Mediagazer: Political Ignorance and the Weakness of Consumer Demand for “Hard News” (Ilya Somin/The Volokh Conspiracy)

4:50 AM ET, August 25, 2013

Top News:

College Football's Most Dominant Player? It's ESPN — The nation's annual rite of mayhem and pageantry known as the college football season begins this week, and Saturday will feature back-to-back-to-back marquee matchups. At the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, last year's national champions …

Discussion: Mother Jones, @dangillmor, @jsablichnyt, @ryanchittum and @nycjim

Politico:

Plagiarism or coincidence? Writer, WSJ square off — In late July, Daniel Flynn, a conservative author and columnist, submitted an essay to the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Review called “The War on Football,” which laid out the case against banning the sport at the youth level.

Discussion: American Spectator, @dandrezner, @blakehounshell, @maxblumenthal, @timmathews, @drgrist, @jimmysky, @joshuafoust, @bungdan and Talking Biz News

Guardian:

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: Telegraph, @claudi, @jayrosen_nyu, @selingirit, @pnh, @damiengwalter, @ggreenwald, @jcstearns, @jeffjarvis, @julijuxtaposed and BuzzFeed

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

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

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

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: @jaredbkeller and TVNewser

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.

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

Todd Woody / Quartz:

The petrodollar-funded Al Jazeera America has become the climate-change news network — The debut yesterday of Al Jazeera America has prompted plenty of chatter among the chattering classes about whether a nation accustomed to a steady cable news diet of hype, shouting heads and celebrity shenanigans …

Discussion: The Verge, The Green Optimistic, Ruby Cramer and TakePart

Ilya Somin / The Volokh Conspiracy:

Political Ignorance and the Weakness of Consumer Demand for “Hard News” — Media writer Jack Shafer and economics columnist Megan McArdle have interesting pieces discussing the weakness of the market for “hard news.” Shafer notes that producing “hard news” has never been very profitable …

Richard Prince / The Maynard Institute …:

NBC's Paid Internships Bring More Diversity — Journalists of Color Miss Out on Mid-Management Jobs — In Wake of Gaffes, ESPN Begins Sensitivity Sessions — How Should Journalist Groups Interact With Communities? — New ESPN Site Aims to Develop Black Sportswriters — Short Takes

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 …

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

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.”