Mediagazer: Patch: Learning the hard way in local news (Michele McLellan/Knight Digital …)

10:50 PM ET, December 16, 2013

Top News:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Federal Judge Rules Against N.S.A. Phone Data Program — WASHINGTON — A Federal District Court judge ruled on Monday that the National Security Agency program that is systematically keeping records of all Americans' phone calls most likely violates the Constitution, and he ordered the government …

Guardian:
Edward Snowden says judge's ruling vindicates NSA surveillance disclosures

Discussion: TechCrunch, @miriamelder, @ggreenwald and TIME

Michele McLellan / Knight Digital Media Center:

Patch: Learning the hard way in local news — If the latest from David Carr doesn't mark the final nail in the coffin of Patch, it's pretty darn close. Carr quotes AOL CEO Tim Armstrong acknowledging that AOL cannot continue “to go it alone in what has been a futile attempt to guide Patch to profitability.”

Discussion: The Switch, Prof Chris Daly's Blog, @daveambrose, @thefix and @kbeninato

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

The almost-post mortem for Patch — David Carr all but writes the obit for Patch today. One could quibble and say it's not quite dead, that Aol plans partnerships for the ill-fated ganglion of local sites. Fine, but it's still not wrong to look back and ask what went wrong.

Discussion: @the_fjp, @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu, @jeffjarvis, @niketa, @nycjim, @romenesko, @geostanley and New York Times

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:
LEAKED MEMO: Patch Execs Tell Employees Patch Is Not Dead, Despite What They Read In The New York Times

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

Almost Half of The Huffington Post's Traffic Comes From Overseas — The Huffington Post is fast becoming an international media brand. It now publishes eight editions outside the U.S. and expects to export its celebrity, news and aggregation model to Brazil, South Korea, India and possibly the Middle East in 2014.

Discussion: @muckety, @aoladvertising, @justin_b_smith and @niemanlab

Meg Graham / Chicago Grid:

Comcast could resurrect community news site EveryBlock starting in Chicago — EveryBlock is back from the dead — Ten months after being shut down and left for dead, community-news website EveryBlock is being resurrected. — Comcast, which owned EveryBlock when it was shut down in January …

Discussion: @abillionsuns, @antderosa, @the_fjp, @me3dia and @lyzidiamond

Richard Johnson / New York Post:

60 Minutes reporter John Miller currently negotiating new intelligence job with NYPD — CBS newsman John Miller is negotiating his exit as a senior correspondent to join his old friend Bill Bratton back at the Police Department, a reliable source tells me.

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline.com, Business Insider, TVWeek.com, NewsMax.com, Gothamist, Talking Points Memo, @antderosa, @jeffreycarr, @csoghoian, @dailynewshack, @onekade, @dandrezner and @moorehn

Sara Morrison / The Wire:
‘60 Minutes’: NSA Good, Snowden Bad

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, CBS News, Hit & Run, The Nation, dissenter.firedoglake.com, Gigaom, @paulxharris, @carr2n, @ggreenwald, @martin_u, @carlmalamud, @davechensky and @jeffjarvis

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
‘60 Minutes’ reporter didn't want NSA story to be ‘a puff piece’

Gautham Nagesh / Wall Street Journal:

FCC Withdraws Proposal to Relax Media-Ownership Rules — Proposal Would Have Relaxed Ban on Owning Multiple Media Outlets in Same Market … The Federal Communications Commission said it has withdrawn a proposal to relax the long-standing ban on owning multiple media outlets in the same market.

Discussion: Adweek

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Exclusive: Twitter working on “edit” feature for tweets — Twitter is working on a new feature that would allow users to edit tweets once they are published, three sources close to the project have confirmed to The Desk. — Those sources, who asked to be identified only as Twitter employees …

Discussion: CNET, Gigaom, @ksablan, @politwoops, @craigsilverman, @stevebuttry and The Next Web

Brian R. Fitzgerald / Digits:

WSJ hires editors from ABC News and NBC News as gadget reviewer Walt Mossberg leaves the team — WSJ Announces Personal Tech Reviewing Team — Today we are announcing expanded Wall Street Journal coverage of personal technology, to help readers everywhere understand and choose among …

Discussion: @scottmaustin, @gregbensinger, @geoffreyfowler, @linecook, @joannastern, @reckless, @ohnorosco, @fmanjoo, @shiraovide and Talking Biz News

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Lara Logan to return to ‘60 Minutes’ — Lara Logan and Max McClellan, the ‘60 Minutes’ journalists who were put on a leave of absence following their now-retracted report on Benghazi, are set to return to the program early next year, POLITICO has learned. — Logan and her producer …

Discussion: TVNewser, Mediaite, @tvnewslab and The Raw Story

Eddie Vassallo / Gigaom:

The tablet magazine ship is sinking. Fast. — Last month I published a post on my company blog that caused some (shall we say) interesting feedback from both our publisher clients as well as the broader media community. While I was certainly not the first to proclaim the death of the tablet magazine …

Discussion: @clarajeffery and Anna Wahrman

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Guardian U.S. C.E.O. out after short stint — Guardian Media Group's U.S. boss is leaving the company after just a little more than a year on the job. — Michael Bloom, C.E.O. of Guardian U.S., The Guardian's American-facing digital website, “will leave the company to pursue other opportunities …

Discussion: Media Guido and @joepompeo

Lara O'Reilly / Marketing Week:
Guardian promotes chief commercial officer David Pemsel to deputy chief executive

Discussion: Guardian and @marketingweeked

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

With $5.3M In Funding, Entitle Launches E-Book Service Emphasizing Ownership And Big Titles — In the past few months, we've seen the launch of several e-book subscription services using a Netflix-style pricing model, where users pay a monthly fee and get access to any title in the catalog.

Discussion: Business Insider and Mashable

Alistair Barr / USA Today:

Google seeks brand advertising billions with YouTube — Google recently re-organized its ad business into two groups - one focusing on brands, where it sees huge growth potential, and the other on performance ads, where it already dominates — SAN FRANCISCO — Google is stepping up an effort …

Thanks:@steverubel