Mediagazer: Al Jazeera Makes Limited American Debut (Brian Stelter/New York Times)

3:05 AM ET, August 21, 2013

Top News:

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

British Newspaper Has Advantages in Battle With Government Over Secrets — LONDON — Alan Rusbridger, the mop-haired, soft-spoken editor of The Guardian newspaper, finds himself in a shadowy battle with the British government over purloined secrets that the government will have a hard time winning in the Internet age.

Discussion: @buzzfeedandrew, @ewenmacaskill, @stefanjbecket and @dangillmor

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, msnbc.com, Daily Mail, @gsmaverick, @dangillmor, @jeffjarvis, @jeremyduns, Committee to Protect …, @jjn1, @evgenymorozov, The Huffington Post, Charlie Beckett, TIME, VentureBeat, Hot Air and Kirk LaPointe's …

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @willblackwriter and @davecameroon

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

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

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

Discussion: The Huffington Post, WebProNews and The Week

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

Discussion: NBCNews, @fleetstreetfox, @jlllow, Guardian, BBC and @tomporteous

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

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: Reuters, Politico, Hollywood Reporter, @brianstelter, @rafat, Bloomberg and New York Magazine

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Al Jazeera hints at new online programming for cord cutters and cable hold-outs — Al Jazeera launched its U.S. cable network Tuesday, but a significant part of its potential audience couldn't tune in: Viewers used to watching Al Jazeera's international channel online found themselves blocked …

Discussion: Deadline.com, @riy, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, USA Today, Inside TV and Variety

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

Discussion: @rolandsmartin, @adamgellings and @sherman4949

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

Discussion: PolicyMic, @qz and @digiphile

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

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

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: Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Gawker and Variety

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: @jsablichnyt, @rubinafillion, @mcely, @kimjnews and @moorehn

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

Discussion: FishbowlNY, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, NetNewsCheck Latest, TheBlaze.com, Poynter, @niemanlab and @noamscheiber

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

Discussion: Gawker, GigaOM, @jessicalessin and The New Republic

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

New Revelations Detail How The NSA Scans 75% Of The Internet Through Telco Partnerships — Today the Wall Street Journal reported the existence of several NSA programs that were either previously unknown, or little was known about. Meet Blarney, Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium and Stormbrew.

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: @howardkurtz, @nprrussell, @leongettler, @niemanlab and The Newspaper Guild

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: Deadline.com, @anblanx, @lajourno, @laobserved, @kyoshino and @rungomez

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, Hollywood Reporter, @anblanx, Talking Points Memo, @lauraelizdavis, The Wrap, The Raw Story, Speakeasy, LA Observed, The Informer, @defensebaron, Slate, @kimzetter, @jameshohmann, Gawker, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post and Pressing Issues

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

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

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.