Mediagazer: China says it'll relax film, TV censorship; directors unimpressed (Julie Makinen/Los Angeles Times)

6:40 PM ET, July 17, 2013

Top News:

From Tom Paine to Glenn Greenwald, we need partisan journalism — I would sooner engage you in a week-long debate over which taxonomical subdivision the duck-billed platypus belongs to than spend a moment arguing whether Glenn Greenwald is a journalist or not, or whether an activist can be a journalist …

Discussion: @ggreenwald, @palafo, Kirk LaPointe's …, @froomkin, @ericuman, @johnmcquaid, @mccanner and @clarajeffery

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Turner Shuffle: John Martin to Succeed Phil Kent as CEO in January — After a dozen years at the helm, Phil Kent will step down from his post as CEO of Turner Broadcasting in January and will be succeeded by Time Warner chief financial officer John Martin. — Kent will remain chairman of TBS for a period in 2014.

Discussion: MediaPost, Business Wire, Los Angeles Times, AdAge, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, New York Times, TVNewser, Home Media Magazine, Radio & Television … and FTVLive

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed: Money Men Are Taking Over Time Warner

Philip Bump / Associated Press:

The NSA Admits It Analyzes More People's Data Than Previously Revealed — As an aside during testimony on Capitol Hill today, a National Security Agency representative rather casually indicated that the government looks at data from a universe of far, far more people than previously indicated.

Discussion: Fast Company, @normative, @billpollock, @dustinslaughter, @ioerror, Techdirt and The Verge

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Keith Olbermann Is Returning To ESPN. Can He Help Himself? — The television career of Keith Olbermann can be understood as a an endless cycle of network executives first deciding his prodigious talent outweighs his considerable red flags, then coming to think otherwise. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser and Variety

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
Keith Olbermann Finalizes Deal With ESPN

Larry Dailey / Mediashift:

Are Traditional News Operations Really Ready for Innovation? — Fewer than half of Middle East residents think it's safe to express political opinions online, according to a study by sponsor Northwestern University in Qatar. Explore the data on this interactive site and watch a recent MediaTwits chat about the study.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals

American Journalism Review:

American Journalism Review To Become Online Only Publication — The American Journalism Review will end production of its print edition and launch a redesigned website in Fall 2013 as it becomes an online-only publication, the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism announced Wednesday.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, @saramorrison, NEWS.com.au, @cfstraumsheim, @jbenton, @billmon1, @merrillcollege, @ombudsman, @romenesko and @davidfolkenflik

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Daily Beast to launch a new weekend title, ‘Beast Weekend’ — The Daily Beast is launching a weekend title to debut this fall along with a homepage makeover, editor-in-chief Tina Brown told staff today. — “Beast Weekend will refresh and refocus our weekend content towards culture as well as longer reads …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, eMedia Vitals and FishbowlNY

Jake Tapper / The Lead:

Former White House National Security spokesman assails Rolling Stone cover — Former White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor expressed concern on Wednesday about Rolling Stone magazine putting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover, tweeting that “A disaffected US kid …

Jason Clampet / Skift:

Lonely Planet to Cut Staff and Relocate Digital Offices to Nashville — Lonely Planet leadership celebrating at the brand's 40th anniversary party in San Francisco, CA last month. sanchez_out / Instagram — Four months after buying Lonely Planet from BBC Worldwide, new owner NC2 Media …

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

BeachMint's Board Members Have Signed A Scathing Letter Ripping PandoDaily Article To Shreds — It's best to admit when you're wrong. Otherwise, you could end up being the subject of a scathing public letter, like the one BeachMint's board members just published in the LA Times about PandoDaily.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, PandoDaily and @mikenobi

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Televisor wants to become your TV recommendation engine — So you just finished binge-watching the last season of Mad Men, and now you're wondering: What's next? That's exactly the type of question a new site called Televisor was built for. — Televisor offers the type of “you may also like” …

Discussion: PC Advisor and AppNewser

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

AP's Carroll: ‘An attack on a journalist is a proxy for an attack on the people’ — Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president and executive editor of the Associated Press, briefed the United Nations Security Council on the protection of journalists today. — She explained that the AP's headquarters …

Discussion: ap.org and @froomkin

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Independent news orgs in Latin America band together in search of new business models — A loose federation of independent news organizations in Latin America have decided to make it official. — Rosental Alves of The University of Texas' Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas …

Bronwen Clune / Guardian:

Are fact-checking sites a symptom of the media not doing its job? — ‘Fact-checking’ sites are on the rise in Australia. Are those new ventures suggesting that journalism is failing to adequately perform its functions? — The Guardian's data journalism workflow. Illustration: Mark McCormick for the Guardian

Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times:

China says it'll relax film, TV censorship; directors unimpressed — Director Jia Zhangke, shown with actress Tao Zhao at the Cannes Film Festival, says China's easing of restrictions on film, TV and radio content isn't a revolutionary step forward. (Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images / May 26, 2013)

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Inkling scores $16M, partners with Pearson and Elsevier for its digital book platform — With another hefty round of funding, Inkling's plans to dominate the e-book world are one step closer to reality. — Back in February, Inkling announced Inkling Habitat, an all-encompassing publishing environment for digital books.

Discussion: TechCrunch, PublishersWeekly.com, CNET, Fortune, Digital Book World, Venture Capital Dispatch, GigaOM and AllThingsD

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Netflix Dominates Speculation Over Emmy Awards — The nominations for the Emmy Awards will be announced on Thursday in Los Angeles, and it is widely expected that, for the first time, the headlines will be all about Netflix. — Two programs created for that Internet streaming service …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham introduce new media shield law — Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham have rounded up another bipartisan gang, this time to pass a media shield law that would enact recent Justice Department guidelines. — The New York and South Carolina senators have written …

Discussion: Capital New York and @brickhouse143

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:

Uncommon Content out to make Web shows that click on TV — New York filmmaker Uncommon Content is producing half-hour Web shows that it's betting will get picked up by networks and become mainstream fare. — Uncommon Content has so far produced seven Web series, one of which features musician …

Helienne Lindvall / Guardian:

Can PledgeMusic's direct-to-fan approach unlock untapped revenue? — The platform is attracting interest from labels, and stars such as Amanda Palmer, by involving fans in the making of albums — Record labels are leaving billions of pounds in revenue on the table every year by only offering music fans …

Discussion: hypebot and PledgeMusic for brand …

Anna Clark / Columbia Journalism Review:

Michigan's ‘free-market’ media machine — The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a major player in state media. What to make of it? — DETROIT, MI — In a time of upheaval for both politics and media, state-level think tanks sit at a peculiar nexus of influence: they both shape the news and report it.

Lauren Ingeno / Inside Higher Ed:

USC announces changes to its journalism master's degree program — Shelling out thousands of dollars for a master's degree in journalism may seem illogical in 2013, as newsrooms continue to shrink at alarming rates. There are now less than 40,000 full-time professional employees working …

Discussion: Gawker