Mediagazer: 3 Ways to Strengthen Press Freedom at the U.S. Justice Department (Josh Stearns/Mediashift)

10:00 AM ET, July 5, 2013

Top News:

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

Private Eye broke Murdoch recording three weeks ago, so why is it only hitting the headlines now? — Investigative journalism website Exaro and Channel 4 News claimed an impressive “exclusive” this week by releasing the tape recording of Rurpert Murdoch speaking to arrested Sun staff.

Discussion: ExaroNews and pressgazette.co.uk

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Rupert Murdoch Tape: British Politician Urges Police to Question Media Mogul

Discussion: Telegraph

Nitasha Tiku / Gawker:
Rupert Murdoch Caught on Tape: “We Will Hit Back”

Eleanor Beardsley / Europe:

An Online Upstart Roils French Media, Politics … Every week, it seems, a new scandal is unearthed by the upstart, online newspaper Mediapart. The most recent bomb was that President Francois Hollande's budget minister was evading taxes when he was supposed to be cracking down on tax cheats.

Josh Stearns / Mediashift:

3 Ways to Strengthen Press Freedom at the U.S. Justice Department — Want to stay current on media and technology from around the web? Get MediaShift's Daily Must Reads in your in-box! — One of the most troubling things about the politicians and pundits who are calling …

Discussion: Erik Wemple

Stock Market Wire:

OFT clears British Telecom-ESPN Global deal — StockMarketWire.com - The Office of Fair Trading has cleared the anticipated acquisition by British Telecommunications of ESPN Global. — The OFT said it decided, on the information currently available, not to refer the merger …

BBC:

BBC 3D programming ‘on hold’ indefinitely — The BBC is to suspend 3D programming for an indefinite period due to a “lack of public appetite” for the technology. — Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC's head of 3D, said it has “not taken off” with audiences who find it “quite hassly”.

Discussion: Radio Times, CNET, Den of Geek, The Next Web and Broadband TV News

Andy / TorrentFreak:

RIAA Hits 25 Million Google Takedowns, Web Blocking Making Things Worse — Back in May the RIAA reached a historic milestone in its quest to remove copyright-infringing links from the Internet. — The music industry group asked Google to remove the 20 millionth URL from its indexes …

Discussion: Softpedia News

IFEX:

Journalists jailed, fined for critical reporting in Somaliland — The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns the draconian sentences handed to two journalists by the Somaliland Court in Hargeisa. — Hassan Hussein Abdullahi, also known as Keefkeef, received a two-year jail term …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Guardian, Newstime Africa, Big News Network.com and Committee to Protect …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Alexander Lebedev sentence is just - and a great relief for his journalists — So it is possible to get justice in modern Russia. Alexander Lebedev's sentence to 150 hours of community service for punching - or appearing to punch - a man during a television talkshow seems about right in the circumstances.

Discussion: The Independent, Associated Press, en.ria.ru, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, Metro.co.uk, Reuters, Financial Times, Sky News, The Moscow Times and Reuters

Eamonn Forde / Guardian:

Jay-Z's Samsung deal signals a musical future where the rich get richer — Never mind the chart positions - Jay-Z gets everything he wants out of Roc Nation's link with the phone company. And so does Samsung — Record companies have spent more than a decade keening that free music …

Al Jazeera English:

Egyptian authorities target Al Jazeera — Al Jazeera is demanding the immediate release of its staff members detained overnight in the capital, Cairo. — Egyptian forces raided Al Jazeera premises overnight. Twenty-eight Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr staff members were detained, with most released later.

Discussion: The Media Online, Al Jazeera English, Washington Times, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press and Mediaite

RT:
Al Jazeera, other TV stations forced off air in Egypt

Discussion: Al Jazeera Blogs, Committee to Protect …, @aymanm, @blakehounshell, @rt_com, @ranialmalky, @marquardta, @mlcalderone, @anblanx, Talking Points Memo and Business Insider

Alex Kantrowitz / Mediashift:

The Secret Behind The Turkish Protesters' Social Media Mastery — Since the end of May, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Turkey, using social media with great skill to propel their rebuke of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan forward.

Discussion: Forbes and Softpedia News

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

Soledad O'Brien Is Her Own Boss — and That Means No Jodi Arias Stories — “You get to a certain point in your career where you say I want to now cover what I want to cover,” the former CNN anchor tells TheWrap — Soledad O'Brien was announced as Al Jazeera America's special correspondent on Monday …