Mediagazer: Typical UK viewer watches 90 minutes a month on devices other than TV set (Mark Sweney/Guardian)

8:40 AM ET, August 23, 2013

Top News:

Why ESPN Backed Out of a Concussions Investigation With ‘Frontline’ — “Frontline,” the prestigious, multiple-Emmy-winning investigative news show produced by Boston's PBS member station, announced late Thursday afternoon that a 15-month-old partnership with ESPN in which they published …

Discussion: @ourand_sbj, @ourand_sbj, @richarddeitsch, @ckrewson, @add, @jayrosen_nyu, @abnormalreturns, @carlzimmer, @marcatracy and @noamscheiber

John Koblin / Deadspin:

ESPN Pulls Out Of Frontline Concussion Investigation [UPDATE] — For a while now, ESPN's big alibi, the thing Bristol would trot out any time someone questioned the company's journalistic bona fides, was its joint investigation into NFL head injuries with PBS's Frontline. Now that's done with.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, SBNation.com, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, @shinguardian, @deadspin, @brianstelter and @dangillmor

PBS:

A Note from FRONTLINE: ESPN and “League of Denial” — You may notice some changes to our League of Denial and Concussion Watch websites. From now on, at ESPN's request, we will no longer use their logos and collaboration credit on these sites and on our upcoming film League of Denial …

James Andrew Miller / New York Times:

N.F.L. Pressure Said to Lead ESPN to Quit Film Project — Pressure from the National Football League led to ESPN's decision on Thursday to pull out of an investigative project with “Frontline” regarding head injuries in the N.F.L., according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Discussion: Poynter

The Independent:

Exclusive: Edward Snowden leaks reveal UK's secret Middle-East web surveillance base — Data-gathering operation is part of a £1bn internet project still being assembled by GCHQ — Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept and process vast quantities …

Discussion: Guardian, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Softpedia News, @leginsurrection, @malonebarry, @noahcrothman, @piratepartyuk, USA Today, @tjmcintyre, @julijuxtaposed, @jeyal_rusi, @johnhorneuk and @samcoatestimes

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself — The NSA whistleblower says: ‘I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent.’ — The Independent this morning published an article - which it repeatedly claims comes from …

Discussion: @oliver_wright, National Updates, The Huffington Post and Talking New Media

David Meyer / paidContent:

With Guardian facing reporting restrictions, rival UK paper outs latest Snowden scoop — The UK lacks free speech laws, which appears to be why The Independent rather than The Guardian has been the conduit for the latest Snowden revelation regarding a Middle East spy station.

Discussion: Guardian, Firedoglake and Wired.co.uk

Kim Sengupta / The Independent: Agencies should not be upset if we reveal that they run a listening centre in the Middle East

Michael Holden / Reuters:
London police say disclosure of Snowden-linked data could risk lives

Discussion: BBC

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Don't stop the music! Pandora ends 40-hour mobile limit — Six months after capping free mobile listening at 40 hours, Pandora is letting listeners keep the music going as long as they like without a fee, mostly because it's found other ways to crimp how long you tune in. — Follow @@joan_e

Discussion: PR Newswire, SocialTimes, AppleInsider, The Verge and The Next Web

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Pandora Revenue Beats The Street, Grows 58% To $162M For Its Last Quarter Before iTunes Radio

Discussion: AllThingsD, NetNewsCheck Latest, AllAccess.com, Softpedia News, Reuters, New York Times, @sisario, @jboorstin, @jboorstin, Forbes, Talking New Media, Corporate Intelligence, Pocket-lint, 9to5Mac, Engadget, TechCrunch, CNET and MSN Money

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Koch Brothers Not Buying Tribune Company — The Koch Brothers won't be buying the Tribune Company after all, the company confirmed on Thursday. — The Daily Caller first broke the news that the polarizing billionaire industrialists had decided not to purchase the struggling media giant.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Times, The Daily Caller and The Wrap

Free Press: Koch's Loss a Win for Local Communities

Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:

What the Media Owes to Bradley Manning — Yesterday, former U.S. soldier Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified U.S. government documents to Wikileaks. Journalists and news outlets owe Manning more than gratitude.

Discussion: New York Times, @mlcalderone, @carr2n, Los Angeles Times, @id4ro, @firetomfriedman, @federico_garca, @nicoleperlroth, FishbowlNY, The Lede and TechCrunch

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Bradley Manning news raises questions about how to refer to transgender people in stories

Sarah Marshall / Journalism.co.uk:

ThaiPublica: Investigative journalism and ‘cute’ interactives — A look at an investigative news site for Thailand inspired by ProPublica — ThaiPublica looks to uncover stories relating to the government, business and finance — Copyright: Image by katerha on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

New York Times experiments with tweetable highlights in ‘SNL’ story — Dave Itzkoff's oral history of “Saturday Night Live” auditions has a new feature for a New York Times article page: highlighted sentences that you can click to tweet. — “It's a one-off experiment on this story,” …

Discussion: New York Times, @franzstrasser, @harrisj, @eric_andersen, @derekwillis, @girljournalist, @carr2n, Business Insider, @poynter, PopWatch, The Verge and The Hairpin

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Gingrich Will Be Back in the ‘Crossfire’ on CNN — ARLINGTON, Va. — In defeat, the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls have mostly faded from view, in ways that seem true to type. Mitt Romney is a contented grandfather. Rick Santorum is head of a Christian movie company.

Discussion: Politico

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Typical UK viewer watches 90 minutes a month on devices other than TV set — Figure still dwarfed by the near four hours of programming watched each day by average Briton on traditional set — The typical TV viewer watches the equivalent of three 30-minute shows a month on iPads, smartphones and laptops, according to new figures.

Discussion: Media Week

Dave Seyler / Radio & Television Business Report:

NAB counters ACA request for FCC standstill rule — American Cable Association leader Matt Polka sent a letter to Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn asking that the Commission take steps to prevent program blackouts during retransmission consent negotiation impasses.

Discussion: Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and Hillicon Valley

Lisa de Moraes / Deadline.com:
CBS Chairman Lesllie Moonves: Time Warner Cable Offered Deal Verizon Just Signed

Discussion: AllThingsD and Variety

Quartz:

Apple, closer to its vision for a TV set, wants ESPN, HBO, Viacom, and others to come along — Years of halting negotiating with cable companies haven't gotten Apple much closer to its grand vision for television. But a newer strategy of talking directly to content providers seems more promising.