Mediagazer: ABC executive: second screen apps can be a distraction (Janko Roettgers/GigaOM)

4:30 PM ET, September 12, 2013

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Shield law broadens definition of ‘journalist’ — UPDATE (12:20 p.m.): This bill and the amendment passed 13-to-5 in committee. — A new media shield law expected to pass committee on Thursday broadens the definition of “journalist” to include, among other things, any individual deemed appropriate by a federal judge.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Big News Network.com, @atompkins, @m_cetera, Freedom of the Prez, @franklomonte, @mathewi, Kirk LaPointe's …, @spj_tweets, @mlcalderone, @netfreeuk, @dangillmor, @nathanlfuller, @niemanlab and @rbakerny

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:

Media shield act moves on to the full Senate — A Senate panel on Thursday backed legislation that would offer protections to a broad variety of journalists who do not want to divulge their confidential sources of information. — The key point of debate over the bill …

Discussion: RT, Broadcasting & Cable, @feardept, Washington Wire, @jilliancyork, @jilliancyork, @medialawrocks, @asher_wolf, @dellcam, @sueblueswilson, @mzimmerman_esq and @attackerman

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Shield Law Moves Forward, Defines Journalism So That It Leaves Out Wikileaks & Random Bloggers

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

IAC Said to Be Considering Daily Beast Sale After Brown's Exit — IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) Chairman Barry Diller is considering selling the Daily Beast following the departure of Tina Brown, who helped start the news website in 2008, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Discussion: Poynter, The Awl, New York Magazine, @erikwemple, @jayrosen_nyu, @jeffjarvis, Gawker, Politico and FishbowlNY

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.

Discussion: paidContent, USA Today, @carr2n, @moorehn, Columbia Journalism Review, Business Insider, The Wrap, New York Magazine, Variety, AdAge, FishbowlNY and BuzzFeed

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Daily Beast's fate to be decided by ‘first week in October’

Discussion: The Wrap, Columbia Journalism Review, @joepompeo and FishbowlNY

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

Discussion: Guardian and The Daily Beast

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

The Story Behind the Putin Op-Ed Article in The Times — A Times reader, Lawrence DeVine, has a few questions about The Times's publication of an Op-Ed article in Thursday's paper by Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia. He asks: “Did he call up the editorial page editor and say …

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
The Collected Op-Eds of Vladimir Putin

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire and @liamstack

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

BuzzFeed puts in new policies 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: @craigsilverman, @buzzfeedben, eMedia Vitals, BuzzFeed and The Atlantic Online

Jim Romenesko:

MSN reportedly eliminates freelance budget, begins layoffs — [UPDATED] MSN.com says its freelance budget ‘has gone away entirely’ — MSN.com has said farewell to its daily bloggers, columnists and features writers. Its freelance budget “is at $0 for the remainder of the fiscal year.”

Discussion: @romenesko

Janet I. Tu / Seattle Times blogs:
MSN cutting number of contractors, increasing full-time employees

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter and FishbowlNY

Geoffrey King / Mediashift:

Why the NSA Hack Compromises Al Jazeera Sources, U.S. Credibility — The German magazine Der Spiegel reported last week that the U.S. National Security Agency hacked into the internal communication system of Al Jazeera. If the report is accurate, the targeted hacking of a news organization represents …

Discussion: Variety, Committee to Protect … and @jcstearns

Nick Turner / Bloomberg:

Newsweek's New Owners Name Reuters's Impoco as Editor-in-Chief — IBT Media, the online-news company that acquired Newsweek from IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) last month, named Thomson Reuters Corp.'s Jim Impoco as the magazine's editor-in-chief. — Impoco joins Newsweek after spending four years …

Discussion: PR Newswire, Mediaite, @johnmcquaid, @joepompeo, @hennesseyedit and @johnmcquaid

Andrea Morabito / Broadcasting & Cable:

Carson Daly Joins ‘Today’ Show as Host of Digital Studio — Transition plans for ‘Last Call’ to be announced — Carson Daly is adding to his list of jobs at NBC, with the network announcing on Thursday that he would join NBC News' Today show as host of the Orange Room …

Discussion: TODAY.com, Variety, TVNewser, Gawker, Associated Press, Hollywood Reporter, NewscastStudio and USA Today

Capital New York:

Rick Stengel to leave ‘Time’ for U.S. State Department — Richard Stengel, the top editor of Time magazine for the past seven years, is planning to step down as managing editor for a new job at the U.S. Department of State, sources familiar with the situation tell Capital New York and POLITICO.

Discussion: @ethanklapper, @mlcalderone and @thestalwart

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 by the Metropolitan police over alleged phone hacking.

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

Roy Greenslade / Guardian: Trinity Mirror hacking claims - company made wrong decision two years ago

Stephanie Yang / TechCrunch:

Mobile News App Circa Launches Its Web Platform For Browsing And Following Stories — Circa, a startup that offers quick and mobile news consumption, is expanding its services to the web by launching its online platform for following and sharing news. While the website doesn't have the full functionality …

Discussion: BestTechie, @circa and @antderosa

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

ABC executive: second screen apps can be a distraction — Second-screen apps used to be all the rage with TV executives just a few years ago, but Disney's Digital EVP Albert Cheng's network is moving away from the idea to complement shows with second screen experiences.

Discussion: @lucas_shaw and @awallenstein

Josh Dickey / The Wrap:

Judge Rejects FilmOn X's Plea to Keep Rebroadcasting Local TV During Appeal — The Washington district court judge who shut down FilmOn X's ability to transmit local TV stations online has rejected its emergency petition to keep doing business while they appeal.

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Reporter Barton Gellman Explains Why It's Extremely Unlikely The Russians Or Chinese Have Snowden's Documents — Wednesday's Fresh Air on NPR was devoted entirely to a wonderful interview with Barton Gellman, one of the three reporters (along with Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald) …

Discussion: National Security, @bartongellman, @jayrosen_nyu, @ggreenwald and Boing Boing

Reuters:

At Sina Weibo's censorship hub, China's Little Brothers cleanse online chatter — (Reuters) - In a modern office building on the outskirts of the Chinese city of Tianjin, rows of censors stare at computer screens. Their mission: delete any post on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, deemed offensive or politically unacceptable.

Discussion: @bbccollege, @greatfirechina and The Next Web

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch's second grilling by parliamentary committee postponed — News Corp lawyers and attorney general advise that questions might prejudice criminal cases — Plans to bring Rupert Murdoch before the culture, media and sport committee for a second grilling about the activities …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.com

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Three religion reporters leave dailies, but the job isn't vanishing — St. Louis Post-Dispatch religion reporter Tim Townsend is leaving the paper for the Pew Research Center. He's the third religion reporter at a daily to leave in recent weeks: Ann Rodgers is leaving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette …

Dawn C. Chmielewski / Los Angeles Times:

Netflix, Amazon drive up price for Hollywood content, conferees told — The effects of Netflix and Amazon are felt throughout the market, Shawn Strickland, chief executive of Redbox Instant by Verizon, said at the Broadcasting & Cable's NextTV Summit. (Netflix)

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google Alerts regains RSS delivery option it lost after Google Reader's demise — Google has quietly added back a Feed delivery option to its Google Alerts service. The return of the feature means you can once again receive alerts for Web search results via RSS, rather than just email.

Discussion: Search Engine Land and Softpedia News

Martin Evans / Telegraph:

Cameras to be allowed in English courts for the first time — Cameras are set to be allowed to broadcast from inside court rooms for the first time, after the House of Commons granted approval. — From next month filming will be allowed at criminal and civil hearings in the Court of Appeal during legal argument and judgments.