Mediagazer: With Rise of Social Media, Upbeat Stories Draw Most Attention Online (Eliana Dockterman/TIME)

1:55 PM ET, August 21, 2013

Top News:

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 and @paulgrahamraven

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, @arusbridger, @richards1052, @buzzfeedandrew, @stefanjbecket, @dangillmor and @ewenmacaskill

Nicholas Watt / Guardian:
Guardian told to destroy NSA files for national security, says Clegg

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

Gabriela Baczynska / Reuters: Russia criticizes Britain over pressure on Guardian

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:
Conspiracy to commit journalism

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Guardian, The New Yorker Blog, The Week, @evgenymorozov, The Technology Chronicles, Memex 1.1, @tom_watson, The Huffington Post, Daily Mail, @franzkruger, New York Magazine, @gsmaverick, TechCrunch, @jeremyduns, @jjn1, @dangillmor and @jeffjarvis

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

Discussion: Reuters, Committee to Protect …, @telegraphworld, whistleblower.org, @telegraphnews, @steveplrose, Telegraph, The Verge and Columbia Journalism Review

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

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.

ACLU:
ACLU Comment on Bradley Manning Sentence

Discussion: @trevortimm, @jaredbkeller and Pressing Issues

Bmaz / emptywheel: Bradley Manning's Sentence, Parole and Appeal Implications

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: Mediaite, The Huffington Post, @kenvogel and Inside Cable News

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

Discussion: FishbowlDC, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times and Variety

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, Boing Boing, VentureBeat, GigaOM, Mashable, The Switch and @boothsweet

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

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

Discussion: TVNewser, Media & Entertainment, The Daily Beast, Deadline.com, Bloomberg, USA Today, Television, Variety, Hillicon Valley, @riy and Broadcasting & Cable

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: FishbowlNY, Adrants, @michaelroston, @jaredbkeller, @wideasleepnima, @stefanjbecket and @dangillmor

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.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Bloomberg News review suggests standards editor, ombudsman — Former New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt reviewed Bloomberg News' newsroom operations following revelations last May that the company's journalists had improperly accessed data about Bloomberg's data customers.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Talking Biz News

William Launder / Wall Street Journal:
Review Chronicles Bloomberg Missteps on Data Use

Discussion: Press Room, Media & Entertainment, DealBook, @wsjbreakingnews, @asmitch and @mlcalderone

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: Guardian and News Corp

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 …

Discussion: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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: Reuters and TVSpy

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, The Wrap and Variety

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

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, Gawker, The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed

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, @nicholaslovell, @threedaymonk, @angrybulldog and Guy Fawkes' blog

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: The Buttry Diary, @jasonfelch, @shelbygrad, @kenbensinger and eMedia Vitals