Mediagazer: Saudi website editor gets seven years in prison and 600 lashes for liberal forum (Reuters)

10:50 AM ET, July 31, 2013

Top News:

Good Jill, Bad Jill: The queen of The New York Times — April was an unusual, if not the cruelest, month for New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, who in September will mark two years on the job. On Monday afternoon, April 15, Abramson—who, at 59, is the first woman to serve …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter, The Huffington Post, @moorehn, @janinegibson, @amyohconnor, @calflyn and @nicohines

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’ — • XKeyscore gives ‘widest-reaching’ collection of online data — • NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches — • Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history

Discussion: Guardian, TechCrunch, Softpedia News, Business Insider, Engadget, The Next Web, The Verge and WJLA-TV

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Greenwald: NSA hearing cancelled

Discussion: Mediaite, @dylanbyers and The Daily Caller

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:

Facebook Said to Plan to Sell TV-Style Ads for $2.5M Each — Facebook Inc. (FB), seeking to break the long-held dominance of television over advertising budgets, plans to sell TV-style commercials on its site for as much as $2.5 million a day, two people familiar with the matter said.

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg: Facebook Draws More Young Prime-Time Viewers Than Major Networks

Dan Gillmor / Guardian:

The Bradley Manning verdict is still bad news for the press — The Obama administration's war on leaks and, by extension, the work of investigative reporters, has been unrelenting — The American journalism trade is breathing a collective - but premature and, in many cases, grossly hypocritical - sigh of relief today.

AAP:
Manning sentencing hearing to take a month

Discussion: Sky News and Law

USA Today:

How the digital age has reshaped the ad game — Madison Avenue is quickly morphing into Digital Drive. — Technological advances have changed everything from where consumers watch TV to how they buy holiday gifts. In turn, ad agencies have revamped their hiring practices …

Discussion: eMedia Vitals and PSFK

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:
Should Publishers Fear Publicis Omnicom?

Discussion: @rickjwaghorn, @thebaltogroup and @joshsternberg

Gary Shteyngart / New Yorker:

Confessions of a Google Glass Explorer. — On a weekday afternoon in late June, a nondescript forty-year-old man in beige shorts, a blue Penguin sports shirt, and what appears to be a pair of shale-colored architect's glasses with parts of the frame missing gets on an uptown No. 6 train …

Discussion: The Verge, @justinpickard, @omarg, @ewanpearson, @lcatino, Engadget, The Next Web, Marketing Land, The New Yorker Blog and bookforum.com

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
How Vice's Tim Pool used Google Glass to cover Istanbul protests

Discussion: @andysherry, @tomo_taka1, @audreydomasian, @flohmann, @btrpkc, @panzer, GigaOM, @vice and @marcsettle

Jonathan S. Landay / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

McClatchy asks Obama administration if U.S. helped New Zealand collect data on journalist — WASHINGTON — The McClatchy Co. asked the Obama administration on Tuesday to explain news reports in New Zealand that U.S. intelligence agencies had helped that country's military track cellular telephone calls …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Sydney Morning Herald, InvestigateDaily, @jonathanlanday, HeraldSun and Committee to Protect …

Chris Trotter / The Daily Blog:
Lone Wolf: Jon Stephenson and his Search for the Truth

Discussion: @jmnicholls, @maxdcoyle and @feyhag

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Social Video Startup NowThis News Launches The First-Ever News Channel On Instagram — A few weeks ago, Instagram announced Video, a way to share 15 second clips as well as photos with followers. Social web video startup NowThis News is taking advantage of it and launching the first-ever Instagram news channel.

Discussion: @nickidems, @julianxbrand, Business Wire and Beet.TV

Spencer E. Ante / Wall Street Journal:

Report Finds MIT Didn't Push Aaron Swartz Prosecution but Says It Failed to Lead — A Massachusetts Institute of Technology report concluded the university acted prudently in the way it handled its involvement with the government's prosecution of Internet activist Aaron Swartz …

Discussion: TarenSK, Chicago Sun Times, Wired, @semanticwill, TIME and Digits

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Plain Dealer ‘eliminated the jobs of approximately 50 journalists’ — The Plain Dealer's promised layoffs took place Wednesday morning. About 50 people lost their jobs, one report says. — “Many of those let go will be familiar names to readers - reporters, columnists …

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Viacom Demands New Judge in YouTube Copyright Fight — An appeals court is primed to review the long-running dispute a second time. — After swinging and missing twice, Viacom is telling an appeals court it needs an umpire who isn't blind to YouTube's alleged copyright infringement.

Discussion: BLOUIN BEAT, Plagiarism Today and Business Insider

James Chapman / Daily Mail:

BBC could be curbed under government plans to rein in dominance of media giants — The BBC could be included in a move to limit media ownership, the Government announced yesterday. — Culture Secretary Maria Miller launched a consultation on rules governing media plurality …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Australian, TBI Vision, @democracyfail, Guardian and broadcastnow.co.uk

Todd Spangler / Variety:

HBO Go Is Coming to Google Chromecast — HBO — looking to keep pace with online rival Netflix — is planning to bring its Internet-video service to Google's cheap Chromecast device for TVs. — “We are actively exploring supporting Chromecast as another way for our subscribers to enjoy HBO Go …

Discussion: Boing Boing, Electronista, CNET, BGR, TechnoBuffalo, Pocket-lint, Gizmodo, Broadcasting & Cable, The Verge and GigaOM

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Penske could be in the race for Newsweek — Jay Penske is kicking the tires and checking under the hood as a potential suitor to buy Newsweek from Barry Diller's IAC/InterActive Corp., sources said. — Penske — of the auto-racing family — already owns HollywoodLife and Deadline Hollywood …