Mediagazer: Viacom Quarterly Earnings Rise as U.S. Ad Growth Accelerates (Georg Szalai/Hollywood Reporter)

10:35 AM ET, August 2, 2013

Top News:

Kate Irby / McClatchy:

Senators spar over definition of ‘journalist’ in seeking to protect them — WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee, looking to provide protections for journalists and their sources, ran into a roadblock Thursday when lawmakers couldn't agree on the definition of “journalist.”

Discussion: Poynter, The Huffington Post, @jayrosen_nyu, @zseward and @mlcalderone

Henry C. Jackson / Associated Press:
Senate Takes Initial Step Toward Media Shield Law

Discussion: rcfp.org, Big News Network.com, USA Today and The Newspaper Guild

Henry Blodget / Business Insider:

IT'S OFFICIAL: We Never Need To Worry About The Future Of Journalism Again! — The New York Times Company did the world of journalism a big favor today. — The company finally disclosed the exact revenues of its digital business. — The numbers were impressive.

Discussion: @yancyfaith, @jbennet, @evanbush and @davidkenner, Thanks:@mattlynley

Edmund Lee / Bloomberg:
New York Times Profit Tops Estimates on Digital Subscribers

Discussion: Mashable, Wall Street Journal, @paulxharris and NetNewsCheck Latest

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Times C.E.O. Mark Thompson stays the course in second-quarter earnings call

Discussion: WWD Media Headlines, AdAge, NetNewsCheck Latest and Media & Entertainment

The United States Department of Justice:

Department of Justice Proposes Remedy to Address Apple's Price Fixing … The Department of Justice and 33 State Attorneys General today submitted to the court a proposed remedy to address Apple Inc.'s illegal conduct, following the July 10, 2013, U.S. District Court for the Southern District …

Discussion: GigaOM, AllThingsD, @reutersbiz, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and The Next Web

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
U.S., states propose remedy for Apple e-book price-fixing

Discussion: The Verge

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:

Big Boss, Not Big Brother, Spotted Long Island Family's ‘Suspicious’ Google Searches — On Wednesday morning, six law enforcement officers visited a house in Long Island. They were there to ask whether the residents — a married couple and their son — were involved in terrorism.

Eric Deggans / Tampa Bay Times:

Eric Deggans to leave Tampa Bay Times for job as NPR's first TV critic — Eric Deggans, TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times, will become NPR's TV critic. — After nearly 18 years critiquing television, media, music and pop culture at the Tampa Bay Times, I will be leaving the newspaper …

Discussion: @charlie_mccollu, @davidfolkenflik, @craigtimes, @nabjdigital, @moryan, @npraudie, @brianstelter, @timkarr, @tb_times, @deggans, @nextgenradio, The Wrap and Poynter

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post Co.'s newspaper division posts another loss, but online revenue is up — The Washington Post's newspaper division posted an operating loss of $49.3 million in the first six months of 2013, the company says in its second-quarter earnings report.

Discussion: Washington Post and washpostco.com

Josh Sternberg / Digiday:

HuffPo Pushes Further Into Sponsored Content — Publishers are crazy for native advertising, but they're stuck with a problem: Who is going to create it? — That's why publishers like Vice and Gawker have begun partnered content-creation arms. Add The Huffington Post to the mix.

Discussion: Business Insider

Brendan Nyhan / Columbia Journalism Review:

The scandal attention cycle — How the media lost interest in IRS targeting, even as new facts emerged — At this point, the evidence on the Internal Revenue Service scandal is clear. Contrary to the initial hype, there is no credible evidence of White House involvement …

Discussion: Wonkblog, Mother Jones, @alecmacgillis, @sulliview, @jaymills, @wfrick, @jayrosen_nyu and @aseitzwald

Max Blumenthal / Mondoweiss:

Exclusive: Al Jazeera English's online US broadcast to end with the launch of Al Jazeera America — Staff members of Al Jazeera have informed me that as soon as Al Jazeera America (AJAM) launches on August 20, American viewers will be unable to access the online livestream of Al Jazeera English (AJE).

Discussion: @rafat, @weeddude, @maxblumenthal and @thehoopoe

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

YouTube to Open Production Studio in New York Next Year — That complements a 41,000-square foot studio in Los Angeles — YouTube will open a production studio in New York next year, the company announced at VidCon on Thursday. The company complements similar facilities in London …

Discussion: MediaPost, CNET and Business Insider

Erik Wemple:

Dear CNN: Find a female media critic — Politico's Patrick Gavin yesterday tweeted that he'd be hosting the long-running CNN program “Reliable Sources” this Sunday. He is among the crowd that is filling in following the departure of Howard Kurtz* for Fox News.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu

James Barron / New York Times:

CUNY TV Station Turns Over an Old Leaf, Transmitting by Air to Widen Its Reach — The rest of the television industry may be worrying about competition from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. But the City University of New York's television operation has started broadcasting the old-fashioned way — over the air.

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

Is Tumblr Shrinking? — Yahoo bought Tumblr because Tumblr has millions of young users. But are they sticking around? — Last November, David Karp posted on Tumblr's staff blog. “I have an exciting and slightly overwhelming milestone to share with you,” the site's founder and CEO said.

Discussion: Softpedia News, The Verge, @ryanpbroderick, @michaelnoer and @jwherrman

Brad Stone / Businessweek:
Can Marissa Mayer Save Yahoo?

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, Business Insider and @clairecm

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Fusion Launching October 28 With Nightly Jorge Ramos Program, Satire Block — Fusion, the upcoming cable channel from ABC News and Univision, will launch Monday October 28, the companies say. The channel will launch on a number of pay-TV operators, including Cablevision, Charter and Cox.

Discussion: New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable and The Huffington Post