Mediagazer: Governments worldwide buried in the Snowden avalanche (Jack Shafer)

1:50 PM ET, November 7, 2013

Top News:

WaPo editor: Costa will be Costa for us — The Post this morning broke the in-house news that celebrated National Review reporter Robert Costa will join the paper's politics team on Jan. 6. A memo from three Post editors on the hiring observes, “Bob has become an absolute must-follow …

Discussion: Poynter, FishbowlDC, The Huffington Post, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @jayrosen_nyu, @gabrielsnyder and Talking Points Memo

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

THE COST OF WINNING: Tim Armstrong, Patch, And The Struggle To Save AOL — On an overcast Friday afternoon last August, a hundred or so employees of AOL's local news subsidiary, Patch, crammed into a cafeteria at the company's headquarters in Manhattan. Another several hundred connected to the room via conference call.

Discussion: @nichcarlson, @rgpelayo, @ivanthek, @thestalwart and @tomkrazit

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

Fleet Street editor claims libel fears will force industry to support Government's Royal Charter regulator — Newspapers will sign up to the Government's Royal Charter once they start getting hit for costs in libel courts a leading editor has claimed. — Chris Blackhurst …

Jason Deans / Guardian: Publishers lodge appeal over ruling against judicial review of royal charter

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

YouTube aims to tame the trolls with changes to its comments section — Changes mean video creators will have more power to moderate comments, while making best conversations more prominent for viewers — The comments section below YouTube videos is an infamously troll-ridden Wild West of abuse, ignorance and spam.

Discussion: @laurahiggins_, toptechnews.com, YouTube Blog, Digital Spy, CNET, WebProNews and TechCrunch

Joe Coscarelli / New York Magazine:

Businessweek Editor Josh Tyrangiel Taking a Break to Focus on TV — The buzzy and boyish Josh Tyrangiel, editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, will temporarily “detach” from the magazine for the rest of the year to help grow the company's television presence, according to an internal memo obtained by Daily Intelligencer.

Discussion: Capital New York and @jwherrman

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Twitter Flies On Its First Day As A Public Company: Shares Pop 74% On First Trades, Debuts At $45.10 And $31.8B Valuation — From a humble beginning as a failing podcast startup to an online conversation service now used by over 230 million people worldwide, Twitter today started …

Discussion: MoneyBeat, AllThingsD, Forbes, Broadcasting & Cable, NetNewsCheck Latest, WWD Media Headlines, VentureBeat, Softpedia News, Electronista and The Next Web

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

CNN on spending spree to rebuild channel; Zucker gets ‘multi-year’ runway to growth — CNN is planning a substantial investment in new programming, with a heavy emphasis on acquiring unscripted shows by outside producers in the vein of “Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown” and films like “Blackfish.”

Discussion: B&C and TheBlaze.com

Jack Shafer:

Governments worldwide buried in the Snowden avalanche — If the U.S. and British governments could stop the press from publishing stories based on the National Security Agency files leaked by Edward Snowden in June, they probably would have acted by now. Oh, the Guardian was coerced …

Discussion: Forbes

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:
Tim Berners-Lee: encryption cracking by spy agencies ‘appalling and foolish’

Discussion: CNET, @michaelwhite, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, BBC, NBCNews, National Updates, @guardian, Softpedia News, @avilarenata, Salon and @genn4dy

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Tweet 16: News Outlets' Twitter Tone Skews Young — OMG!!! Why do big media companies sound like teenagers on Twitter — “OMG @OneDirection's new song leaked!” might sound like something a giddy tween would tweet, but it was actually tweeted by the Daily News's official account.

Discussion: @petersterne and ZDNet

Biz Carson / Wired:

Uncensored Instagrams From North Korea Buck Brutal Trend of Secrecy — WIRED.com © 2013 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). Your California Privacy Rights.

Discussion: TheAustralian

Rem Rieder / USA Today:

Rieder: ‘Business Insider’ goes long on journalism — Quirky website Business Insider plans a foray into the time-consuming but rewarding art. — CONNECT — One of the most intriguing aspects of the evolution of digital journalism is watching sites that spend much of their energy chasing …

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Guns & Ammo Editor Apologizes for Pro-Gun Control Column, Steps Down — Unconditional Apology Follows Reader Outrage in Social Media — Jim Bequette, the editor in chief of Guns & Ammo, issued an abject apology Thursday for the magazine's recent editorial advocating gun regulation …

Discussion: Guns & Ammo, Mediaite, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, BREITBART.COM and The Raw Story

New York Times:

Killing of French Journalists Reverberates in France and Mali — PARIS — Diplomats, journalists and humanitarian workers gathered in Paris on Wednesday to mourn the brutal killing of two seasoned French journalists by insurgents in Mali, an episode that has raised questions about France's plans …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …

John Plunkett / Guardian:

BBC's loss-making Lonely Planet deal under fire — Trust criticises BBC Worldwide over acquisition and later sale of travel guide business resulting in £80m deficit — The BBC Trust has published a highly critical report of the corporation's loss-making purchase of Lonely Planet …

Discussion: Skift

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Rand Paul moves to Breitbart — Just one day after The Washington Times ended Sen. Rand Paul's column over plagiarism charges, the Kentucky Republican's musings have found a new home at Breitbart.com. — With no mention of the plagiarism controversy currently surrounding the senator …

Discussion: The Wrap, FishbowlDC and Talking Points Memo

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Apple says FBI spy rules are irrational, supports free speech challenge by Microsoft and Google — America's big tech companies, embroiled in an on-going surveillance scandal, are in a pitched legal fight with the government for the right to disclose how many data demands they receive under the Patriot Act.

Discussion: App Advice and The Switch

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Internet Archive Seeking Donations To Rebuild Its Fire-Damaged Scanning Center — The non-profit Internet Archive suffered a major setback this morning when a fire broke out at its San Francisco office, causing an estimated $600,000 in damages. Fortunately there were no injuries and no data was lost …

Discussion: Internet Archive Blogs, Electronista, SF Appeal, The Verge, Engadget and Gizmodo

Paul Bibby / Sydney Morning Herald:

2Day FM faces tough penalties after losing court battle over royal prank call — Radio station 2Day FM has failed in an attempt to stymie an investigation by the communications watchdog into the royal prank call incident. — The decision paves the way for a finding that the station broke …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, TheAustralian, HeraldSun and mUmBRELLA

DISH Network:

Blockbuster to End Domestic Retail, DVD By Mail Services — Blockbuster to close remaining U.S. company-owned stores, DVD By Mail services by early-January 2014 Franchised and licensed stores in the U.S. and abroad to remain open for business ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—(BUSINESS WIRE) …