Mediagazer: The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography (Nicholas Carlson/Business Insider)

4:10 PM ET, August 24, 2013

Top News:

Surveillance and the state: this way the debate goes on | Editorial — Thanks to Edward Snowden, the world now has a debate about the dramatic change in the contract between state and citizen — “Spies spy! Who knew?” Thus the world-weary shrug from too many people who ought …

Discussion: @claudi, @jayrosen_nyu, @jeffjarvis, @julijuxtaposed, @pnh, @jcstearns, @ggreenwald and BuzzFeed

Josh Stearns / Mediashift:
Lessons from Manning and Miranda: Press Freedom Advocates Must Fight Back

Discussion: @pbsmediashift, @jcstearns, @johncusack and @jayrosen_nyu, Thanks:@mediatwit

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

5 Takeaways from New York Magazine's Profile of the New York Times — From Nate Silver's departure to David Carr's license to gab, here's what New York Magazine dug up about NYT's new CEO Mark Thompson — New York Magazine's profile of New York Times CEO Mark Thompson came out on Friday …

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.

Alexander Nazaryan / The Atlantic Wire: A Rift in the Highest Ranks of The New York Times

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography — On the morning of Thursday, July 12, 2012, Yahoo's interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn, still believed he was going to be named permanent CEO of the company. — He had just one meeting to go. — That meeting was a board meeting …

Discussion: @daddy_san, @xeni, @andreahanis, @mikeisaac, @katie_roof, @alexismadrigal and The Next Web

Abraham Moussako / Columbia Journalism Review:

NewsHour at a crossroads — As PBS prepares to launch a weekend edition of the NewsHour, observers doubt the program's continued viability — After a two-year holding pattern following the gradual retirement of Jim Lehrer from on-air duties, PBS NewsHour is entering a transformative period.

Discussion: TVNewser

Donald R. Winslow / NPPA:

Reuters Dumping North American Freelance Sports Photographers — Freelance photographers who have been shooting sports on contract for Reuters in North America started getting phone calls Friday from Peter Jones, the North American Sports Photo Editor at Thomson Reuters …

Adam Pasick / Quartz:

Summer song lawsuit exposes the “Blurred Lines” of the US copyright system — The hit summer single “Blurred Lines” melds a bouncy bass line, syncopated cowbell, and the silky falsetto of singer Robin Thicke into an R&B jam that channels the 1970s grooves of Marvin Gaye—especially his song “Got to Give It Up.”

Richard Lea / Guardian:

Why are publishers the new villain in the digital age? — As Amazon tears down the gates around literary culture, even independents are caught in the crossfire — Perched on the end of a panel filled with writers who are throwing off the shackles of conventional publishing …

Discussion: @saltire_society and @maxdunbar1

Good News from Finland:

Finnish media develop new digital paper — Five Finnish media companies are collaborating with TIVIT Next Media research programme to test a new kind of ePaper reader solution that is charged by ambient or natural light. — The solution will be piloted for newspaper distribution to hundreds of users in November.

Discussion: @goodnewsfinland

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

For MTV, making VMAs a most-tweeted event is so 2012 — For MTV's Video Music Awards, tabulating a number of tweets is so passe. For this year's award show, which is set to air Sunday, another record level of social engagement is a foregone conclusion for the Viacom youth-culture cable channel.

Katy Bachman / Adweek:

Magazines, Newspapers Brace for Exigent Postal Rate Hike — Magazines, newspapers and direct marketers are girding for the possibility that the U.S. Postal Service will pass an exigent rate increase on top of the annual postal rate that is capped by the consumer price index.

Michele Weldon / Quartz:

Doctors and teachers deserve more confidentiality than journalists? — Like it or not, the honored tradition of confidentiality runs to the core of American government, enterprise, and society. — The purpose of 8,000 acres in the Nevada desert was kept top secret for decades …

Discussion: @qz