Mediagazer: Breaking Bad series finale breaks piracy records (Janko Roettgers/GigaOM)

7:10 PM ET, September 30, 2013

Top News:

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Breaking Bad series finale breaks piracy records — Breaking Bad's series finale just broke a dubious record: The last episode of the critically acclaimed show has been pirated more than 500,000 times within the first 12 hours after it first appeared online, according to Torrentfreak.

Discussion: The Awl, TorrentFreak, Broadcasting & Cable, Inside TV, Deadline.com, Business Insider, AdAge, The Week, Variety, WebProNews, Consumerist, @yahootech and Softpedia News

Don Reisinger / CNET:

‘Breaking Bad’ secret to success? HDTVs and Netflix — That's the claim from the show's cinematographer Michael Slovis, who says that services like Netflix allow for binge viewing and thus, increased ratings. — The “Breaking Bad” finale might have come and gone, but the mania surrounding …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Media Money …, Rolling Stone, /Film, AdAge, Speakeasy, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, Forbes and Los Angeles Times

Ken Auletta / New Yorker:

Can the Guardian take its aggressive investigations global? — At eight-thirty on the morning of June 21st, Alan Rusbridger, the unflappable editor of the Guardian, Britain's liberal daily, was in his office, absorbing a lecture from Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister David Cameron.

Discussion: The Verge, @jxpaton, @gilestremlett, @mlcalderone, @emilybell, @diegobeas, @newyorker, @dansabbagh, @aleximostrous, Press Gazette, @moorehn, @arusbridger, @x7o, @sbienkowski, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:

NBC Scraps Hillary Clinton Miniseries — “After reviewing and prioritizing our slate of movie/mini-series development, we've decided that we will no longer continue developing the Hillary Clinton miniseries,” the network said in a statement Monday. — David Livingston/Getty Images

Discussion: Politico, The Wrap, The Wrap, New York Times, Deadline.com, The Huffington Post and @zeitchiklat

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

CNN's Hillary Clinton Movie Has Been Canceled, Director Says — The planned documentary on Hillary Clinton that caused CNN to be banned from 2016 Republican debates has been canceled, its director said on Monday. — In a blog for HuffPost, Charles Ferguson said that it was a near total stonewalling …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, @ethanklapper, PolicyMic, @megjameslat, Guardian, The Week, Deadline.com, Yahoo! News, Reuters, Mediaite, BBC and Erik Wemple

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Clicky Business Insider to double down on ‘long-form’ with ‘hundreds of thousands’ in investment — For the most part, Business Insider is seen as a pithy must-read for tech and finance junkies, who flock to the six-year-old website for its steady stream of micro-scoops …

Discussion: @emilysteel, @jayrosen_nyu, @mattyglesias, @niemanlab and Talking Biz News

Evelyn M. Rusli / Digits:

Facebook Woos TV Networks With More Data — Facebook is laying down a new gauntlet in its battle with Twitter to dominate online conversation around television: more data for broadcasters. — This week, Facebook says it will begin sending weekly reports to America's four largest television networks …

Discussion: Fast Company, VatorNews, VentureBeat, The Verge, CNET, ReadWrite, GigaOM, Business Insider, Engadget, The Next Web, GeekWire, Forbes, Mashable, SocialTimes, @isaach, Vanity Fair, @pkafka and Softpedia News

Sandra Laville / Guardian:

Liberty calls for bail time limit as journalists and others left on bail for up to two years — Rights group seeks six-month statutory maximum as 40 remain on bail in operations Elveden and Tuleta after two years — The human rights group Liberty is calling for a six-month limit …

Discussion: @dansabbagh and Softpedia News

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Dallas Morning News to drop paywall Oct. 1 — On Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News' online content “will be accessible to everyone, free of charge,” a company press release says. It will also offer a premium service with “enhanced design and navigation, limited advertising, and access to unique subscriber ... Read more

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, @uptownmessenger, @jbenton and @mjenkins

Frédéric Filloux / Monday Note:

News: Personalized or Serendipitous? — Every digital news designer faces the question: should the traditional serendipity of contents be preserved or should we go full steam for personalization? It turns out Google is already working on ways to combine both — on its usual grand scale.

Discussion: @globalmoxie, @dkiesow, @rajunarisetti and @bgrueskin

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

First Newsweek hires under the new regime: Nicholas Wapshott, Victoria Bekiempis — With less than a day to go before Barry Diller's IAC passes the baton to Newsweek's new owners, IBT Media, word is beginning to leak out about the first new recruits at the legendary newsmagazine turned digital publication.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and Bloomberg

Nicholas Watt / Guardian:

Cameron accused of misleading Leveson on Brooks friendship — New book casts doubt over David Cameron's account to press inquiry over his personal ties with Rebekah Brooks — David Cameron gave misleading evidence to the Leveson inquiry over his friendship with the former News International …

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik, Press Gazette, @exitthelemming, @magsnews and mUmBRELLA

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Congressman Proposes New Rules for Music Royalties — The music industry is gearing up for yet another fight over one of its most intractable issues: radio royalties. Only this time, it involves the online world as well. — On Monday, Representative Melvin L. Watt, a Democrat from North Carolina …

Stephen Lepitak / The Drum:

Buzzfeed appoints The MediaBriefing editor Patrick Smith as media editor — Editor of media website The Mediabriefing, Patrick Smith, is to depart after three years to join BuzzFeed as media editor. — Smith, who made the announcement in a blog post on the website and another …

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

Exclusive: ABC News Poaches Reuters Editor To Run Web Operations — ABC News President Ben Sherwood continues to aggressively revamp and expand the network's digital operations, luring one of the top video editors at Reuters to run ABCNews.com. Erle Norton will today be named …

Discussion: ABC News and @peterlauria3