Mediagazer: Patch ad sales down since it was announced that layoffs and site closings are coming (Jim Romenesko)

5:35 PM ET, August 13, 2013

Top News:

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Peter Maass / New York Times:

Q. & A.: Edward Snowden Speaks to Peter Maass — In the course of reporting his profile of Laura Poitras, Peter Maass conducted an encrypted question-and-answer session, for which Poitras served as intermediary, with Edward J. Snowden. Below is a full transcript of that conversation.

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Jim Romenesko:

Patch ad sales down since it was announced that layoffs and site closings are coming — “Over the last 5 sales days, we have amassed our worst results of the year,” Patch director of U.S. sales Jim Lipuma tells his ad-sales force in a memo he put out today.

Discussion: Capital New York, Valleywag, Business Insider, @romenesko and @jyarow

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:

TIM ARMSTRONG: I Made An Emotional Mistake Firing That Guy — AOL CEO Tim Armstrong just sent out the following memo to AOL staff, which we've obtained from a source inside the company. — The memo is in reference to Armstrong's firing of Patch creative director Abel Lenz on an all-hands conference call last week.

Discussion: New York Times, Poynter, @ezraklein, @morningmoneyben, @pkafka, @charlesjb12 and The FJP

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Bleacher Report Co-Founder Bryan Goldberg Raises $6.5 Million To Launch A Site For Women, Bustle — Bryan Goldberg co-founded Bleacher Report, a sports media company that was acquired by Turner Media last year for more than $200 million. He's finally ready to announce his new venture, Bustle.

Discussion: PandoDaily, FishbowlNY, @lock, @jamilsmith, @antderosa, Pulse 2.0 and @bgoldberg

Gavriel Hollander / Press Gazette:

First post-paywall figures reveal slump in Sun website market share — The Sun's website lost more than a third of its market share of internet visitors in the first ten days following its move behind a paywall, new research suggests. — In the first indication of reader behaviour since …

Discussion: @domponsford

Brian Morrissey / Digiday:

For Media Now, ‘Talent Trumps All’ — NBC News yesterday announced it acquired Stringwire. The purchase added a user-generated streaming video platform but also buffed up the media organization's tech ranks with Stringwire founder Phil Grossman, who will join NBC News as a product lead out of its San Francisco office.

Discussion: @digiday and @vouchey

Dseyler / Radio & Television Business Report:

California senators call for end to CBS-TWC sparring — Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) believe that subscribers are the big losers in the ongoing retransmission consent impasse between CBS and Time Warner Cable and have called for an end to the hostilities.

Discussion: Forbes, Home Media Magazine, voices.mydesert.com, IVCPOST, TVSpy and USA Today

The Canadian Press:

Torstar launches Toronto Star paywall — TORONTO - The Toronto Star has begun charging a fee for non-subscribers who access its web site more than 10 times a month. — The Star told staff details of the program on Monday and announced the change to readers in the Tuesday edition of its paper, the biggest-circulation daily in Canada.

Discussion: Poynter, Toronto Star and Kirk LaPointe's …

Arti Patel / Folio:

The Media Source and Air Age Media Announce Partnership — The Media Source will mostly provide manufacturing services to Air Age. — The Media Source, a division of Source Interlink Companies, LLC, announced Tuesday it is partnering with multimedia publishing company Air Age Media.

Discussion: Source Interlink Companies

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

Epic launches, Politico goes deeper: Why longform is the new necessity — In the last 24 hours, there have been two major updates to the list of media companies investing in longform journalism. Last night, the New York Times' David Carr broke the news that writers Joshuah Bearman …

Discussion: 10,000 Words, @darcyday, @jayrosen_nyu, @journotopia, @hamishmckenzie and The Huffington Post

Tom Ramstack / Reuters:

U.S. WikiLeaks judge overrules objections on classified testimony — (Reuters) - The judge hearing the court-martial of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks, on Tuesday overruled defense attorneys' objections over classified testimony against their client.

Discussion: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Big News Network.com and Guardian