Mediagazer: Sinclair tried to top Gannett's $1.5 billion offer for Belo stations (Bloomberg)

7:10 PM ET, October 10, 2013

Top News:

Leonard Downie Jr / Committee to Protect Journalists:

The Obama Administration and the Press — Leak investigations and surveillance in post-9/11 America — U.S. President Barack Obama came into office pledging open government, but he has fallen short of his promise. Journalists and transparency advocates say the White House curbs routine disclosure …

Tow Center for Digital Journalism:

The Effects of Mass Surveillance on Journalism — Mass surveillance of the kind practiced by the NSA produces a chilling effect on journalism, because sources do not feel they can have a private conversation with a reporter. That's the message of a group of scholars, journalists …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @evacide, @timkarr and Committee to Protect …

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Obama Administration Has Gone To Unprecedented Lengths To Thwart Journalists, Report Finds — NEW YORK — Leonard Downie spent more than four decades at The Washington Post, including 17 years as the paper's top editor, and has heard plenty of grumbling from reporters blocked from access to government information.

Discussion: Poynter, Committee to Protect … and @ggreenwald

Guardian:

27 of the world's top editors challenge claim that the Guardian aids Britain's enemies — ‘What the Guardian is doing is important for democracy’ — On Thursday the Daily Mail described the Guardian as 'The paper that helps Britain's enemies'. We showed that article to many of the world's leading editors.

Amy Hollyfield / PolitiFact:

PolitiFact to launch PunditFact, checking pundits and media figures — PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking website of the Tampa Bay Times, will soon launch PunditFact, a site dedicated to checking claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers and the hosts and guests of talk shows.

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, @katielsanders, Poynter, @asharock, @therickwilson, @brianstelter, @jayrosen_nyu, @jpodhoretz, @abeaujon, @justinwolfers, @amy_hollyfield, @thestalwart and Pressing Issues

Ted Johnson / Variety:

Aereo Supreme Court Review: Broadcasters Will File Petition — Justices will have to choose between taking case or letting legal proceedings play out further Broadcasters plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings that have allowed Aereo to continue offering unauthorized streams …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, The Verge, TechCrunch, GigaOM, AfterDawn.com, Associated Press, Forbes, CNET, Consumerist, CNET, Radio & Television …, Engadget and Deadline.com

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Broadcasters Denied Injunction Against Aereo in Massachusetts

Discussion: Techdirt, multichannel.com/rss, AdAge, bizjournals, Reuters, CNET, Variety and Plagiarism Today

Jeff John Roberts / GigaOM:
Aereo's TV streaming service coming to Android devices on October 22

Discussion: Marketwired, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, Mashable, The Verge, The Next Web, @jeffjohnroberts and Broadcasting & Cable

Jim Romenesko:

[UPDATED] Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News alums call for review of Bill Marimow's dismissal — Update: Philadelphia Inquirer co-owners Lewis Katz and Gerry Lenfest have sued their company over editor Bill Marimow's firing. The two say that publisher Bob Hall didn't consult them before dismissing Marimow.

Discussion: facebook.com, @romenesko, NewsWorks and Philadelphia City Paper

Associated Press:
2 Philly Inquirer owners sue company, publisher

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

AllThingsD:

Vivian Schiller Is a Lock as Twitter's Head of News — Vivian Schiller, NBC News' SVP and chief digital officer, is being tapped for Twitter's head of news position, according to sources familiar with the matter. AllThingsD reported last week that she was the leading pick for the high-profile job.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Betabeat, GigaOM, @tcarmody, Digits, @mikeisaac, @andreahong, The Verge, @edcauchi, @coryhaik and Engadget

Ruth Bazinet / Medium:
Twitter's New Media Evangelist Needs More Than 1,200 Tweets

Discussion: @jaredbkeller, @janetaronica, @harrisj, @craigsilverman, @aureliacotta, @antderosa, @kingisafink, @joshsternberg, @mathewi, @aureliacotta and @rajunarisetti

Bloomberg:

Sinclair tried to top Gannett's $1.5 billion offer for Belo stations — Sinclair Losing Belo Leaves Gray as Deal Option: Real M&A — Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (SBGI) tried and failed to steal Belo Corp. (BLC) from the clutches of Gannett Co., leaving Gray Television Inc. and Lin LLC …

Discussion: Gannett Blog and TVSpy

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Follow-up on Flipboard: We can't pay salaries with ‘brand awareness’ — Are Operations Like Flipboard Scams Against Publishers? — Since we'd gotten a number of questions from readers, I jotted down a short post a couple days ago explaining that we've removed TPM from Flipboard …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, @davewiner, @coudal, @jmcolberg, @choire and @politicalwire

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Newspapers plan EU legal action if they are penalised for regulation stance — Publishers fear increased costs in libel and privacy actions if they do not back government's royal charter-backed regulator — The country's largest newspaper groups plan to mount a European legal challenge …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Patrick Smith / The MediaBriefing:
The many unanswered questions of the UK's press regulation shambles

Discussion: Guardian and Big News Network.com

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Patch.com reporter faces jail for doing his job — A judge in Illinois has ordered a reporter to reveal a confidential source. — CONNECT — Joseph Hosey is facing jail time for simply doing his job. — Hosey, a reporter for Patch.com in Illinois, has balked at an order to reveal the identity of a confidential source.

Discussion: @mikescarcella

Sara Morrison / The Wrap:

AOL Slashes Jonas Brothers-Founded Site Cambio in Layoffs (Exclusive) — AOL has laid off the entire staff of its entertainment news site Cambio except for its editorial team, individuals with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. — “AOL continues to support Cambio …

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Twitter Appears To Be Exploring Personalized Breaking News Notifications With @Eventparrot Experiment — Twitter appears to be exploring introducing breaking news notifications tuned for you to its apps, if a new experimental account is any indication. An account called @eventparrot …