Mediagazer: Anonymous sources are increasing in news stories, along with rather curious explanations (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

11:35 AM ET, December 17, 2013

Top News:

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Snowden Not Renewing Request For Asylum In Brazil, Greenwald Says — Brazil has been one of the most outspoken opponents of NSA spying. Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden's letter to the people of Brazil has been “wildly misreported.” — WASHINGTON — Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden's letter …

Discussion: Gawker, TheHill, @rosiegray and New York Magazine

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 …

Darren Boyle / Press Gazette:

Guardian whistle-blower Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate US spying in return for asylum — Guardian whistle-blower Edward Snowden has offered to help the Brazilian government investigate claims of US spying on their citizens if the South American country offers him political asylum.

Discussion: folha.uol.com.br, USA Today, Associated Press, Softpedia News, ZDNet, Telegraph, Reuters, Techdirt, The Verge, Guardian and @ggreenwald

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

Discussion: The Week, TechCrunch, @tnyjohncassidy, Mediaite, TIME, @miriamelder, The Huffington Post and @ggreenwald

Anneta Konstantinides / ABC News:

Mike Huckabee to Launch ‘Huckabee Post’ — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will launch a news publication “Huckabee Post” in January 2014, ABC News has learned. — The site will cover a range of topics from news and politics to sports and pop culture, according to the former governor's son, David Huckabee.

Discussion: Fox News, FishbowlNY, TVNewser, Politico, TruthRevolt.org, TheBlaze.com, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, @mckaycoppins, The Epoch Times, @gma, @samsteinhp and @abbydphillip

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

If Time Inc wants to survive, it should create its own ad agency — In the Darwinian battle between media, an in-house, clever advertising agency could save the flailing business — I keep thinking about the existential predicament of working for Time Inc in 2014, as it gets ready to spin …

Discussion: @jeffjohnroberts, @cotton, @guardianus, @zimbalist and mUmBRELLA

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Sun publisher posts £75m pre-tax loss — News Group Newspapers took charges related to the phone-hacking scandal of almost £90m in the year to 30 June — The parent company of the Sun and Sun on Sunday has reported a pre-tax loss of £75m in the year to 30 June …

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: Gigaom, CNET, Softpedia News, Business Insider, @mat, @kashhill, Marketing Pilgrim, VatorNews, @ksablan, @politwoops, @craigsilverman, @stevebuttry and The Next Web

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: NetNewsCheck Latest and Adweek

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Documentary on the downfall of Philadelphia's newspapers to air on Wednesday night — How the Newspaper Business Became a ‘F**king Disgrace’ — A new documentary chronicles the long, slow death of the American newspaper. It all begins with a testicle.

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: Gigaom, Wired, Talking Biz News, Columbia Journalism Review, The Switch, @jcstearns, @michelemclellan and American Press Institute

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

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Brown Moses to launch site for open investigative journalism — The website, planned for early 2014, will act as a publishing platform for a network of investigative bloggers and a resource of tools and techniques to investigate issues using ‘open-source information’ Credit: Image by TapiF on Flickr.

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: @zimbalist, @newmanology, @psmith, @clarajeffery and Anna Wahrman

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Here's Digg founder Kevin Rose's idea for a new blogging platform called Tiny — Digg founder, Google Ventures partner, and Web personality Kevin Rose has a new blogging platform idea called Tiny. He published a prototype video on YouTube today which offers a glimpse into his thinking.

Discussion: The Verge, TechCrunch and Mashable

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Anonymous sources are increasing in news stories, along with rather curious explanations — According to sources who didn't insist on anonymity, more and more sources are speaking to the news media on the condition of anonymity for the oddest of reasons. — Politico, for example …

Discussion: Kirk LaPointe's …, @j_hutch and www.wnyc.org

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, bookforum.com, @sailvarmint, The Raw Story, @brucebartlett and @tvnewslab

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

News of the World managing editor ‘appalled’ at phone-hacking allegations — Stuart Kuttner told police in 2011 interview that he had never been involved in any illegal activity, Old Bailey jury hears — The former managing editor of the News of the World told police he was “utterly appalled” …

Discussion: Reuters, The Independent and Bloomberg