Mediagazer: The Cozy Relationship between Britain and its Intelligence Apparatus (Christoph Scheuermann/Spiegel Online)

8:40 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: @leshinton, @ewenmacaskill, @stefanjbecket, @dangillmor, @buzzfeedandrew, @arusbridger and @richards1052

Christoph Scheuermann / Spiegel Online:

The Cozy Relationship between Britain and its Intelligence Apparatus — A Commentary by Christoph Scheuermann — Most in Britain seem unconcerned about the mass surveillance carried out by its intelligence agency GCHQ. Even the intimidation tactics being used on the Guardian this week have caused little soul-searching.

Discussion: BuzzMachine, @fatimamanji, @paulgrahamraven and Memex 1.1

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, The Technology Chronicles, Memex 1.1, Daily Mail, @tom_watson, @franzkruger, @evgenymorozov, @gsmaverick, The Huffington Post, @jeremyduns, @jjn1, @dangillmor, @jeffjarvis and WebProNews

Nicholas Watt / Guardian:

Guardian told to destroy NSA files for national security, says Clegg — Clegg's spokesman confirms that Sir Jeremy Heywood made request on instructions of David Cameron — Nick Clegg has endorsed the government's decision to ask the Guardian to destroy leaked secret NSA documents …

Discussion: @keepof4worlds

Julian Borger / Guardian:
NSA files: why the Guardian in London destroyed hard drives of leaked files

Nicholas Watt / Guardian:
David Cameron had advance warning of Miranda detention, No 10 confirms

Discussion: Reuters, Columbia Journalism Review, Committee to Protect …, Telegraph, @telegraphworld, @telegraphnews, @steveplrose, Techdirt and The Huffington Post

Vindu Goel / New York Times:

Facebook Leads an Effort to Lower Barriers to Internet Access — MENLO PARK, Calif. — About one of every seven people in the world uses Facebook. Now, Mark Zuckerberg, its co-founder and chief executive, wants to make a play for the rest — including the four billion or so who lack Internet access.

Facebook Newsroom:
Mark Zuckerberg: Is Connectivity a Human Right?

Discussion: Business Insider, @evelynrusli, @tcarmody, @thestalwart, @margafret and @brandonbailey

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, Television, The Wrap, @riy, Variety, USA Today, Inside TV and Broadcasting & Cable

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

Discussion: New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, @adamgellings, @sherman4949, @rolandsmartin, Politico and New York Magazine

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 and Variety

William Launder / Wall Street Journal:

Review Chronicles Bloomberg Missteps on Data Use — An outside review of Bloomberg LP's data compliance and news reporting revealed that the financial data and news provider didn't curtail reporters' access to subscriber data two years ago, when concerns about the access first emerged, due to internal “misunderstandings.”

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.

Jason Felch / Los Angeles Times:

O.C. Register owner Aaron Kushner bets heavily on print — As other publishers prepare for a digital-only future, Kushner adds staff and expands his newspaper. This week he launched the Long Beach Register. — Long Beach resident Antonio Romero reads the inaugural edition of the Long Beach Register in front of the Queen Mary.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @jasonfelch, @shelbygrad and @kenbensinger

Rachel Bartlett / Journalism.co.uk:

A look at Storyful's Open Newsroom verification project — A look at the first two months of the project, which involves a Google+ community working together to verify content shared online — A couple of months ago the team at social newswire Storyful took to Google+ with its Open Newsroom initiative …

Discussion: @grove and @niemanlab

James Waterson / City A.M. Feed:

Exclusive: TV licence offences responsible for a tenth of all UK court cases — TVLICENSINGoffences now account for more than a tenth of all criminal prosecutions in the UK, City A.M. can reveal. — More than 180,000 people - almost 3,500 a week - appeared in front of magistrates during 2012 …

Discussion: @tobyornot_, @hotairmail, @junkkmale, @angrybulldog, @threedaymonk, @nicholaslovell and Guy Fawkes' blog

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

Cory Doctorow / Boing Boing:

Comcast asserts copyright over its court filing, is attempting to shut down news site that reproduced it — In an article published last week, TorrentFreak reproduced Comcast's response to a subpoena regarding the copyright troll Prenda Law. Since then, Comcast's agents Cyveillance have sent …

Discussion: TorrentFreak

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 and @niemanlab

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

BBC boss in charge of Digital Media Initiative got £140,000 in bonuses — John Linwood, on suspension pending an inquiry into scrapped system, got payout as bonuses were not performance related — The BBC paid £140,000 in bonuses to John Linwood, who oversaw the failed Digital Media Initiative.

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

San Francisco paper took $500,000 with paywall before taking it down — With the San Francisco Chronicle having dropped its paywall after just four months, one of its former executives has been talking about the problems of charging for content. — Phil Bronstein, one-time Chronicle editor …

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.