Mediagazer: How Acceptable Was Anonymous Speculation About Snowden's Laptops? (Margaret Sullivan/The Public Editor's …)

7:15 AM ET, July 12, 2013

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

How Acceptable Was Anonymous Speculation About Snowden's Laptops? — It's the story that just won't quit: The tale of Edward J. Snowden and his leak of classified information about the United States government's secret surveillance of citizens. — Rife with skirmishes and subplots …

Discussion: Softpedia News, @balthazarbierma, @michelelassauxh, @jackshafer, @jamesrbuk, @ggreenwald, The Week and FP Passport

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Holder to deliver report to Obama on press probe guidelines — Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to deliver a report to President Barack Obama Friday on proposed changes to Justice Department guidelines on criminal investigations that involve the news media.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Pew: About a quarter of Americans say journalists contribute little to society — 27 percent of Americans say journalists contribute little or nothing to society's well being, according to a study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Discussion: Pew Forum on Religion …, TVSpy, @jackshafer, NationalJournal.com and The Wrap

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

Upworthy's biggest threat: Becoming a one-note wonder — Upworthy is one of the hottest media stories around. In May, it registered 30 million unique visitors, an incredibly high number for a 13-month-old company, placing it above Hulu.com, NBC Sports, and Us Magazine on the pageview totem pole.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

Rik Henderson / Pocket-lint:

Wuaki.tv comes to the UK, Netflix and Lovefilm competitor launches with £2.99 a month subscription offer — New competition to streaming giants Netflix and Lovefilm has arrived in the UK in the form of Wuaki.tv, a new hybrid Movie and TV show on demand service that offers …

Discussion: TechCrunch

Adam C. Engst / TidBITS:

Explaining the Apple Ebook Price Fixing Suit — By now, you've undoubtedly heard the news that U.S. District Judge Denise Cote has ruled against Apple in the antitrust suit filed against the company by the U.S. Department of Justice and 33 states, saying that Apple conspired with five major publishers …

Discussion: TeleRead, Slate, TUAW, Forbes and CNET

Bruce Houghton / hypebot:

Labels Force Playlist.com Shift To Online Radio — Playlist.com has switched from user generated playlists to to an online radio model as of July 1st. The move was forced by the labels, according to the company. It's not the first major setback for the Playlist team …

Discussion: TorrentFreak

Jason Illian / PublishersWeekly.com:

Analysis: A Band-Aid for B&N's Gunshot Wound — Can Barnes & Noble be Saved? — It's been a rough week for Barnes & Noble. And month. And year. And it may get worse before (if) it gets better. For those of you who have been in cryogenic sleep the last few weeks, here is a brief recap:

Discussion: Forbes and New York Times

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Andrew Goldman is leaving ‘Talk’ post at ‘New York Times Magazine’ — The New York Times Magazine is getting a new columnist for its weekly Q & A feature. — Andrew Goldman, the writer on Its most recent incarnation, “Talk,” bid farewell to fans on Twitter today and said that his column …

Discussion: @andrewrgoldman

Joe Pompeo / New York Magazine:

Al Jazeera America: A Unicorn is Born — Where the magic will happen: Al Jazeera America's newsroom. — The modern realities of the media business have so accustomed us to seeing journalistic entities disbanded, either abruptly or in slow motion, that there's an undeniable fascination …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, @jshormannl and @jamespoulos

Ira Teinowitz / The Wrap:

Battle Over the FCC's Future Kickstarted Again in Congress — Greg Walden rips the FCC for taking too long to review communications deals and for overreaching in demanding concessions such as in the Comcast-NBCU merger — The battle over the Federal Communications Communication's future returned …

Discussion: Radio & Television … and Broadcasting & Cable

David Kravets / Wired:

RIAA Wants Infamous File-Sharer to Campaign Against Piracy — Did you hear the one about the world's most infamous music file-sharer being asked to publicly extol the virtues of the Recording Industry Association of America's anti-piracy platform? — The RIAA is suggesting Jammie Thomas-Rasset do just that.

Discussion: TorrentFreak, Techdirt, Softpedia News and The Verge