Mediagazer: ESPN's journalism problem (Dean Starkman/Columbia Journalism Review)

3:15 AM ET, August 27, 2013

Top News:

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:

To make journalism harder, slower, less secure — That's what the surveillance state is trying to do. It has the means, the will and the latitude to go after journalism the way it went after terrorism. Only a more activist press, working together, stands a chance of resisting this.

Discussion: GigaOM, @wblau, @conor64, Free Press, @niemanlab, The Huffington Post, Guardian, @joshuafoust, Kirk LaPointe's …, BuzzFeed and New York Times

Jonathan Franklin / Truthout Stories:
Exclusive Glenn Greenwald Interview: “I Won't Be Kept Out of My Country for Doing Journalism!”

Discussion: @whenpigsflyyy

Laura Poitras / Spiegel Online:
Miranda Detention: ‘Blatant Attack on Press Freedom’

Discussion: @pandymonium01, @kenroth, @aljavieera, @astradisastra and @runasand

Dean Starkman / Columbia Journalism Review:

ESPN's journalism problem — A network's massive conflicts emphasize the need for media independence — Just recently, the Boston Red Sox's parent company bought the Boston Globe, and the head of the dominant online retailer with many regulatory interests bought the capital's leading paper, The Washington Post.

Dave Zirin / The Nation:

ESPN Journalists Speak Out on Concussion Documentary — NFL Hall-of-Famer Harry Carson speaks during the session on PBS's upcoming Frontline documentary “League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis” at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Los Angeles.

Discussion: @artsapphire, TVNewser, Forbes, @timkarr, @geoff_calkins, @katrinanation, @richarddeitsch, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Sports Illustrated, @tvnewslab, eMedia Vitals and Deadline.com

New York Times:

To Protect Its Empire, ESPN Stays on Offense — ESPN likes to call itself the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and by most every measure it is in a league of its own. The network produced 35,000 hours of programming in 2012, including at least half of all live athletic events televised in the United States.

Discussion: @kevinq, @derekwillis, @richsandomir and @rayburnc

John Sides / The Monkey Cage:

The Monkey Cage Is Moving to the Washington Post — We are very pleased to announce that The Monkey Cage is going to become part of the Washington Post. After 5+ years of writing and growing as an independent blog, we think that the Post offers a tremendous opportunity both to increase …

Discussion: The Wrap, @theplumlinegs, @nycjim, @bindersab, @drewlinzer, @chasedavis, Politico, @cblatts, @drewconway, @majorcbs, @zackbeauchamp and @jayrosen_nyu

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The Monkey Cage joins The Washington Post in a Wonkbloggy, 538ish deal

Discussion: @jimtankersley, @ericachenoweth and @niemanlab

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:

Howard Kurtz Announces New Fox Sunday Show, Media Buzz — On Monday afternoon, former Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz announced his new Fox News show, Media Buzz, which will debut on September 8th at 11 a.m. — “The one-hour show will focus on the state of the news media in addition …

Discussion: TVNewser, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Variety, Erik Wemple, The Wrap, @howardkurtz, Politico, Hollywood Reporter and Inside Cable News

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / Digits:

Open Secret About Google's Surveillance Case No Longer Secret — The Justice Department recently won a court battle to keep an Internet company from talking about federal demands for user data, arguing that even disclosing the company's name would damage national security.'

Discussion: Daily Dot, @antderosa, Techdirt, CNET, @mattcutts, @occupywallstnyc, The Verge, @ramez and ZDNet

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:

Dick Gordon leaving public radio's ‘The Story’ — “The Story,” the nationally syndicated public radio news interview program produced at North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, will air for the last time on October 11. Long-time host Dick Gordon “plans to return to his native Canada …

Discussion: WUNC, @babesofnpr, @wunc, @smalljones, @shiplives, @alexschelldorf and @tweetreinhard

John Kroll Digital:

Does journalism make a difference in a community? — The first day of my first journalism class in college, we went around the room saying our names and answer a couple of questions from the prof, former Chicago's American and Chicago Today editor Dick Hainey.

Discussion: @stevebuttry

Carl Marcucci / Radio & Television Business Report:

Piolin sues former staffers over extortion — Former Univision Radio-syndicated Spanish-language star Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo filed a civil extortion lawsuit 8/26 against six former Univision employees and their LA attorneys for attempting to “shake him down” for nearly $5 million by threatening …

Discussion: LA Observed

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Times-Shamrock puts several papers on the market — Times-Shamrock will put several daily papers and some alt-weeklies up for sale, the Times-Shamrock-owned (Scranton, Pa.) Times-Tribune reports. … Cribb, Greene and Associates will handle the sale.

Discussion: The Times-Tribune, @styleweekly, @mallarytenore and Talking New Media

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Feds: Keep no-reporter's-privilege ruling — The Justice Department urged a federal appeals court Monday not to disturb a ruling last month rejecting the notion of a reporter's privilege in criminal cases, but a top official said the department has not made a final decision yet about whether …

Discussion: NPR and @joshgerstein