Mediagazer: Guardian Labs looks beyond ads to engaging content (Arif Durrani/MediaWeek)

12:25 PM ET, February 20, 2014

Top News:

Rebekah Brooks acquitted of one charge of misconduct in phone hacking trial — Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks has been formally found not guilty of one charge of misconduct in a public office but she remains on trial for four further counts.

BBC:

Phone-hacking trial: Brooks denies knowledge while NoW boss — Rebekah Brooks has denied knowing about phone hacking during her time as editor of the now-defunct News of the World. — Mrs Brooks said that during her three-year leadership of the paper, she had never heard private investigator Glenn Mulcaire's name mentioned.

Discussion: Press Association, Kirk LaPointe's … and @bbcbreaking

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks not on trial for having worked for Rupert Murdoch, court told

Discussion: Deadline.com and New York Times

Josh Halliday / Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks: NoW spent up to $250,000 on Divine Brown story

Discussion: Press Association, @kamintone and ITV

Maggie Michael / Associated Press:

Trial of Al Jazeera reporters begins in Egypt as Human Rights Watch group denounces charges — Rights Group Denounces Egypt Reporters Trial — A rights group has denounced Egypt's stand on freedom of expression as 20 employees of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network are due to go on trial.

Discussion: Associated Press, @inigogilmore, Agence France Presse, BBC, Agence France Presse, Foreign Policy, CNN, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, @leloveluck, allAfrica.com, Al Jazeera English, @leloveluck and Guardian

ABC:
Peter Greste profile: Career of a foreign correspondent

Discussion: TheAustralian, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Radio Australia, @perryalexj, @sarahskynews, HeraldSun, ABC, Brisbane Times, @ivorytowerjourn and NEWS.com.au

Ahram Online:
Trial of Al Jazeera journalists adjourned until 5 March

Discussion: Poynter, Al Jazeera Press Office, Al Jazeera America and Reuters

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

FCC: ‘No intention’ of muzzling press — The Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) is trying to reassure House Republicans that it has no plans to restrict the freedom of the press. — In a letter released Thursday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Republican leaders of the House Energy …

Discussion: Mediaite

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times: FCC wants to improve quality of closed captioning

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi joins Omidyar's First Look Media to cover financial and political corruption — Start-Up Site Hires Critic of Wall St. — Matt Taibbi, who made a name as a fierce critic of Wall Street at Rolling Stone magazine, has joined First Look Media …

Baltimore Sun:

Baltimore Sun Media Group to buy City Paper — Staff reports — The Baltimore Sun Media Group said today it is buying the alternative weekly City Paper for an undisclosed price. The transaction is set to close in March, the company said. — The move brings together two of the Baltimore area's most well-known news organizations.

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Poynter, @carr2n, @alexkoppelman, @pinkgrammar and @jfruh

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

LinkedIn's competitive advantage over other publishers: $1.5B in annual revenues — LinkedIn has the one thing other publishing platforms would kill for — We've been writing a lot lately about the increasingly blurry lines between platform and publisher, a world in which new-media entities …

Discussion: Forbes, blog.linkedin.com, Nieman Journalism Lab, Re/code, Real Lawyers Have Blogs, @emilybell, Engadget and ZDNet

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Before Facebook Deal, WhatsApp Was Helping BuzzFeed and Shazam Go Viral With New Platform Tools — Unlike mobile messaging competitors including Line and WeChat, WhatsApp has taken a resolute stance against becoming a platform that distributes games and other apps.

Discussion: Facebook, Sequoia Capital, Fortune, CNNMoney.com, TechCrunch, The Verge, @buzzfeedben, @antderosa, @ezraklein and The Verge

Arif Durrani / MediaWeek:

Guardian Labs looks beyond ads to engaging content — Anna Watkins is on a mission at The Guardian. Full of purpose and radiating energy, she is out to prove just what her favourite news brand is capable of when it comes to creating long-term, engaging commercial partnerships.

Bloomberg:

Sochi Olympics a ‘Tremendous Success’ for NBC, CEO Says — NBCUniversal, overcoming smaller prime-time TV audiences, views its Winter Olympics coverage in Sochi as a “tremendous success,” Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke said. — “In 2011 we made a major commitment of over $4 billion …

Discussion: CBS News and Forbes

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

How The Syrian Electronic Army Hacked Us: A Detailed Timeline — Early Thursday morning, a Forbes senior executive was woken up by a call from her assistant, saying that she'd be working from home due to a forecast predicting the snowiest day of the year. When she ended the call …

Discussion: Digiday

Dylan Byers / Politico:

POLITICO taps Hotline EIC for Campaign Pro — POLITICO has hired National Journal Hotline editor-in-chief Steve Shepard to help launch the latest venture in its growing subscription-service empire: Campaign Pro, “a vertical aimed at political, PAC and campaign professionals.”

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Andrew Lapin / Current.org:

ProPublica receives $1M grant from MacArthur Foundation — ProPublica will receive a $1 million Award for Creative and Effective Institutions from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the funder announced Thursday. The nonprofit is the only news organization among the seven recipients selected.

Discussion: ProPublica, Poynter, Politico and Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bloomberg:

Slim Said to Plan Bigger New York Times Stake by Year-End — Billionaire Carlos Slim plans to exercise warrants by the end of the year that will more than double his stake in the New York Times Co. to as much as 19 percent, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Discussion: Crain's New York Business, Reuters, @tobinharshaw and FishbowlNY

Ted Johnson / Variety:

Utah Federal Judge Halts Aereo in Salt Lake City and Denver — A federal judge in Utah has imposed a preliminary injunction on Aereo's operations, a win for broadcasters as they seek to halt the startup streaming service in Salt Lake City and Denver. — “Based on the plain language …

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Co. publishing spinoff may include $325 million dividend — Debt accompanies assets as two companies separate … When Tribune Co. spins off its publishing business, expected by midyear, the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily newspapers will be on their own to navigate the fast-changing media landscape.

Discussion: @alexckaufman

Dan Mitchell / Fortune:

Chipotle seeks TV partner for its food-industry satire — Bringing Farmed and Dangerous to a TV network would be a major win for a show produced in part to advance a corporate interest. — FORTUNE — Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) has held talks with several TV networks to continue Farmed and Dangerous …

Discussion: Reuters, Denver Post, Wall Street Journal, Drovers CattleNetwork and Tubefilter

Lucia Moses / Adweek:

New Report Says How Much Advertising Is Going to Piracy Sites $227 million in 2013 — In the longstanding fight to combat online piracy, there's been growing pressure on the advertisers whose ads appear on sites that steal copyrighted material. The Obama administration has called for private-sector actions to reduce piracy.

Discussion: PR Newswire, @lamyj, @respectcreators, copyrightalliance.org …, Techie News, WorldScreen.com, TorrentFreak and VentureBeat

Washington Post:

Alison Coliagnese to become reader representative — Announcement from Marty Baron, Executive Editor, and Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor: — We're delighted to announce that Alison Coliagnese will become the Post's Reader Representative, succeeding Doug Feaver.