Mediagazer: Foreign journalists not to be accredited without approval of intelligence in Egypt (Anadolu Agency)

7:15 AM ET, August 16, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds — The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited — The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs said that its ability do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

Discussion: Techdirt, @privacyint, The Verge, @csoghoian, @ramez, @randyebarnett, @micahflee, @washingtonpost, The Switch, @inego_, @digiphile, Gawker and @jayrosen_nyu

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Edward Snowden To HuffPost: Media Being Misled — NEW YORK — National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden wants to set the record straight after individuals associated with his father have, in his words, “misled” journalists into “printing false claims about my situation.”

Discussion: CNN, Techdirt and New York Magazine

Mollie Reilly / The Huffington Post:

How The Washington Post Slapped Back The White House — The Washington Post gave a peek on Thursday night into the ways in which it brushed back the White House during contentious negotiations over its bombshell story about the National Security Agency's repeated privacy violations.

Discussion: emptywheel and Washington Post

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say — (Reuters) - Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier …

Discussion: ZDNet and Hillicon Valley

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Robert Feder partners with Tribune — Longtime Chicago media columnist Robert Feder is launching a standalone media blog next month through a partnership with the Chicago Tribune. — The editorially independent Web site, RobertFeder.com, will be owned by Feder, but licensed and marketed …

Discussion: @robertfeder, @robertfeder, @markedwards, @lynnemarek, @romenesko, @martindave and @mathewi

Anadolu Agency:

Foreign journalists not to be accredited without approval of intelligence in Egypt — Egypt will give accreditation to foreign journalists with the approval of Egyptian intelligence and Ministry of Interior as of August 15 ANKARA (AA) - Egyptian authorities Friday made amendments …

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC payoffs will not be investigated by Metropolitan police — Conservative MP Rob Wilson had called for an inquiry into six-figure severance payments to former corporation executives — Scotland Yard has decided not to mount a criminal investigation into severance payments at the BBC …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Sony and Viacom Reach Tentative Internet TV Deal — Viacom has tentatively agreed to let its popular cable channels — like Nickelodeon and MTV — be carried by an Internet TV service in the works at Sony, a deal that could signal the start of a new era of competition for entrenched cable and satellite providers.

Discussion: ZDNet, GamesIndustry International, C21Media, @claytonmorris, The Huffington Post, CNET, Variety and @brianstelter

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Viacom-Sony TV Is a Big Deal. It's Also the Same Deal We Already Have.

Discussion: @pkafka, @jbflint, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, @shaliniwsj, @tomgara and GigaOM

Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:

Medium: One year of publishing ‘things that matter’ — Since launching in private beta last year, Medium has been building up its platform, which aims to offer a simple but ‘beautiful’ reading and writing experience — Read more — Other top stories — Also on Journalism.co.uk...

Discussion: @fmanjoo

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:

Al Jazeera America Debut Approaches, With Fewer Commercials — Cable News Network Will Have Just Six Minutes of Ad Time per Hour — Al Jazeera America will have fewer commercials than other cable TV networks when it begins transmitting on Tuesday. — The cable news network will air …

Discussion: Variety, B&C, Adweek, TVNewser and Hollywood Reporter

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Al Jazeera America faces more than the usual new-kid challenges

Discussion: @jbflint

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

The Next Web sheds key staff amid shift in editorial priorities — The Next Web, a leading tech blog, has fired or farewelled five of its top editorial staff in recent weeks as it shifts its editorial strategy to one that depends less on breaking news and more on reviews and analysis.

Discussion: @jessicanaziri, @alex, @peterhimler, @sarahcuda, @mikeisaac, @rafat, @dujkan, @obrien and @pandodaily

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

What Was This Bro Thinking? Bustle.com's Bryan Goldberg Explains Himself — Considering he only wanted to launch a women's-interest website, Bryan Goldberg must have been surprised to find himself the internet's primary object of hatred yesterday. — No doubt it had a lot …

Discussion: @maura, @abenedikt, @maureenoco, @laureni, The Hairpin and @samfbiddle

Bryan Goldberg / PandoDaily:
Take Two — I messed up. — There has been a lot of response …

Discussion: Digiday, @gitdot, @jeffjarvis, @saramorrison, Flavorwire, @amandamarcotte, Fast Company, @brooke, @erikmal, @atotalmonet, @jayrosen_nyu, Business Insider, @bgoldberg, @spencerchen, @thestalwart and @morninggloria

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:

Sources: Distributors Hold The Line On Fox Sports 1 Sub Fee — The frenzied rush that saw several of the country's biggest distributors agree to carry FS1 at launch occurred only after Fox surprisingly backed off its asking price of $0.80 per subscriber per month, according to multiple high-level sources.

Discussion: @whatupay4sports, @ourand_sbj and The Big Lead