Mediagazer: The Rise of the Facebook Truthers (Will Oremus/Slate)

10:55 AM ET, February 12, 2014

Top News:

Greenwald's ‘The Intercept’ Gets Intercepted on Day One — With access to Edward Snowden's treasure-trove and four months to prepare, the new magazine got scooped by the 168-year-old Associated Press on the world's biggest drone story Monday. — The Intercept has landed—but with a bang or a thud?

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog and @thedailybeast

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Does a ‘savvy media observer’ require anonymity for smack talk? Apparently so! — In Lloyd Grove's column about The Intercept, a “savvy media observer and journalist” lets Glenn Greenwald's new publication have it: … Let's just let that waft on the breeze for a moment. — OK.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @ggreenwald, @sulliview and @antderosa

Johana Bhuiyan / Capital New York:
The very public growth of The Intercept

Discussion: Pressthink

J.C. Stearns / Free Press Blog:

US plummets to #46 in Global Press Freedom Rankings — According to a new report from Reporters Without Borders, there was a profound erosion of press freedom in the United States in 2013. — After a year of attacks on whistleblowers and digital journalists and revelations about mass surveillance …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, The Huffington Post, Guardian, India Real Time, Freedom of the Press …, @starvfilmcritic, @freepress and @jcstearns

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

UK slips down press freedom index due to harassment of the Guardian — US also registers fall in latest world press freedom index — Major declines in media freedom in countries as varied as the United States, Central African Republic and Guatemala are highlighted in the latest annual …

Discussion: Poynter, Latest News & Headlines, Reuters, The Raw Story and American Press Institute

Agence France Presse:
US under fire in global press freedom report

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, @umairh, @jayrosen_nyu, Washington Times and Al Jazeera America

Austin Ramzy / New York Times:

Free Press Groups Warn of China's Influence on Hong Kong and Taiwan Media — Press freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan, which have long been known for their boisterous news media, is under increasing pressure from China, as news outlets curtail coverage that might anger government officials …

Paul Mooney / Nieman Reports:
The state of journalism in China, 25 years after Tiananmen

Discussion: @alecash, @david__moser and @niemanreports

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

The Facebook Effect on the News — Social networks are the new front page and homepage for news. But on Facebook, it's not the “news” that readers come to see or click to leave. — Around this time last year, I considered writing a story claiming that Facebook and Twitter were the new “homepages” for news on the Internet.

Discussion: @jbennet, @kevinroose, Felix Salmon, @mathewi, @holmesdm, @alexismadrigal, @theatlantic, @millie and @darcyday

Will Oremus / Slate:

The Rise of the Facebook Truthers — Journalists will believe anything about the social network, as long as it's totally outlandish. — Something about Facebook makes journalists lose their minds. How else to explain the seemingly unending procession of stories based on wild speculation and implausible conspiracy theories?

Discussion: Forbes, PandoDaily, Boing Boing, Business Insider, Nieman Journalism Lab, WebProNews and Kirk LaPointe's …

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:

Second-screen apps? Viewers say ho-hum, but execs see potential — Andrew Lincoln appears in a scene from “The Walking Dead.” The show has been using second-screen technology to engage viewers. (Gene Page / AMC) — Networks, advertisers and tech start-ups have been trying …

Henry Taylor / The Media Briefing:

BuzzFeed's native advertising: are they really making ads you want to share? — BuzzFeed is a business built on sharing. That doesn't just mean shareable articles, it also means shareable ads. But do people really want to share this branded content? We thought we'd take a look …

Discussion: @blathnaidhealy, @mashplant and @henryctaylor, Thanks:@rorybrown

Reuters:

Turkish editor hits out at media coercion under Erdogan — (Reuters) - A prominent Turkish newspaper editor has openly decried government pressure on the media, saying journalists live in fear, in unusually blunt criticism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's leadership months ahead of elections.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and @pamukhum

Gideon Spanier / London Evening Standard:

Net-A-Porter's glossy mag is raising hackles at Vogue — The glossy world of fashion magazines hasn't seen a war like this for years. Porter, a new print title published by online retailer Net-A-Porter, is going head to head with Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and other established names.

