Mediagazer: Washington Post considered using robot sportswriters (Andrew Beaujon/Poynter)

9:50 PM ET, August 20, 2013

Top News:

Julian Borger / Guardian:

NSA files: why the Guardian in London destroyed hard drives of leaked files — A threat of legal action by the government that could have stopped reporting on the files leaked by Edward Snowden led to a symbolic act at the Guardian's offices in London — Guardian editors on Tuesday revealed …

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

Conspiracy to commit journalism — “If sunlight coalitions are to succeed, they won't succeed by outwitting surveillance. Not better technology, but greater legitimacy is their edge.” — The mood toughened just over a month ago, when I received a phone call from the centre of government telling me: “You've had your fun.

Discussion: msnbc.com, The New Yorker Blog, Charlie Beckett, The Huffington Post, @gsmaverick, Guardian, Committee to Protect …, @jjn1, @dangillmor, @jeffjarvis, TIME and WebProNews

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
British Newspaper Has Advantages in Battle With Government Over Secrets

Discussion: @ewenmacaskill

Tim Ross / Telegraph:
David Cameron accused of sanctioning detention of Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @willblackwriter and @davecameroon

Sarah Young / Reuters: British authorities say detention of reporter's partner ‘legally sound’

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
David Miranda's lawyers threaten legal action over ‘unlawful’ detention

Discussion: NBCNews, @fleetstreetfox, Techdirt, @jlllow, BBC, @tomporteous and @nycjim

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Top Roger Ailes Adviser Fired and Escorted From Fox News Building (Exclusive) — UPDATED: Brian Lewis, executive vp corporate communications, was ousted after an investigation found breach of contract and “issues relating to financial irregularities,” the network says in a statement.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, Politico, The Huffington Post, TVNewser, @mlcalderone, @thrmattbelloni, @romenesko and @buzzfeedben

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

Fox Confirms Brian Lewis Fired for ‘Financial Irregularities’ (Updated) — Executive vice president of corporate communications and longtime employee suddenly leaves the company — Brian Lewis, senior advisor to Roger Ailes and Fox's executive vice president of corporate communications …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Gawker and Variety

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Al Jazeera Makes Limited American Debut — There was ample attention in journalistic circles as Al Jazeera America had its premiere on Tuesday — particularly among those who could not watch. — The news channel — which replaced Current TV at 3 p.m. Eastern time — was expected to be carried …

Discussion: Associated Press, @rafat, @brianstelter and Bloomberg

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
Al Jazeera hints at new online programming for cord cutters and cable hold-outs

Discussion: The Wrap, USA Today, Deadline.com, @riy and Inside TV

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:
AT&T Sued Over Refusal to Carry Al Jazeera Cable Network

Discussion: @adamgellings, @rolandsmartin and @sherman4949

Justin D. Martin / Quartz:
One thing Al Jazeera could do to gain credibility: hire an ombudsman

Discussion: @qz, PolicyMic and @digiphile

Alex / digiphile:
Al Jazeera America bets on an American audience for serious journalism

Discussion: Poynter and Al Jazeera English, Thanks:@digiphile

Michael Kinsley / The New Republic:

A Q&A With Jill Abramson The Times' top editor on mean bosses, liberal biases, and the demise of the Washington Post — For generations, the publishers of the great American newspapers were accidents of birth—sons and daughters (and assorted other relatives) who inherited their positions atop the masthead.

Discussion: Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, FishbowlNY, TheBlaze.com, NetNewsCheck Latest, @niemanlab, @noamscheiber, @charlie_savage, @rajunarisetti, @inklesspw, @byronyork, @sampjacobs, @sulliview, @huffpostmedia, @mlcalderone and @max_read

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Who Gets to ‘Snow-Fall’ or ‘Jockey’ at The Times, and Why? — At Wired magazine's annual business conference in New York last May, the executive editor Jill Abramson made the observation that at The Times, “snow-fall” had become a verb. — “Everyone wants to snow-fall now, every day, all desks,” she said.

