Mediagazer: New Knight Community Information Challenge winners focus on supporting local news and opening up government data (Justin Ellis/Nieman Journalism Lab)

3:12 AM ET, September 19, 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: Garcia Media, @jayrosen_nyu, @mattzeitlin, @edmundlee, @jaredbkeller, @dancow, @gabestein, @carr2n 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

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

NBC Universal Funded Study Shows, Yet Again, How Infringement Is Hollywood's Own Damn Fault — While we already discussed the MPAA's questionable new study trying to pin the blame for infringement on Google, MPAA member NBC Universal has released its “Digital Piracy Universe” study as well.

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

Ted Johnson / Variety:
Showbiz Lobby Puts Capitol Hill Pressure on Google to Take Action on Piracy

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

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

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

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: @bradmiska, @carr2n, @brianstelter, @ckrewson, @theplaylist and @andymacmiller

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

Discussion: @scottcollinslat and @jbflint

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

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, @davidhulen, @niemanlab, @knightfdn and @lauranorton

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

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.

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Zuckerberg: No plans to get into news business — In Washington, D.C, to lobby for immigration reform, Facebook CEO participates in a wide-ranging interview at the Newseum. — CONNECT — While Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is buying The Washington Post, fellow digital icon Mark Zuckerberg …

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 …

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

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 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.