Joseph P. Kahn / The Boston Globe:

Garry Trudeau plans hiatus from daily ‘Doonesbury’ — Saying that newspaper comic strips aren't as influential as they used to be, Garry Trudeau will put daily production of “Doonesbury” on long-term hiatus beginning Feb. 24. Instead, he plans to focus on “Alpha House,” an original Web series that he's helped create for Amazon.

Discussion: Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Salt Lake Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Herald-Dispatch.com and Comics Alliance

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Are publishers overselling social traffic at the expense of search? A dialogue with Danny Sullivan … You may have seen my column yesterday on the rise of content designed for social sharing — a category that for me includes everything from pure-viral outlets like Upworthy to more newsy but still sharing-optimized sites like Quartz.

Discussion: American Press Institute and @niemanlab

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Why the NYT published the general location of a planned drone strike and the AP held back — New York Times Editor: Government Requests To Hold Info Are ‘Almost Blanket Policy’ — NEW YORK — The Associated Press revealed Monday that the U.S. government is considering a drone strike …

Discussion: New York Times

Tess Stynes / Wall Street Journal:

Thomson Reuters Swings to Loss on Restructuring Charges — Company Says Revenue from Financial and Risk Division Fell 2.4% in Fourth Quarter — Thomson Reuters Corp. swung to a fourth-quarter loss as the financial data provider posted restructuring charges and revenue declined at its core financial and risk division.

Ian Traynor / Guardian:

Edward Snowden asylum demand dropped by European parliament — MEPs fail to reach consensus on amendment to inquiry calling on governments to assure NSA whistleblower of his safety — The European parliament is to ditch demands on Wednesday that EU governments give guarantees of asylum …

Discussion: TheHill and @janalbrecht

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Ebook subscription service Oyster teams up with Disney and rolls out kids' vertical — Oyster, the New York-based startup that aims to be the Netflix for ebooks, has added about 100 titles from Disney Publishing to its service and is rolling out a new children's vertical Wednesday.

BBC:

Missing Mexican journalist Gregorio Jimenez found dead — The body of Mexican journalist Gregorio Jimenez, who was kidnapped a week ago, has been found buried in the town of Las Choapas, in eastern Veracruz state. — Mr Jimenez was abducted by masked gunmen from his home in Coatzacoalcos.

Discussion: GlobalPost and Associated Press

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

John Battelle on His New Venture: Programmatic for Publishers Big and Small — PALM SPRINGS, CA - John Battelle, who sold Federated Media last month, has kept the programmatic unit of the company which is called Sovryn. In this interview with Beet.TV, he talks about the opportunities around programmatic for publishers.

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Facebook Lays Claim to Twitter's Live TV Territory — Social media giant cites new research demonstrating users comment on TV shows while they air — In their battle for advertising dollars, Facebook and Twitter have taken positions in the marketplace to differentiate themselves.

Discussion: @jimconnolly

Nick Vivarelli / Variety:

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions Teams Up With Al-Monitor For Middle East Web Specials — MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and Washington-based website Al-Monitor.com have teamed-up to produce a series of Web video specials on Middle East politics titled Trendlines to be streamed on the PBS NewsHour webiste …

Discussion: Rapid TV News and TV Media Insights

Richard Kastelein / TV App Market:

Nearly 70% of Europeans download or stream films for free — Nearly 70% of Europeans download or stream films for free, whether legally or illegally, according to a new European Commission study on audience behaviour. It also finds that 40% of smartphone owners and more than 60% of tablet owners watch films on their devices.

Discussion: infojustice

Reuters:

Longtime NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw diagnosed with cancer — Veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw, the face of “NBC Nightly News” for more than two decades, has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, but is hopeful about the outcome of his treatment, the network said on Tuesday.

Discussion: NBC News, FishbowlNY, Mediaite, TVNewser and @nickkristof