Mediagazer: CEO Mark Thompson gives a few glimpses into the near-term growth strategy of The New York Times (Joshua Benton/Nieman Journalism Lab)

6:40 PM ET, September 6, 2013

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

Decision to Publish Against Government Request Was ‘Not a Particularly Anguished One’ — The New York Times has come under fire in the past for agreeing to government requests to hold back sensitive stories or information, but it bucked such requests in publishing a front-page article in Friday's paper.

Discussion: The Verge, BuzzFeed, Guardian, msnbc.com, GigaOM, @ggreenwald, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, VatorNews, TechPresident, @moorehn, VentureBeat, @frank_rieger, Digits, The Huffington Post, ZDNet, Poynter, Digital Trends, The BLT, @amandamarcotte, @rsingel, @palafo, DSLreports, @a_l, Skift, kottke.org and ProPublica

Jack Shafer:
The NSA never takes “no” for an answer

Discussion: ProPublica, A Few Thoughts … and Memex 1.1

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Activists call on N.Y. Times, ProPublica to release unredacted NSA information

Discussion: Committee to Protect … and Mother Jones

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC ordered to disclose names and details of payoffs to 150 managers — Corporation had fought to keep details secret, but public accounts committee has demanded deals are revealed — The BBC has been ordered to disclose the names and details of 150 senior managers who received severance payouts …

Discussion: Guardian and @ericsalama

Guardian:

Former BBC chairman contradicts Thompson in £1m payout row — Sir Michael Lyons says he was not fully briefed on Byford's severance terms, as five current trustees distance themselves from Thompson's claims that they were involved in the payout — Former BBC director general Mark Thompson …

Discussion: New York Times, @edgecliffe, @lisaocarroll and @matthewwells

BBC: BBC pay-offs: Trust denies Mark Thompson claims

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Judge won't grant injunction in Las Vegas Sun editor's suit — U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan Friday dismissed a request by Las Vegas Sun Editor and Publisher Brian Greenspun to block a plan to end the Sun's joint operating agreement with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Howard Stutz reports.

Timothy Pratt / New York Times: A Newspaper in Las Vegas, at Risk of Closing, Divides a Family

George Brock / The Conversation:

Spike the gloom - journalism has a bright future — Whenever more than two journalists gather together to discuss the future of their business, the dialogue is usually depressing. This prevailing pessimism must change: we need a new conversation about what's happening to news.

Discussion: paidContent, @hofrench, @sarah__bartlett, @queenchristina_ and Kirk LaPointe's …

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Apple Will Appeal Final Court Order in E-Book Price Fixing Trial — Here's the last word, for now, on the punishment Apple will receive after losing its e-book price-fixing trial: It's not as bad as Apple first feared, but Apple still isn't happy. — You can see the order …

Discussion: GigaOM, Los Angeles Times, TUAW, @pkafka, Forbes, @johnpaczkowski, The Verge, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, MacRumors, GalleyCat, 9to5Mac and Hillicon Valley

Nate Raymond / Reuters:
Apple hit with injunction in e-books antitrust case

Discussion: PublishersWeekly.com, BGR, AppleInsider and Electronista

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

CEO Mark Thompson gives a few glimpses into the near-term growth strategy of The New York Times — New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson was back in his native U.K. today to give an address at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which is celebrating an anniversary of its fellowship program.

Discussion: @edgecliffe, @marklittlenews, @niemanlab, @mattdpearce, @jbenton and @mathewi

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Glenn Beck Wants to Know: Why Can't We All Just Get Along? — You left Fox News and started The Blaze, a TV station, Web site and subscription service. How is that working out? — Check back with me in 10 years. I think we're just now entering the fields that I was hoping we would enter.

Discussion: The 6th Floor, Erik Wemple, Mediaite, TVNewser, @glennbeck and The Raw Story

Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:

Techmeme is now writing its own headlines — Right now there's a headline on Techmeme written by our news editors. Our more familiar readers know why this is noteworthy: from the time we launched in 2005 until yesterday, our content consisted entirely of quotes.

Discussion: Poynter, Rex Hammock's RexBlog.com, @karaswisher, @nicolasvoisin, Business Insider, @ashleymayer, @pkafka, @parislemon, @davewiner, @rsingel, @nerdtalker, @zseward and @profjeffjarvis

Bloomberg:

Disney Armed With ESPN Cudgel in Next Pay-TV Fee Showdown — CBS's Moonves Says TWC Pact Reflects High Ratings — Now that CBS Corp. has prevailed in its monthlong dispute with Time Warner Cable Inc., it's Bob Iger's turn to see how much his Walt Disney Co. can squeeze from a pay-TV carrier.

Globe and Mail:

Torstar to close its digital division — Torstar Corp. is shutting down its Torstar Digital division and shuffling its assets into different parts of its operations as part of a way to cut costs. — The company laid off about 10 senior managers at the digital operations as part of the plan.

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Press regulation: industry presses on with new watchdog despite reservations — Ipso expected to be running by early 2014 but Guardian, Independent and Financial Times still have concerns — The newspaper industry is pressing ahead with plans to launch a new watchdog and hopes …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Jon Slattery and HoldTheFrontPage

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

A weakened Washington Post, a serious ethical breach — Erik Wemple breaks a huge media-corruption story for the Washington Post, and unfortunately for his employer, it's about the Post itself. — This is just about as bad as it gets, and it's mitigated only slightly by the fact the Post allowed Wemple to publish his tough piece.

Discussion: @ryanchittum, Publishing Executive … and Poynter

Mariam Rizk / Associated Press:

Egypt: journalist and lawyer held in crackdown — CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian labor lawyer and a journalist have been detained, raising rights activists' concerns that the military-led government is widening its crackdown to include non-Islamist critics of its policies.

Discussion: Associated Press

Andy Lewis / Hollywood Reporter:

How the New iPhone Helps Hollywood — Apple's cheaper device means greater penetration in China and India as iTunes movies, TV and music suddenly will land in millions (billions?) more hands. — The new iPhone 5S will make headlines this fall for its better camera, longer-lasting battery and flashy fingerprint-sensing lock.

Mark Mulligan / Music Industry Blog:

Just How Much is Curation Actually Worth? — Dance music powerhouse Ministry of Sound have commenced legal action against Spotify for breach of copyright with regards to user generated Spotify playlists replicating Ministry compilations and sometimes including Ministry labeling.

Discussion: @niemanlab