Mediagazer: Blogs rail over bill defining media (Mackenzie Weinger/Politico)

3:15 PM ET, September 13, 2013

Top News:

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

NPR Names Paul G. Haaga, Jr. Interim CEO — Paul G. Haaga, Jr. will be the President & CEO of National Public Radio in an interim capacity, the organization announced today. Mr. Haaga will fill the post left by Gary Knell, who announced last month that he was leaving to head up the National Geographic Society.

Discussion: NPR, Poynter, NetNewsCheck Latest, USA Today, FishbowlDC, Politico, Hollywood Reporter and City Desk

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

NPR to offer employee buyouts — In an effort to stave off a budding financial crisis, NPR will offer buyouts to its employees, with a goal of reducing its staff by about 10 percent, one of the largest reductions in the organization's history, it said Friday.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, NPR, Los Angeles Times, scpr.org and The Huffington Post

Matt Buchanan / The New Yorker Blog:

The Twitter of Tomorrow — This afternoon, Twitter officially, and secretly, filed documents to the S.E.C. in advance of its I.P.O. The company is worth billions upon billions of dollars, and its founders will become extremely rich sometime in the next year.

AllThingsD:

Does Twitter Have a Growth Problem? — Is Twitter growing fast enough? — This seems like an odd question to ask, since the company has just told the world that it's getting ready to go public. — But there are signs that the company isn't adding users at the pace it had expected.

Discussion: @tcarmody, Mashable, Business Insider, Softpedia News, @allthingsd, @mikeisaac, PandoDaily, Kirk LaPointe's …, GigaOM, Wired.co.uk, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Daily Dot, Mediaite, CNET, The Wrap, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and The Verge

Journalism.co.uk:

Sun on Sunday gets a ‘refresh’ and new editor — Sun editors also announce a ‘multimillion pound investment’ in The Sun, which six weeks ago launched a £2-a-week paywall — Read more — Other top stories — Also on Journalism.co.uk...

Discussion: Press Gazette, Guardian, Guardian, FeaturesExec Media Database, The Drum, TheMediaBriefing.com and Big News Network.com

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Sun readers strongly support Page 3 topless models, says News UK boss — Male and female readers of the Sun “strongly support” Page 3 topless models, according to the chief executive of the paper's publisher News UK. Mike Darcey said that ultimately any decision on the future of the Page 3 models …

Discussion: Capital New York

Dave Winer:

The govt should stay out of journalism — The US government is hoping to legislate who is and isn't a journalist. This is serious stuff. They aren't deciding who can and can't get a Pulitzer Prize, instead they're deciding who goes to jail for publishing leaks “without authorization.”

Discussion: paidContent, Washington Post, The Huffington Post and The Atlantic Wire

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

Blogs rail over bill defining media — Bloggers across the political spectrum are up in arms over the proposed media shield bill a Senate committee passed on Thursday, blasting the measure's definition of a journalist as a flawed and misguided effort targeting those who operate outside of traditional media.

Discussion: TechCrunch, thenation.com/blogs/174784, The Week and @politico

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

Discussion: The Verge, @asher_wolf, @cassandrarules, The Huffington Post, @metalchris, @poormansmedia, Politico and Freedom of the Prez

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

Tina Brown to Write Memoir — Tina Brown, the veteran editor who announced on Wednesday that she is departing The Daily Beast and magazine journalism, has struck a deal to write a memoir, she said in an interview on Thursday. — The book, titled “Media Beast,” will chronicle her career in magazines …

Discussion: New York Post, Page-Turner, FishbowlNY, @rachelsklar, NPR, @koblin, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

Elspeth Reeve / The Atlantic Wire:

Rick Stengel Is at Least the 15th Journalist to Move to the Obama Administration — Time managing editor Rick Stengel (pictured above) is leaving journalism to go work for the State Department, making him at least the 15th reporter to go to work for the Obama administration.

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico and @jamietarabay

Capital New York:
Rick Stengel to leave ‘Time’ for U.S. State Department

Discussion: Folio, Erik Wemple, FishbowlDC, Capital New York, WWD Media Headlines, New York Times, @aburnspolitico, @mlcalderone, The Huffington Post, @thestalwart, @ethanklapper, AdAge, @mikenizza and New York Magazine

Ted Johnson / Variety:

Aereo Argues Courts Should Ignore Rival FilmOn X's Legal Setbacks — FilmOn X, which offers digital streams of broadcast signals, lost in court again on Thursday, with more signs that a string of legal defeats may affect not just its business but that of its rival, Aereo.

Discussion: CNET, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:
Aereo claims DC injunction doesn't affect it

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter

Lewis Lazare / Chicago Business Journal:

Chicago Sun-Times taps Richard Roeper as movie columnist — Richard Roeper is the new movie man at the Chicago Sun-Times. — Roeper is shifting from general interest columnist at the paper to a new position as movie columnist, writing about three or four movies a week.

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times, Associated Press, Chicagoist, The Verge and ABC News

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Belo Investors to Vote Against Gannett — Investor opposition to the terms of Gannett Co.'s $1.5 billion takeover offer for TV station-owner Belo Corp. is intensifying, two weeks before Belo shareholders are due to vote—putting a spotlight on the question of whether Belo should have put itself up for a broader auction.

Discussion: MoneyBeat, @keachhagey and Gannett Blog

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Harper's Will Never Be Free — Harper's Magazine will never give in to the free-content Internet craze. — The October issue opens with a three page letter (Harper's is not known for brevity) from president and publisher John R. MacArthur reaffirming the venerable magazine's stance against the new-in-1999 model of online journalism.