Mediagazer: “New York Times” held back reporting on Levinson, too (Joe Pompeo/Capital New York)

3:50 PM ET, December 13, 2013

Top News:

“New York Times” held back reporting on Levinson, too — The New York Times revealed today that it, too, witheld reporting on Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in Iran in 2007 and was revealed by the Associated Press and Washington Post yesterday to have disapepared while on a rogue assignment for the C.I.A.

Discussion: New York Times

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:

Sen. Bill Nelson: I told AP not to run Robert Levinson story — Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said early Friday that he urged the Associated Press not to publish a story about Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago and had been working for the CIA.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, @lrozen and @mlcalderone

Dylan Byers / Politico:
W.H.: CIA report ‘highly irresponsible’

Discussion: The Huffington Post and @jeneps

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Associated Press Held CIA Scoop For 3 Years At The Government's Request

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, @mightyobvious_ and Gawker

Paul Colford / The Definitive Source:
Why AP is publishing story about missing American tied to CIA

Mary Ann Milbourn / Orange County Register:

Register owner to launch daily L.A. newspaper — The co-owner and publisher of the Orange County Register announced Thursday that the company will move broadly into Los Angeles County early next year and publish a new, seven-day-a-week newspaper, the Los Angeles Register.

Discussion: LA Observed, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, @ocregister, @margotroosevelt, Hollywood Reporter, FishbowlNY, Los Angeles Business …, Poynter and The Newspaper Guild

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

Media Matters Declares Victory: ‘The War On Fox Is Over’ — WASHINGTON — Since its founding in 2004, the progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America has been a thorn in the side of Fox News. Its dozens of staffers monitor the network's leadership, hosts, guests and financial dealings incessantly …

Discussion: Politico, National Review, The Daily Caller and TheBlaze.com

Kelly McBride / Poynter:

Newtown's media blackout forces journalists to do their jobs — The one-year anniversary of a tragic event is a significant moment. But for journalists, such moments too often become opportunities for emotional exploitation rather than real journalism. — The citizens of Newtown, Conn. …

Discussion: Washington Post, Latest News & Headlines, Rolling Stone, @evanberland_ap, Education and the Media, TIME, Columbia Journalism Review, Jack Shafer and Boing Boing

Peter Elkind / Fortune:

Bloomberg News reaffirms ban on writing about Mike Bloomberg — The news organization owned by Bloomberg LP has an unusual, self-imposed policy preventing itself from writing about its founder. — FORTUNE — When Michael Bloomberg retires as New York's mayor in January after 12 years in office …

Discussion: National Review, @dangillmor, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post and Talking Biz News

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Charter plans to offer less than $135/share for Time Warner Cable early next week — Charter Said to Prepare Offer Letter for Time Warner Cable — Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) is preparing an offer letter to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. for less than $140 a share, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Discussion: AdAge, Deadline.com, Variety, Radio & Television …, The Huffington Post, DealBook and The Verge

David Kravets / Wired:

AOL Tightens CrunchBase's Licensing to Block Competitors — AOL is legally locking down its crowdsourced CrunchBase database of tech companies, in response to a commercial iPhone app that used the database to compete with AOL. — The new CrunchBase license will continue to allow free use …

Discussion: Info @ CrunchBase and TechCrunch

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Q&A: Sarah Marshall on leaving Journalism.co.uk for the WSJ and the state of media across the pond — For three years, Sarah Marshall has held a job that's pretty similar to, well, my job. And I think she's pretty good at it! But Marshall is moving on, from Journalism.co.uk …

Discussion: @niemanlab and Talking Biz News

Tom Balmforth / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

Out Of Ukrainian Protests, A New Media Outlet Is Born — KYIV — A wave of panic grips protesters as rumors spread that tanks are bearing down on Kyiv to quell the revolt against President Viktor Yanukovych. — Several news outlets ran reports and word spreads like wildfire on Twitter.

Nellie Bowles / San Francisco Chronicle:

Jessica Lessin's startup courts high-powered audience for tech news — When former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin celebrated the launch of her journalism startup at a Pacific Heights mansion this week, the event attracted the tech A-list: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrived in a gray hoodie …

Discussion: Valleywag, TheHill, @dangillmor, @mathewi, @jessicalessin and @julianhurrah

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Amidst fierce competition, music streaming services fight for paying subscribers — A Stream of Music, Not Revenue — When Spotify, the digital music company of the moment, announced this week an exclusive deal with Led Zeppelin and free access on mobile devices, it also reported impressive numbers.

Discussion: @dada_drummer

Parker Higgins / Mediashift:

WordPress Goes to Court to Defend Censored Bloggers — The blogging platform WordPress.com has taken the unusual — and welcome — step of going to court to defend its users against bogus copyright claims aimed at silencing their speech on the platform. Automattic, WordPress's parent company …

Discussion: @timkarr and @pbsmediashift, Thanks:@mediatwit

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

Netflix finds plenty of binge watching, but little guilt — Netflix is embracing the art of the “binge” as it seeks to sell more subscriptions during the holidays. — A Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Netflix and released on Friday found that a majority of streaming television viewers …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Business Insider

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Texas A&M brings back journalism major — KBTX-TV — Texas A&M will bring its major in journalism back next fall, the school reported on its website Monday. The decision was announced after approval Monday from the faculty senate. — According to the school: “It will be a small …

Discussion: Inside Higher Ed

Michael Rondon / Folio:

Pocket Reveals Top Stories, Publishers of 2013 — The save-it-for-later service tells which content readers liked most. — The save-it-for-later software service Pocket has released a list of the “best” content from 2013. — Pocket's 10 million users saved more than 450 million items …

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Toronto Star reporter serves Rob Ford with libel notice — “On Thursday I served Rob Ford with a libel notice, the first step in the process of pursuing a defamation lawsuit,” Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale wrote in an article Thursday, explaining why he'd chosen to take legal action against Toronto's controversial mayor.

Discussion: Torontoist, National Post, Huffington Post Canada, Globe and Mail and Rehak/Stuebing Mostly Media

Margaret Sullivan / The Public Editor's Journal:

‘Invisible Child’: Behind the Scenes, Before and After — Andrea Elliott's moving and exhaustively reported five-part series, “Invisible Child,” was 15 months in the making. At 28,738 words, and accompanied by affecting images by Ruth Fremson, a staff photographer, this story of a homeless girl …

Discussion: The New Republic, @mattapuzzo, @patkiernan, @byronyork, @tedhartii, @bydanielvictor, @sulliview, @longreads, @palafo, @richarddeitsch and Politicker

Jim Romenesko:

Boston.com hires ‘ChartGirl’ Hilary Sargent — Hilary Sargent, who's known for tackling “complicated matters in easily digestible charts,” is joining Boston.com next month as a full-time staffer. Jack Shafer wrote earlier this year that “ChartGirl” Sargent “straddles the space between the two-dimensional …

Discussion: @sladehv