Mediagazer: Fox Confirms Brian Lewis Fired for ‘Financial Irregularities’ (Updated) (Sara Morrison/The Wrap)

7:50 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: Guardian, Charlie Beckett, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, Committee to Protect …, @jjn1, @jeffjarvis, TIME and VentureBeat

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

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @willblackwriter and @davecameroon

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

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

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:
UK agents, seeking to stop leaks, destroyed The Guardian's hard drives

Discussion: BuzzMachine, Reuters, The New Yorker Blog, Guardian, @dansabbagh, @stevestreeting, TechCrunch, @chanders and @0xabad1dea

Milo Yiannopoulos / The Kernel:
David Miranda's detention was entirely legitimate

Discussion: The Week, WebProNews and The Huffington Post

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

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

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:
Who Gets to ‘Snow-Fall’ or ‘Jockey’ at The Times, and Why?

Discussion: @mcely, @jsablichnyt and @moorehn

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

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 Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, Politico, TVNewser, @buzzfeedben, @mlcalderone, @thrmattbelloni, @romenesko and The Huffington Post

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Al Jazeera America launches: What you need to know — The network plans to launch at 3 p.m. ET today. Here's a quick primer: — • It may be a unicorn: “[T]here's an undeniable fascination in watching a giant news outlet come together in a matter of months,” Joe Pompeo wrote in July about Al Jazeera America's planned launch.

Discussion: TVNewser, @riy, Al Jazeera English, The Huffington Post, BBC, @anthonyquintano, @brianstelter, @yurivictor, @rafat, @anupkaphle, @kirstinestewart and The FJP

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:
Al Jazeera America Dropped By AT&T U-Verse

Discussion: TVNewser, GigaOM, Broadcasting & Cable, New Orleans Times-Picayune, USA Today, Digiday and Inside TV

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

Discussion: Quartz and @digiphile, Thanks:@digiphile

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, Fast Company, Guardian, AdAge, @tcarmody, Reuters, Mashable, @sdkstl, @rajunarisetti, eMedia Vitals and Canadian Magazines

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, LA Observed, The Wrap, Gawker, Hollywood Reporter, The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, The Informer, @kimzetter, @anblanx, @lauraelizdavis and @jameshohmann

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

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

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

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

Erik Maza / WWD:

Hearst Hires Buzzfeed, Fashionista Editors — HEARST HIRES BUZZFEED, FASHIONISTA EDITORS: Early on Tuesday, it seemed as though a housecleaning was underway at Hearst Magazines. — Amina Akhtar, the executive editor of Elle.com, tweeted she'd been laid off, and it was later confirmed Abby Gardner …

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

Lauren Indvik / Mashable:
Hearst Replaces Top Digital Editors

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

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: @leongettler and @niemanlab

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.

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, PC Advisor, Daily Political, Lastest ITProPortal news, Media & Entertainment, Associated Press, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Bloomberg, ZDNet, PublishersWeekly.com, @laurahazardowen, @breakingnews and AllThingsD

Carl Franzen / The Verge:
Barnes & Noble clarifies Nook hardware isn't dead: more, lower cost e-readers are coming

Discussion: GigaOM, Barnes & Noble, Inc., DealBook and Engadget

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 and Business Insider

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Andrew Blankstein leaving LA Times for NBC News — Andrew Blankstein has been a go-to reporter on the law enforcement beat for the Los Angeles Times for a long time. In all, he has been with the paper for 23 years (and more than 4,000 bylines of various kinds), per today's unusual …

Discussion: The Wrap, @laobserved, @anblanx, @lajourno, @kyoshino and @rungomez