Mediagazer: Sony, Universal, Warner claim in lawsuit that SiriusXM didn't pay for royalties on old songs (Derrik J. Lang/Associated Press)

8:20 AM ET, September 12, 2013

Top News:

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

Exclusive: IAC And Daily Beast Editor Tina Brown To Part Ways — A source with direct knowledge of the situation says IAC does not plan to renew Tina Brown's contract when it expires in January. A decision has not yet been made on the future of The Daily Beast. — Jason Kempin / FilmMagic

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

No longer the talk of the town, Tina Brown bids farewell to Diller's Beast — Not even an operator of her legendary chutzpah could beat digital's destruction of her lifeblood: smart celebrity magazines — This may be the last time I ever write about Tina Brown. — Brown once dominated the New York media world.

David Freedlander / The Daily Beast:

Tina Brown's Next Big Move — After five years at The Daily Beast, the irrepressible editor is leaving to build her own company. David Freedlander reports. — The Daily Beast's editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced to the newsroom on Wednesday afternoon that she will be leaving the five-year-old online outfit.

Discussion: Canadian Magazines, Guardian, @davidfolkenflik, @craigsilverman, WWD Media Headlines, @nycjim, @kaysteiger, @edpilkington and MinOnline

Rem Rieder / USA Today: Rieder: The lost magic of Tina Brown

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Tina Brown to leave Daily Beast, start new company

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, Forbes, The Atlantic Wire, @laureni, Erik Wemple, FishbowlNY, Mashable, @newsbreaker and paidContent

Guardian:

Mirror investigated over criminal liability for alleged phone hacking — Publisher of Daily and Sunday Mirror says Met is investigating if it is ‘criminally liable’ for alleged hacking by previous employees — The publisher of the Sunday Mirror has said it is under investigation …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Huffington Post, @huffpostmedia and Hollywood Reporter

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Trinity Mirror hacking claims - company made wrong decision two years ago — The announcement by Trinity Mirror that it is under police investigation over alleged phone hacking is unsurprising. — The publisher had the opportunity to hold an internal inquiry in 2011 amid allegations …

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

BuzzFeed puts in new polices for “community” posts: an uneasy attempt at control — Political and activist groups are using BuzzFeed's self-publishing tools to promote controversial messages. On Wednesday, the site put out new policies and guidelines to govern “community” submissions.

Discussion: eMedia Vitals, @buzzfeedben, BuzzFeed and The Atlantic Online

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

NAA will stop releasing quarterly figures on ad revenues, which have consistently declined — The Newspaper Association of America has reported a decline in industry ad revenues every three months since a modest gain in the second quarter of 2006. That adds up to six-and-a-half years …

Discussion: Newspaper Association …, @anthonyha, @rickedmonds, @jackshafer, @georgeprof, @rajunarisetti and @dangillmor

Pandora:

Pandora Names Brian McAndrews Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman — Pandora (NYSE:P), today announced that the company's Board of Directors has appointed Brian McAndrews, formerly of Madrona Venture Group, Microsoft and aQuantive, to succeed Joe Kennedy as Chief Executive Officer …

Discussion: TechCrunch, AdExchanger, @pkafka, @yinkawrites, VentureBeat, AdAge, CNET, Forbes and The Verge

Derrik J. Lang / Associated Press:

Sony, Universal, Warner claim in lawsuit that SiriusXM didn't pay for royalties on old songs — LOS ANGELES — The music industry's largest record companies are suing SiriusXM Radio for royalties it says the satellite radio company didn't pay for recordings from before 1972.

Discussion: New York Times, MarketWatch, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, BBC, CNET and Variety

Janet I. Tu / Seattle Times blogs:

MSN cutting number of contractors, increasing full-time employees — Microsoft is cutting the number of contractors who work at MSN as part of the large company-wide reorganization announced in July. — The company did not say how many contractor positions are being cut but did say that different vendors …

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Hollywood Reporter

Agence France-Presse:

Al-Jazeera in legal action claiming Egypt harassment — Qatari-owned news channel Al-Jazeera has launched legal action against the Egyptian authorities, saying that its journalists have been detained without charge and attacked, its London-based lawyers announced Thursday.

Discussion: New Zealand News, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Press Office

Press Gazette:

Former Sun deputy news editor Ben O'Driscoll charged under Operation Elveden — Former Sun deputy news editor Ben O'Driscoll has been charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. He is alleged to have authorised payments of at least £5,000 to public officials …

Discussion: Telegraph, BBC News and The Times

Matt Mason / The Official BitTorrent Blog:

BitTorrent to test “Direct to fan” distribution bundles for publishers starting Sep 24 — Coming Sept 24: BitTorrent Bundle for Publishers Closed Alpha — In May, we started up an Alpha project for the creative community called BitTorrent Bundle.

Discussion: Pocket-lint, The Next Web, Deadline.com, Softpedia News and Billboard

Jeff Clabaugh / Baltimore Business Journal:

USA Today doubles newsstand price to $2 — USA Today will raise its newsstand price from $1 to $2 per copy effective Sept. 30. It is the first time USA Today has raised its newsstand price since 2008, when it went from 75 cents to $1. “As our costs continued to rise …

Discussion: Gannett Blog

Marie Mawad / Bloomberg:

Vivendi Edges Closer to Split With Bollore as Deputy Chairman — Vivendi SA (VIV) moved closer to a long-discussed plan to split its telecommunications business from media assets, marking another sweeping reorganization of the former French utility. — Bowing to investor pressure to overhaul …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and DealBook

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Vietnam's Internet Censorship Bill Goes Into Effect — Internet freedom has gone from bad to worse in Vietnam as an online censorship law known as Decree 72 went into effect this month. It bans bloggers and users of social media from quoting, gathering, or summarizing information from press organizations or government websites.

Discussion: @evacide

Guardian:

How Lord Patten fell from grace as BBC Trust chairman — This time last year he was pre-eminent, but the former Hong Kong governor now faces criticism over a string of scandals — With a CV that includes prominent roles with the Conservative party, Oxford University …

Discussion: Financial Times