Mediagazer: Pandora and Royalties (Tim Westergren/Pandora Blog)

12:45 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, Talking Points Memo, @dylanbyers, Pressing Issues and @mlcalderone

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, Politico, paidContent, @katienotopoulos, The Daily Caller, @tomgara, @tomgara, @tomgara and Gawker

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

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, App Advice, PhoneArena, Business Insider, Gizmodo, BGR, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, Engadget, Electronista, CNET, MacRumors, AppleInsider and AllAccess.com

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!, The Next Web, FishbowlDC, Fast Company and CNET

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, hypebot, AllAccess.com, SlashGear, CNET, Gizmodo 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, WebProNews, The Verge, XBIZ Newswire and Softpedia News

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, The Next Web, Variety, The Verge and Softpedia News

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

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

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: Mediaite, BusinessJournalism.org …, BuzzFeed, Poynter, Forbes, The Wrap, Politico, Poynter, Poynter, The Huffington Post, @stefanjbecket, Gawker, Softpedia News, The Huffington Post and Talking Biz News

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

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

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, Hollywood Reporter and Reuters

Aaron Mesh / Willamette Week:

Black and White and Red All Over — Owners of the Oregonian gamble on the newspaper's digital future. — The death of The Oregonian as you know it came at 9:58 am on June 20. — That's when reporters, editors, photographers and designers who put out the 163-year-old daily newspaper were told to …

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