Mediagazer: DVD screener leaks decline as distributors crack down on leakers, test digital options (Liz Shannon Miller/Gigaom)

8:35 AM ET, March 3, 2014

Top News:

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:

On the meaning of journalistic independence — This morning, I see that some people are quite abuzz about a new Pando article “revealing” that the foundation of Pierre Omidyar, the publisher of First Look Media which publishes The Intercept, gave several hundred thousand dollars to a Ukraininan …

Discussion: USA Today, PandoDaily, @glennf, @qhardy, @mathewi, @kljdavis, @jfagone, PandoDaily, @mattyglesias, @tilojung and The Raw Story

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
First Look Media could preempt controversy by publishing a statement of principles endorsed by employees and investors

Discussion: @albertocairo, Omidyar Network, emptywheel and @jayrosen_nyu

Liz Shannon Miller / Gigaom:

DVD screener leaks decline as distributors crack down on leakers, test digital options — Looking for Oscars torrents? This is why you may end up empty-handed — If Ellen DeGeneres mentions the film The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty on Sunday night, it might be with a wince …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, Forbes, Softpedia News, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone and mUmBRELLA

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Rebekah Brooks: NI's ‘rogue reporter’ defence shaky after 2009 revelations — Former News International chief tells phone-hacking trial that company's corporate line came from NoW editor Colin Myler — Rebekah Brooks knew that News International's position in 2009 that phone hacking …

Discussion: BelfastTelegraph.co.uk and National Updates

David Carr / New York Times:

Foreign Buyers Eyeing Forbes Magazine, a Chronicler of the World's Wealthiest — Growing up in the Midwest, my idea of rich was my dentist, who lived a few blocks away and had a split-level that was bigger than the rest of ours and a Cadillac in the driveway.

Discussion: @counternotions and @raju

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Guardian corrects: Bradley Manning didn't take Ellen's Oscar selfie — Ellen DeGeneres' “Oscar selfie” is now the most retweeted photo ever. But that bit of history wasn't apparently enough for The Guardian, which appended this somewhat amazing correction: to some of its Academy Awards coverage:

Discussion: @theellenshow, NY Daily News, Guardian, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, @hriefs, @jorcohen, @moneyries, @elanazak, AllTwitter and TechCrunch

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Washington Post opens tech outpost in New York — The Washington Post is expanding its New York footprint with the creation of a Manhattan-based design and development office. — The new satellite hub, called WPNYC, will result in more than a dozen new hires including designers, strategists and information architects.

Discussion: @jenny8lee, @zseward, @abeaujon and @raju

Abigail Edge / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC to air ‘mini-documentary’ filmed entirely on an iPhone, a first for the organisation — Radio reporter films ‘mini-documentary’ using iPhone — The series of short videos, filmed by a reporter for BBC Northampton, is said to be a first for BBC local or network radio

Discussion: @c4cj

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Comcast Is Acquiring Video Ad Company FreeWheel For $320 Million — Over the years, FreeWheel has become the go-to ad-serving platform for many TV networks that stream their content online. And it's about to become part of one of the biggest distributors of content online and off.

Discussion: AdExchanger, Variety, Re/code and CNET

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Vice CEO: Woodward and Bernstein used to be punks, too — I have not yet seen Vice News, the media conglomerate's expanded news operation, in all its glory. Shane Smith, the company's CEO, is trying to get me an invitation. “Our beta's oversubscribed,” he said by phone from Brooklyn.

Discussion: Guardian

Los Angeles Times:

TV news employee rescued after being trapped in waist-deep mud — A TV news employee trying to report from the scene of an unstable Azusa hillside Friday got stuck in waist-high mud and had to be rescued. The man was reporting in the hillside above the home of Dennis Sanderson on Ridge View Drive when he got stuck in the mud.

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, @miguelnbc, NY Daily News, LA Observed, BuzzFeed, Daily Mail, Deadline.com and The Huffington Post

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

End of an Era? Clinton Media Strategy May Be Due for an Overhaul — WASHINGTON — Soon after Hillary Rodham Clinton left the State Department, her longtime spokesman talked wistfully about their paradise lost. — “We knew the golden age was coming to an end,” Philippe Reines said.

Discussion: @arimelber, @arimelber and @jasondhorowitz

Isabella Steger / Wall Street Journal:

Thousands Take to the Streets to Support Hong Kong Press Freedom — Attacked Hong Kong Journalist's Condition Improves — HONG KONG—Thousands turned out Sunday in Hong Kong to support media freedom after the condition of former newspaper editor Kevin Lau, who was the victim of a brutal knife attack, took a turn for the better.

Discussion: Bloomberg, San Francisco Chronicle, Voice of America, Agence France Presse and New York Times