Mediagazer: Future's profit slowdown highlights difficulties of digital publishing transition (Jasper Jackson/The Media Briefing)

9:20 AM ET, July 19, 2013

Top News:

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

MIT Moves to Intervene in Release of Aaron Swartz's Secret Service File — Lawyers representing MIT are filing a motion to intervene in my FOIA lawsuit over thousands of pages of Secret Service documents about the late activist and coder Aaron Swartz. — I am the plaintiff in this lawsuit.

Discussion: GigaOM, Fast Company, Business Insider, Techdirt, @mofame, Yahoo! News, @biellacoleman, Boing Boing, @jcstearns, Boston Globe, The Verge, @emptywheel, @quinnnorton, @sinabahram and Softpedia News

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Big names among Independent leavers — Several of The Independent's best-known journalists are among those due to leave the paper following the paper's decision 10 days ago to make 27 staff redundant. — It appears to be a cull of the older, well-paid veterans.

Jasper Jackson / The Media Briefing:

Future's profit slowdown highlights difficulties of digital publishing transition — Digital edition sales are up, digital advertising is up, but it's still not enough for Future to meet its profit targets. The magazine publisher has revealed it expects EBITDA to be £8 million this year …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and Guardian

Kevin Roose / New York Magazine:

Let Tech Blogs Celebrate Start-Ups — Sarah Lacy, in her TechCrunch days, interviewing Keith Rabois, formerly of Square. — Sarah Lacy is having a rough month. The founder of tech blog PandoDaily and perennial Valleywag target first ignited criticism with inflammatory comments …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Operation Elveden: Sun journalist and ex-soldier plead not guilty — Former sergeant at Sandhurst and his wife accused of selling information to the paper about Princes William and Harry — The Sun's royal correspondent, a former sergeant at Sandhurst and his wife have pleaded not guilty …

Janet Shoko / The Africa Report:

Zimbabwe gets a new television station ahead of elections — A new privately owned television station is due to be launched in Zimbabwe on Friday to break the 33 year old monopoly by the country's state broadcaster. — The station - 1st TV - is a brainchild of Zimbabwean exiled journalists based …

Discussion: International Business Times and BBC

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Guardian chief exec Miller rejects metered paywall model and says no more redundancies planned — Uniquely among UK national newspaper publishers, Guardian News and Media has avoided compulsory redundancies. — And speaking in the wake of annual results which revealed a sharp reduction in losses …

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Vivendi Declined SoftBank's Lucrative Offer for Universal — Vivendi, the French media and telecommunications conglomerate, rejected an $8.5 billion cash bid from SoftBank for the Universal Music Group, even though it represented a premium of at least $2 billion more than some analysts' estimates …

Discussion: Financial Times, The Verge, @pkafka, Billboard and Reuters

Joanna Zelman / The Huffington Post:

Officer Who Released Boston Bomber Photos ‘Relieved Of Duty’ — The Massachusetts State Police officer who released photos of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has reportedly been relieved of duty, but not been fired. — Boston Magazine editor John Wolfson tweeted that tactical photographer …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Boston Globe, Gawker, The Week, lalate news and Boston Magazine

Sandra Laville / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch admits error in criticism of police investigations — Media mogul writes to MP Keith Vaz to retract ‘incompetence’ remark but says inquiries have taken too long — Read the full text of Murdoch's letter to Vaz — Rupert Murdoch has admitted he was wrong to describe phone-hacking …

Discussion: Variety, Crikey, @chucktodd and Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Reporter:

'Anchorman's' David Koechner Makes Instagram Movie — The actor created a buddy-cop comedy consisting of eight 15-second segments. — Actors David Koechner and Harland Williams have used Instagram's new video tool to create a buddy-cop movie consisting of eight 15-second segments.

Discussion: Variety and Mashable

Emma Bazilian / Adweek:

Condé Nast Touts Biggest September in Five Years — Fashion bible Vogue seems to be the winner in the September ad page race so far. — The Condé Nast book weighed in last year at 658 ad pages; this year, publisher Susan Plagemann added 1 percentage point for a total of 665 total ad pages.

Discussion: Folio, Mashable, AdAge, WWD Media Headlines, The Huffington Post and FishbowlNY

Erik Maza / WWD: Ad Sales Tick Up for September Issues

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

How Watching ‘Unbundled’ ESPN and AMC Could Cost More Than Your Whole Cable Bill — One last word (for now) on sports and the cable bundle — ESPN would cost as much as $30 a month if you yanked it out of the cable bundle and made it a standalone service, according to new analysis from Needham Insights.

Erin Banco / New York Times:

Judge in Manning Case Allows Charge of Aiding the Enemy — The military judge in the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning decided on Thursday not to drop a charge accusing Private Manning of “aiding the enemy.” If he is found guilty of the charge, he faces a life sentence in military custody with no chance of parole.

Discussion: Guardian, Washington Post, Amnesty International, The Huffington Post, Reuters, Kirk LaPointe's …, NPR and New York Magazine

Emily Bazelon / Slate: Bradley Manning trial and WikiLeaks: The government's charge that he aided the enemy is wrong and dangerous.

Ben Wizner / Freedom of the Press Foundation:
How Today's Ruling in the Bradley Manning Case Could Adversely Affect Journalists and Whistleblowers

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Techdirt