Mediagazer: Nikki Finke and Deadline owner Jay Penske still at odds (Joe Flint/Los Angeles Times)

11:20 PM ET, September 18, 2013

Top News:

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Reuters Next Canceled — Reuters has decided to cancel Next, the consumer facing website that had been in the works for more than two years, Chief Executive Andrew Rashbass announced this morning in a staff email. — “Next is a long way from achieving either commercial viability or strategic success.

Matthew Zeitlin / BuzzFeed:

Why Reuters Ditched Its Big Web Push — Reuters Wednesday decided that it cares more about its business than its brand, ending a big bet on becoming a major player in online news. In a memo sent to the company today, Reuters chief executive Andrew Rashbass announced that the company will end …

Discussion: @carr2n, @jayrosen_nyu, @mattzeitlin, @edmundlee, @jaredbkeller, @dancow, @gabestein and @buzzfeedben

Jennifer Mizgata / Online News Association:

ONA working to ensure federal “shield law” truly protects journalists — As you probably have heard, last week the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 987, the Free Flow of Information Act (FFIA), with the support of the Online News Association and a coalition of media organizations.

Discussion: @janeona, @hatchjt, @niemanlab and @jimbradysp

Josh Stearns / Index on Censorship:
The US shield law's dangerous precedent - and how to fix it

Discussion: @jcstearns

Steven Nelson / US News: Holes in Media Shield Law Worry Opponents, and Even Some Supporters

Ted Johnson / Variety:

Showbiz Lobby Puts Capitol Hill Pressure on Google to Take Action on Piracy — The showbiz lobby and a number of lawmakers on Wednesday singled out Google and other search engines for being a gateway to pirated online content, unveiling a study that showed the “critical role” …

Discussion: Forbes, Digits, The Wrap, WebProNews, The Verge, Techdirt, Home Media Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, Hillicon Valley and TorrentFreak

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
NBC Universal Funded Study Shows, Yet Again, How Infringement Is Hollywood's Own Damn Fault

Discussion: @kimdotcom, Disruptive Competition Project, Softpedia News and TorrentFreak

Richard Verrier / Los Angeles Times:
Online piracy of entertainment content keeps soaring

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Kirk LaPointe's …, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and Plagiarism Today

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

The Finke-Penske feud shows the difficulties of linking brands and personalities — Brand Suffers Most From Spat Between Owner and Hollywood Blogger — LOS ANGELES — For her detractors, and there are many, the turnabout is delicious: Nikki Finke, the blogger who squeezed Hollywood …

Discussion: @carr2n

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Nikki Finke and Deadline owner Jay Penske still at odds

Discussion: @scottcollinslat

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

NYT's Howard Beck Leaves Grey Lady for the Bleacher Report — New York Times NBA beat reporter Howard Beck is leaving his longtime home for the Bleacher Report. — Beck, who began at NYT in 2004, tweeted his announcement Wednesday. — The Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Networks …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Justin Smith on his new mission at Bloomberg — Justin Smith's “mission” as C.E.O. of the Bloomberg Media Group will be to “marry the incredible assets” the company's journalists have built over the past several decades with “emerging strategies for winning in the new global media landscape …

Jim Romenesko:

Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes is named Houston Chronicle editor — Nancy Barnes, who has led the Star Tribune newsroom for six years, is heading to Houston to become editor of Hearst's Chronicle. The paper has been without an editor for a year. Managing editor Steve Proctor was put …

Discussion: Minneapolis Star Tribune, Houston Chronicle and The Blotter

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC presenter does live broadcast clutching stack of paper instead of iPad — Simon McCoy baffles viewers by presenting news item after accidentally picking up refill pack of A4 — BBC News presenter Simon McCoy mistook a ream of paper for a tablet computer while presenting a report, to the bafflement of viewers

Discussion: Gawker, The Independent, @mattgarrahan, @charlesarthur, Erik Wemple, The Next Web, The Huffington Post and @svaughanbrown

Bloomberg:

Activision Stock Sale Blocked by Judge Over Investor Vote — Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) can't proceed with a stock sale that investors contend would give control of the video-game maker to a group led by an Activision director and the company's top executive, a judge ruled.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Reuters

John Cusack / Guardian:

Will Eric Holder guarantee NSA reporters' first amendment rights? — The US attorney general vows not to prosecute journalists, but his criminalisation of whistleblowers undermines that assurance — Another week and another wave of stories on the NSA and the unconstitutional …

Discussion: @bitethedust, @cif_australia, @johncusack, @abeaujon, @freedomofpress, Softpedia News, Boing Boing and Columbia Journalism Review

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Rieder: Newspaper association chief optimistic — Being president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America is not a job for the fainthearted. Your mission includes lobbying for, speaking for and galvanizing an industry that, while it is the press, hasn't gotten very much good press, not for a long time.

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

New Knight Community Information Challenge winners focus on supporting local news and opening up government data — Sharing news stories wasn't invented with the retweet button. Thanks to funding from the Knight Foundation, Tom McDonald will be expanding his news-sharing network across …

Discussion: Knight Foundation, @niemanlab, @knightfdn and @lauranorton

John Koetsier / VentureBeat:

Spinlet, the iTunes of Africa, hits 650K subscribers — and is targeting 50M users by 2016 — Dec. 4 - 5, 2013 — A Canadian who worked for a company that owns half of China's Tencent is helping reinvent music in Africa via a company started by two Finns that was sold to a company in Nigeria.

Discussion: Digital Media Wire and CNET

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC faces major review by MPs following recent scandals — Culture, media and sport select committee chairman John Whittingdale says payoffs row has given inquiry ‘more urgency’ — The BBC is facing a major review of its governance by MPs after a series of scandals that have beset the corporation in the past year.