Mediagazer: New Zealand appears to have used NSA spy network to target Kim Dotcom (Cyrus Farivar/Ars Technica)

6:20 PM ET, August 23, 2013

Top News:

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.

Reuters:
ESPN denies it quit head injuries documentary over NFL ties

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Marc Tracy / The New Republic:
Why ESPN Backed Out of a Concussions Investigation With ‘Frontline’

Discussion: Erik Malinowski, @ckrewson, @ourand_sbj, @ourand_sbj, Deadspin, SBNation.com, @abnormalreturns, @add, @carlzimmer, @jayrosen_nyu, @noamscheiber, @richarddeitsch, @marcatracy and @amyjharris

Dave Jamieson / The Huffington Post:
NFL Players Union Rips ESPN: ‘Sad Day’ For Journalism

Discussion: New York Times and SBNation.com

John Koblin / Deadspin:
ESPN Pulls Out Of Frontline Concussion Investigation [UPDATE]

Discussion: FishbowlNY, LA Observed, SBNation.com, Los Angeles Times, Variety, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, PBS, @shinguardian, @deadspin, @brianstelter, @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu, Ostrow Off The Record, @howardweaver and The Atlantic Wire

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

New York Times And Guardian Will Publish More Snowden Revelations — “A climate of intense pressure.” — Brad Barket / Getty Images — The New York Times is in the Snowden game. — The paper — which NSA leaker Edward Snowden deliberately avoided over his fear that it would cooperate …

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’ — (Updated below) — The Independent this morning published an article - which it repeatedly claims comes from …

Robert Booth / Guardian:
UK government given Tuesday deadline over David Miranda data

Discussion: @carlgardner

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald Challenge Independent Story

Discussion: paidContent and Telegraph

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

What Is Medium? — The site from Twitter's co-founders is one year old, and still mysterious — Just about a year ago, a new website from two of the founders of Twitter launched. It was called Medium. The new site was invite-only, but outsiders could read from various collections.

Discussion: @yayitsrob, @nathanjurgenson, @samusclone, @anildash, @leighalexander, @jrlevine, @tomstandage, The Huffington Post and Motherboard

Anil Dash / Medium:

What Medium Is — Think YouTube, not Blogger. Hard Knocks, not Harvard. — If you enjoy this piece, please support my campaign to bring clean water to the region of Orissa, India where my family is from. A donation of just $45 can bring one person safe water for life.

Discussion: @ibogost, @jayrosen_nyu and @emilygould

Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:

The Suit in the Newsroom — An unusual Times executive— for unusual times. — When Mark Thompson, a former director general at the BBC, was appointed president and CEO of the New York Times Company, the reaction inside the company was a mix of relief and apprehension.

Discussion: Poynter, @poynter, @kstoeffel, @jaredbkeller, @bendwilliams, @nickbaumann, @dylanbyers and The Huffington Post

Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:

NSA paid millions to cover Prism compliance costs for tech companies — • Top-secret files show first evidence of financial relationship — • Prism companies include Google and Yahoo, says NSA — • Costs were incurred after 2011 Fisa court ruling

Discussion: Hillicon Valley, WebProNews, @propublica, The Switch, ZDNet, @occupywallstnyc, Softpedia News, emptywheel, Engadget, Gizmodo, The Verge, Techdirt, The Independent and The Independent

Laura Hazard Owen / GigaOM:

Citing Steve Jobs email, DOJ claims Apple changed in-app purchase to retaliate against Amazon — In the Apple ebooks case, the federal government wants to change the way that Apple does business — not just for ebooks, but in all content markets. — The DOJ on Friday filed a revised proposed remedy …

Discussion: AllThingsD, BGR, Electronista, App Advice, Techdirt, Los Angeles Times, PublishersWeekly.com, 9to5Mac and MacRumors

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
U.S. proposes shorter injunction in Apple e-books case

Discussion: The Verge and Engadget

Mat Honan / Wired:

Comment Sections Are Wastelands Ruled by Trolls. Here Are Alternatives — Online comments are trollish and broken. Luckily, there are some great alternatives. Illustration: Tavis Coburn — A decade or more ago, Internet publishers entered into what now seems like a collective delusion …

Discussion: @dangillmor and @mat

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Col Allan declares himself MacArthur, as the ‘New York Post’ roils — “Like MacArthur I shall return.” — That's what Col Allan, the New York Post's pit bull of an editor-in-chief, wrote in an email to Capital earlier this week, likening himself to Gen. Douglas MacArthur …

Discussion: @neilchenoweth, @joepompeo and FishbowlNY

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: TVNewser, CNN, @markleibovich, Politico, TVWeek.com and TheBlaze.com

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Who abandoned negotiations first: Koch brothers or Tribune? — Charles and David Koch walked away from negotiations to buy Tribune Co.'s newspapers because digital assets like CareerBuilder and Classified Ventures wouldn't convey with the sale, Josh Peterson reported in The Daily Caller Thursday afternoon.

Discussion: Free Press, The Informer, New York Times and The Wrap

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Koch Brothers Not Buying Tribune Company

Discussion: Forbes, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Politico, Reuters and The Daily Caller

Robert Andrews / Beet.TV:

Research: Tablet Video Apps Capture Viewers Better Than TV — Tablet devices could focus viewers' attention on video content - and ads - far more than any other screen, including TV, new research has found. — Consumer polling by IPG Media Lab for video ad tech firm YuMe shows tablet users …

Discussion: GigaOM

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Times Public Editor Will Stay Mum on Maureen Dowd — Don't expect Margaret Sullivan, The New York Times' public editor, to join those calling for columnist Maureen Dowd to be axed over what they charge is a serial pattern of inaccuracy. — The Observer reached out to Ms. Sullivan to find …

Discussion: Salon, Mediaite, Politicker and The Huffington Post

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: Rolling Stone, AppleInsider, SocialTimes, PR Newswire, New York Times, The Verge, The Next Web, TechCrunch and TechCrunch

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

National Journal Names New Top Editor — Tim Grieve, who recently jumped from Politico to National Journal and has been hiring up reporters, has been named National Journal's editor-in-chief, according to a memo from Atlantic Media chief David Bradley. — The move puts Grieve head-to-head …

Discussion: @dkthomp and @mlcalderone

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

Here Are The Highest Paid News Anchors At Each Network — TV Guide's Stephen Battaglio and Michael Schneider tally up the highest-paid talent in television for this week's magazine. The highest paid on-air individual in all of TV is syndicated judge “Judge Judy” Sheindlin …

Discussion: Mediaite and Business Insider

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

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Newest YouTube user to fight a takedown is copyright guru Lawrence Lessig — EFF has filed a second lawsuit over a “bogus” takedown, hoping for better results. — Illegitimate or simply unnecessary copyright claims are, unfortunately, commonplace in the Internet era.