Mediagazer: A look at Storyful's Open Newsroom verification project (Rachel Bartlett/Journalism.co.uk)

5:35 PM ET, August 21, 2013

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Fox News firing tied to Ailes book — The decision last month by Fox News chief Roger Ailes to fire his top communications executive, Brian Lewis, was due to a number of factors, including what the network's parent company 21st Century Fox has described as “financial irregularities” and breaches of contract.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, FishbowlDC, The Huffington Post, @mlcalderone, @dylanbyers, @kenvogel, Inside Cable News and The Wrap

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Brian Lewis Talks About his Fox News Firing — Brian Lewis, who spent the last 17 years as the chief spokesperson for Fox News, is himself speaking out about his firing from the network. Though, in classic PR style, just barely. — Lewis, who joined Fox News in April 1996 …

Discussion: The Wrap, Politico, FishbowlDC and FishbowlNY

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Fox News Sources Hit Back At Gabriel Sherman And Brian Lewis — Fox News sources are firing back against both Brian Lewis, the recently-fired Fox News executive vice president of communications widely reported to be Fox News chief Roger Ailes's right-hand man, and Gabriel Sherman …

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Corsair, @mmfa, @kbsmoke and Mediaite

Eric Hananoki / Media Matters for America:
Fox Newsers Circle The Wagons Around Boss Roger Ailes After He Fires His “Right-Hand Man”

Discussion: @mmfa and @mattgertz

Jesse Hicks / The Verge:

Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison for WikiLeaks disclosures — Bradley Manning's court-martial reached an end today, with Army Colonel Denise Lind sentencing him to 35 years in prison. She also ordered a reduction in rank to private, a forfeiture of all pay, and a dishonorable discharge.

Mark Rumold / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

EFF Victory Results in Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional — Update: In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional. — For almost two years …

Discussion: Washington Post, @trevortimm, ZDNet, The Switch, msnbc.com, @declanm, @jaredbkeller, @miriamelder, @holdenweb, @declanm, @nick373, @emptywheel, @maassive, @dellcam, @newsycombinator and Boing Boing

Geoffrey Ingersoll / Business Insider:
NSA Releases Court Opinion On ‘Unconstitutional’ Scooping Of Domestic Emails

Discussion: VentureBeat, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Fox News, The Atlantic Wire, CNN, Politico, Light Reading, Gizmodo and TechCrunch

Kimberly Dozier / Associated Press:
NSA collected thousands of US communications

Discussion: @newsobserver, @marcambinder, @digiphile and @digiphile

Barb Darrow / GigaOM:

Huffington Post to end anonymous comments — The Huffington Post which has logged more than 260 million comments in its history will end anonymity in those comments, founder Arianna Huffington said Wednesday morning. — “Trolls are just getting more and more aggressive and uglier …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, FishbowlNY, @declanm, @jeremyduns, @jilliancyork, @xor, @anildash, @niemanlab, Adrants, @michaelroston, @wideasleepnima, @jaredbkeller, @dangillmor and @stefanjbecket

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

Heidi Moore / Guardian:

Bloomberg forced to act after reports detail lapses over client data access — News organisation to put in place recommendations after report found Bloomberg journalists had access to private client data — Bloomberg is to change its corporate policies to maintain distance between its news …

Discussion: @asmitch, Talking Biz News, Media & Entertainment and @mlcalderone

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Bloomberg News review suggests standards editor, ombudsman

Discussion: @sulliview, FishbowlNY and AllThingsD

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:

Comcast says copyright threat to TorrentFreak an “error” — Internet giant Comcast claims that a legal threat directed at TorrentFreak was a mistake and that it has told the file-sharing news site to disregard it: — “This notice was sent in error, and we have advised TorrentFreak to disregard it.

Discussion: TorrentFreak, Poynter, The Switch, VentureBeat, Mashable, GigaOM, @boothsweet and Boing Boing

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Maker Studios Buys Blip, and a Home Outside of YouTube — Maker Studios, one of the biggest YouTube networks, is buying Blip, a video maker and distributor. — Blip officials informed their staff of the deal this morning, and it is expected to close in early September.

Discussion: GigaOM, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Daily Dot, Variety and VideoNuze Analysis

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: The Independent, UK News and Opinion, @keepof4worlds and Softpedia News

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

Discussion: Reuters, @telegraphworld, whistleblower.org, @telegraphnews, @steveplrose, Telegraph, The Technology Chronicles, The Verge and Committee to Protect …

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

News Corp Launches Global Private Ad Exchange — News Corp today announced plans to launch a global programmatic ad exchange that will let advertisers buy across its more than 50 online and mobile products including WSJ.com, Times.co.uk and NYPost.com. — The move is only the latest …

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, AdAge and Guardian

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

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Layoffs to hit Disney/ABC TV Group — Disney is making cuts at its Disney/ABC Television Group. (Walt Disney Co.) — The Disney/ABC Television Group, which includes the ABC network, local TV stations and the Disney Channel and ABC Family cable networks, is restructuring its operations, which will result in layoffs across the unit.

Discussion: Variety, @tvnewslab, Reuters and TVSpy

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Here's how Beats Music is curating its subscription service — Beats Music, the yet-to-be-launched digital subscription service spearheaded by Jimmy Iovine, wants to edge out competitors like Spotify and Rdio through human curation, but the company hasn't really explained how this will work.

Discussion: Fast Company, Guardian, Co.Labs and Dave Winer

Washington Free Beacon:

Gay Reporter Kicked Off Kremlin Network After Protesting Anti-Gay Law — Reporter James Kirchick was kicked off the air of Russian TV Wednesday after he refused to talk about Bradley Manning and instead spoke about the Russian government's anti-gay laws. — “Being here on a Kremlin-funded …

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, FP Passport, Daily Dot, Gawker, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post and The Raw Story

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Las Vegas Sun could disappear, editor says in suit — Las Vegas Sun Editor and Publisher Brian Greenspun filed a suit Tuesday “alleging his own family members conspired with Stephens Media, operator of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to end a Joint Operating Agreement that has been in place …

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Exaronews investigative journalism site abandons paywall — Website, which made news with recordings of Rupert Murdoch with arrested Sun staff, will now focus on add-on data services — Exaronews: has had notable success breaking news stories in the last year

Discussion: @plashmar, @niemanlab, Journalism.co.uk and Jon Slattery

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

Al Jazeera English Receiving ‘Thousands’ Of Complaints From Viewers — Al Jazeera English has received “thousands” of complaints from viewers over the end of its livestream in the United States, the channel said Wednesday. — The channel stopped broadcasting and streaming online in the U.S …

Discussion: Washington Post and GigaOM

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Is Google Ready to Buy Its Way Into TV With an NFL Deal? — Here's a fun combination to ponder: The world's most powerful media company and America's most popular sport. — That could happen if Google buys the rights to the NFL's Sunday Ticket package, the all-you-can-eat subscription-TV service currently owned by DirecTV.

Douglas Wolk / Slate:

How Ashamed Should You Feel About Using Spotify? — Music-streaming services really don't exploit performers. Songwriters, though—that's another story. — In June, David Lowery, singer-guitarist of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, posted part of a royalty statement to his blog The Trichordist.

Nina Burleigh / The New York Observer:

You Leak, You Lose: Going to Prison for Acts of Journalism — In May, news broke that our government had obtained—without a warrant—copies of phone records of the Associated Press offices in New York, D.C. and Connecticut, as well as reporters' private lines.

Discussion: Gawker and bookforum.com