Discussion: @moorehn, @mcely and @jsablichnyt

Marc Tracy / The New Republic:
How to Build a Smarter Times, According to the Times' Own Journalists

Discussion: Gawker, @jessicalessin, GigaOM, The New Republic, @jaredbkeller, @scott_bot, @mathewi, @albertocairo, @mlcalderone and @marcatracy

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Washington Post considered using robot sportswriters — Last year, The Washington Post considered using automated writing to cover the region's many high-school sports, Brook Silva-Braga reports. Currently, the paper has four reporters on that beat, and deputy high school sports editor …

Discussion: @nprrussell, @leongettler and @niemanlab

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Exclusive : Conde Nast launches new subscriber service with Amazon — (Reuters) - Magazine publisher Conde Nast announced a major partnership with Amazon on Tuesday in which the Internet retailer will handle print and digital subscriptions for its stable of glossy publications like Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair.

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog, Condé Nast, FOLIO, FishbowlNY, CNET, Guardian, AdAge, @tcarmody, Mashable, @sdkstl, Reuters, Fast Company, @rajunarisetti, Canadian Magazines and eMedia Vitals

Andrew Blankstein / Los Angeles Times:

Coroner, family link Michael Hastings to drug use at time of death — An LAPD officer investigates the scene of a firey crash that killed journalist Michael Hastings. Hastings died when his vehicle crashed into a tree and caught fire in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles in June.

Discussion: All documents, Speakeasy, Hollywood Reporter, LA Observed, The Informer, Gawker, Talking Points Memo, @kimzetter, @anblanx, @lauraelizdavis, The Raw Story, @jameshohmann and New York Magazine

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

LA Times to hire bloggers, names Seattle bureau chief — The Los Angeles Times has zigged and zagged with blogs in the past — at one time I think there were more than 40, then most were killed or consolidated. Now it sounds like the plan is to go big into staffing up “exciting new blogs” …

John McDermott / AdAge:

iTunes Radio to Debut in September With McDonald's, Nissan, P&G, Pepsi — Launch Partners Sign 12-Month Deals Worth Tens of Millions of Dollars — iTunes Radio, Apple's answer to Pandora, is set to debut next month with a handful of high-profile brand partners including McDonald's, Nissan …

Discussion: GigaOM, @davidfieldetm, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Next Web, @jherskowitz, The Inquisitr, @pkafka, Pocket-lint, AppleInsider, @learmonth, App Advice and Engadget

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:

Hearst Replaces Top Digital Editors — Top editors in Hearst's digital division will be laid off today, a source familiar with the company's plans told Mashable. — Amina Akhtar, editor of Elle.com, and Abby Gardner, digital director of Cosmopolitan magazine, have both received layoff notices.

Discussion: Folio, Adweek, FishbowlNY, The Inquisitr, @laureni and @nbj914

Erik Maza / WWD:
Hearst Hires Buzzfeed, Fashionista Editors

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @tedr, @amyodell, @erik_maza, Hearst Corporation, @hearstcorp, @mcbride_caitlin and @womensweardaily

Groklaw:

Forced Exposure — The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too. — There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum. — What to do? — What to do? I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure it out.

Discussion: TechCrunch, GigaOM, Forbes, Gizmodo, Daily Dot, ZDNet, @rsingel, PandoDaily, @jayrosen_nyu, VentureBeat, BBC, Fast Company, @cykod, The Verge, Electronista, @thomas_drake1, @calebgarling, @evacide, Slashdot, GigaOM, WebProNews, Memex 1.1, ReadWrite, @textfiles, @semanticwill, @mattbuchanan, @louisgray, The Switch, Guardian, @arrington, @nytimesbits and @bfister

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
More NSA Spying Fallout: Groklaw Shutting Down

Discussion: TechCrunch, Engadget, TechCrunch, @josemurilo and ZDNet

Brian Morrissey / Digiday:

The Newest in Native: Editorial Reviews Reborn as Ads — This past April, CNET senior editor Jessica Dolcourt reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Under the headline “The everything phone for (almost) everyone,” the CNET veteran journalist gave the device 4.5/5 stars in a detailed, mostly positive review.

Discussion: @tcarmody, @chadmumm, Talking Biz News, @digiday, @jasonwstein, @niemanlab, @richjaro, @tcarmody, Business Insider and eMedia Vitals

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Bad earnings for Barnes & Noble: Nook revenues plunge 20%; Riggio won't take stores private — In the past quarter, Barnes & Noble's CEO resigned, and the company announced it would stop manufacturing tablets in-house as a way to cut heavy losses in the Nook division.