Mediagazer: The UK TV licence fee should cover iPlayer on-demand too, says BBC Director-General (Paul Sawers/The Next Web)

5:45 AM ET, February 27, 2014

Top News:

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Battle between New York attorney general and Trump casts shadow over The New York Observer — A New York Observer Article Brings a Spat in Trump's Orbit — Bill Gifford was managing an ice cream shop in Maplewood, N.J., last summer when a customer, Ken Kurson, the editor of The New York Observer, came in with an unorthodox request.

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
Emails Show How Donald Trump's Enemy Became the Observer's Enemy

Discussion: @ggreeneva, @jbenton, @jimmyvielkind, @lhfang, @nickconfessore, @jaredbkeller, @hunterw, Capital New York and The New York Observer

Guardian:

Guardian Australia stands in solidarity with imprisoned journalists — On the global day of action in support of the al-Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt, Guardian Australia stands in solidarity with all persecuted and threatened journalists — Guardian Australia condemns the harassment …

Dominica Lim / Al Jazeera America:
Al Jazeera calls for global day of action on Feb. 27 to support detained journalists in Egypt

Discussion: Index on Censorship, @jumurungi, @ajam, @joepompeo, CMG, Al Jazeera English, The Huffington Post, Reuters and Capital New York, Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Katrin Bennhold / New York Times:

Tears and Tissues as Editor Testifies in Phone Hacking Case — LONDON — The tabloids Rebekah Brooks once edited might have paid six figures or more for details like those she has been divulging about her personal life during her trial on phone hacking charges: the celebrity husband …

Jill Lawless / Associated Press: Rebekah Brooks says she offered convicted phone hacker a job to keep him from going public

Guardian:
Rebekah Brooks tells court she didn't read NoW interview with phone hacker

Discussion: CNN, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk and canada.com

Corynne McSherry / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Bad Facts, Really Bad Law: Court Orders Google to Censor Controversial Video Based on Spurious Copyright Claim — It's an old legal adage that bad facts lead to bad legal decisions, and today we've got a classic example in Garcia v. Google—the “Innocence of Muslims” case.

Discussion: @notjessewalker and @alisternburg

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Google ordered to remove anti-Islamic film from YouTube

Discussion: Gigaom, Mercury News, CNET, The Verge, @fedcourtjunkie, @flohmann, New York Times, Mashable, Courthouse News Service and Hollywood Reporter

Corey Hutchins / Columbia Journalism Review:

Why did the FCC want to interview journalists in the first place? — Context for the agency's Critical Information Needs study—and for the backlash it sparked — CHARLESTON, SC — The Federal Communications Commission publicly backed off part of a controversial research study last week …

Discussion: @coreyhutchins and Techdirt

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:
Clyburn Defends FCC's Critical Needs Study

Discussion: @jbflint, @eggerton, Los Angeles Times, @eggerton, Watchdog.org and TheHill

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

The UK TV licence fee should cover iPlayer on-demand too, says BBC Director-General — At the 13th annual Oxford Media Convention in England today, BBC Director-General Tony Hall outlined his case for publicly funded broadcasting and, more specifically, the UK TV licence fee.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Daily Mail, BBC, mirror, Gloucester and Guardian

John Plunkett / Guardian:
BBC could axe frontline channel or service as it seeks extra £100m in cuts

Discussion: @ade_jacobs, @mid_wifecrisis and Reuters Institute …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Becomes A “Second Screen,” Teams Up With FOX To Offer Online Voting Tools For “American Idol” — Blippar Introduces Image Recognition And AR Advertising On Google Glass — So much for Twitter as the “second screen” and all its TV partnerships - Google announced this morning …

Discussion: Inside Search, Variety, Wall Street Journal, BetaNews, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, 9to5Mac, The Next Web and The Wrap

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Marketing Chief Kathy Savitt's Star Rises at Yahoo — A management shake-up at Yahoo Inc. has conferred more power on Kathy Savitt, a marketing executive who has quickly risen to become one of Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's most prominent and trusted lieutenants.

Discussion: @wsjd

Jessica Davies / The Drum:

‘Mobile-first’ has become a meaningless term, says FT's CTO John O'Donovan while unveiling ‘universal publishing’ strategy — The term mobile-first has become “meaningless” in this multiplatform landscape where it has become crucial not to “obsess” over specific platforms but focus on the wider picture …

Cory Bergman / Breaking News Blog:

How Breaking News users personalized their Olympics — Thousands of Breaking News users tracked the 2014 Olympics on their own terms, muting stories to avoid spoilers or personalizing push notifications to ping them with results of their favorite events. We published over 600 Olympics updates …

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Warner Bros. Considers Investment in Machinima — Warner Bros. is mulling an investment in Web video network Machinima. — The film studio is said to be considering putting $10 million to $15 million into Machinima, a gaming-centric company that has built a big following on YouTube, according to people familiar with the situation.

Discussion: @pkafka and @benfritz

NetNewsCheck:

Radio Industry Digital Rev Up 15% In 2013 — Overall, radio sellers closed $426.3 million in local online advertising last year, with the average station generating $166,000 in digital ad revenue in 2013, according to a new report from Borrell Associates. The firm expectss the industry's digital revenue to grow 22% in 2014.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

All Alternatives Considered: How Slate thinks a daily podcast can fit into your evening commute — When Slate decided to get into the daily drive-time podcast business, they decided to take a cue from a proven winner: sports radio. At least the public radio version of sports radio …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @fmanjoo and @jacobwe

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Ugandan activist on tabloid list of LGBT citizens: ‘they are using us to make sales’ … Ugandan LGBT rights activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, who was on the list a tabloid newspaper published of LGBT citizens, spoke Wednesday on the CBC's Q with Jian Ghomeshi.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @poynter and Associated Press

Merrill Knox / TVNewser:

Bloomberg, El Financiero Launch Business Channel in Mexico, Central America — Bloomberg and Mexican newspaper El Financiero are teaming up to launch a multiplatform Spanish-language business news service, including a television network that will serve as Mexico and Central America's only Spanish-language business news channel.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

David Freedlander / The Daily Beast:

“Dirty Wars” author talks about Oscar nomination for documentary and launch of “The Intercept” — The Skunk at the Oscar Party — Jeremy Scahill may not fit in amongst Leo and Marty, but even if he doesn't take home a statue for his documentary 'Dirty Wars …

Discussion: @jlllow, @the_intercept, @haymarketbooks and Mediaite

Alex Pareene / The Baffler:

NYT's Sorkin and DealBook focus on building journalistic brands instead of reporting — A stacked deck at the New York Times — The New York Times, as everybody knows, is the premier source of authoritative journalism in the world's most powerful formal democracy.

Discussion: bookforum.com, @schadenfraade, @clarajeffery, @heavenrants, @ryanchittum, @ryanchittum, @stewartwills and @owillis

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Vice News, where video works — Here are two truths: Fewer and fewer people get their news from television anymore, and very few news organizations are capable of creating compelling video news packages online. Here's another truth: The news organizations that have the reach and the resources …

Discussion: @spencerchumbley, @ashishp, @jbenton, @daviduberti, @vicenews and @dylanbyers