette.co.uk and Politico

Peter Sterne / The New York Observer:

Oregonian Editor Fires His Own Wife Because She Doesn't Fit 'Paper's New Digital Strategy' — Last week, Portland's main daily newspaper, The Oregonian, announced that it would end daily delivery and lay off some staffers. How many? Portland alt-weekly Willamette Week reports that editor …

Aaron Mesh / Willamette Week:
Black and White and Red All Over

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, New Orleans Times-Picayune, TVSpy and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Digits:

Apple Spells Out iTunes Radio Terms — Ahead of its launch of an online radio service Apple circulated terms to independent record labels last week, many of them more generous to the music companies than what rival Pandora Media currently pays. — Apple intends to pay royalties to labels based …

Discussion: GigaOM, Wall St. Cheat Sheet, Business Insider, Gizmodo, BGR, 9to5Mac, App Advice, SlashGear, PhoneArena, Engadget, Electronista, CNET, MacRumors, AppleInsider and AllAccess.com

Tim Westergren / Pandora Blog:

Pandora and Royalties — (Warning: This is long, but I'd really like to fully articulate Pandora's perspective on royalties, which is simply impossible to do in just a few sentences.) — Over 13 years ago when I started this company, we set out with a singular mission …

Discussion: Businessweek, UPROXX, Techdirt, The Next Web, AllAccess.com, hypebot, SlashGear, Gizmodo, CNET and VentureBeat

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

Google will remove all Blogger sites that monetize adult content, from June 30 — Google sent an email to Blogger users today warning them that their site will be removed at the end of the month if they do not remove all adverts and links to external sites hosting adult content.

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, XBIZ Newswire, WebProNews and Softpedia News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Yahoo News Gets A Makeover, But The Bigger Improvements Are Under The Hood — A little over a month after Yahoo partnered with Twitter to beef up its homepage news feed with relevant tweets from news organizations, the company is today announcing a major makeover for one of its flagship properties, Yahoo News.

Discussion: Yahoo!, FishbowlDC, The Next Web, Fast Company, CNET and Pocket-lint

Matt Burns / TechCrunch:

Aereo To Launch Its Internet Streaming TV Service In Chicago On September 13 — Despite court battles, Aereo is on a roll. The startup just announced its streaming TV service will hit Chicagoland September 13. This comes just a month after the company announced its Atlanta launch details.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Home Media Magazine, VentureBeat, Radio & Television …, GigaOM, Variety, The Verge, The Next Web and Softpedia News

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Northern Ireland decides not to follow English and Welsh libel reforms — Northern Ireland minister for finance and personnel says he has ‘no plans to review the law on defamation’ in province — Northern Ireland has decided not to implement historic reforms to libel legislation …

Jim Romenesko:

Wikipedia founder's net worth is said to be just above $1 million — Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' income “is a topic of constant fascination,” writes Amy Chozick, and he's well rehearsed in brushing off questions about it. … * Jimmy Wales is not an Internet billionaire (nytimes.com)

Discussion: New York Times

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

New York Times Set to Sell Globe for Fraction of Purchase — New York Times Co. (NYT), which is accepting bids for the Boston Globe today, is likely to fetch a price that's about a 10th of what it paid in 1993, a sign of the industry's deterioration over the past two decades.

Chandni Doulatramani / Reuters:

DirecTV says Latin America unit over-reported subscriber numbers — (Reuters) - DirecTV said an internal investigation found that its Latin America unit had over-reported subscriber numbers at the end of March by about 200,000 due to improper practices by some employees.

Discussion: StreetInsider.com, Wall St. Cheat Sheet, Hollywood Reporter and Reuters

Erik Hayden / Hollywood Reporter:

Soledad O'Brien in Talks for Al Jazeera America Production Deal — The former CNN host's company, Starfish Media Group, would produce long-form programming for the forthcoming cable network. — Soledad O'Brien's Starfish Media Group is in advanced negotiations with Al Jazeera America on a production deal …

Discussion: TVWeek.com, The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Digg Reader Now Available On Digg's iOS App — Digg Reader, Digg's alternative for the RSS aggregation addicts who will be bereft when Google Reader finally shuts down on July 1, is now available on the Digg iOS app. An Android app is expected to make its debut in the next three to four weeks.

Discussion: Fast Company, SlashGear, PhoneArena and Digg Blog

Sarah Kessler / Fast Company:

Meet The First People Who Can Say They Have A Vine Agent — “I just saw a fake palm tree and a man watching television in a deli, and he looked incredibly bored,” explains Nicholas Megalis. “And I felt like I just had to film it.” He breaks into jingle-like song: “Fake palm tree and a bored guy and a TV, too.”

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Internet adverts threatening profile of TV campaigns, says Sir John Hegarty — Comments by president of Cannes Lions film jury follow awards for Dumb Ways to Die and other long-form commercials — Sir John Hegarty, the president of the film jury at the Cannes Lions advertising festival …

Discussion: PSFK

Jason Deans / Guardian:

Leveson to appear before MPs to discuss press regulation — Lord Justice accepts invitation to give evidence to culture, media and sport select committee but will not appear before autumn — Lord Justice Leveson is to appear before MPs for the first time to discuss his report on press regulation …

Discussion: London Evening Standard

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Standard makes £82,000 profit as Independent titles lose £17.5m — The London Evening Standard turned a big loss into a modest profit last year. According to figures filed today with Companies House, the newspaper made an operating profit of £82,000 during the 12 months …