Mediagazer: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer to Launch Digital Studio with Discovery Communications (Andrew Wallenstein/Variety)

1:20 PM ET, April 3, 2014

Top News:

Star-Ledger cuts 167 jobs, including 40 newsroom positions — The Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest daily newspaper, said today it is cutting 170 jobs, including 25 percent of the newsroom staff. (Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger) — In a grim day of reckoning at the state's largest newspaper …

Discussion: New York Times, FishbowlNY, Gawker, USA Today, Poynter, NorthJersey.com, The Huffington Post, The Alternative Press, pressofAtlanticCity.com, Associated Press and New Jersey 101.5

Associated Press:

US govt secretly created “Cuban Twitter” to stir unrest, sought funding from Jack Dorsey — US secretly created “Cuban Twitter” to stir unrest — WASHINGTON (AP) — In July 2010, Joe McSpedon, a U.S. government official, flew to Barcelona to put the final touches on a secret plan …

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Gawker bans ‘Internet slang’ — “We want to sound like regular adult human beings, not Buzzfeed writers or Reddit commenters,” new Gawker Editor Max Read says in a memo to the publication's writers. Words like “epic,” “pwn” and “derp” are no longer welcome on the site.

Discussion: Mediaite, FishbowlNY, @profjeffjarvis, @jennydeluxe, @adrianchen, @choire, @mattlanger, @thestalwart, @evaholland, @moorehn, @adrjeffries, @carloslozadawp, @mlcalderone, @abeaujon, @poynter and Gawker

Jesse Holcomb / Pew Research Center:

News revenue declines despite growth from new sources — Total revenues supporting American journalism has declined by one-third since 2006, according to a new analysis by Pew Research Center. The sources of the estimated $63-$65 billion dollars supporting print, online and broadcast news has also shifted …

Discussion: @pewresearch, @christophclarey, @themediaisdying, @sarakgoo, @facttank, @jesseholcomb, @pewjournalism, @newswhip and @mathewi

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Ron Howard, Brian Grazer to Launch Digital Studio with Discovery Communications — Discovery Communications is teaming with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard to launch a digital studio, dubbed New Form. — True to its name, New Form will be focused on creating programming outside the traditional molds …

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, USA Today, New York Times, Bloomberg, @karaswisher, @awallenstein, @awallenstein, @lindsaycampbell and @tomsly

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

Digital First isn't a failure of digital publishing or a reason to stop trying to get it right — Lessons from the Digital First implosion — Schadenfreude broke out among some publishers today when Digital First Media killed an ambitious interactive publishing initiative and commenced layoffs …

Discussion: Gigaom, @carr2n, @jkrim, @mathewi, @markkatches, USA Today, Mashable, Guardian, Media Nation and Salt Lake Tribune

Dan Kennedy / The Huffington Post:
The View From New Haven: What Went Wrong With Digital First

Discussion: Poynter, Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Salt Lake Tribune, @alextt, @nickwoltman, @deanbetz, Mmm. Smooth Buttry Goodness, @mathewi, Politico, Street Fight, Philadelphia Magazine, New Haven Independent, Digital First and Nieman Journalism Lab

David Meyer / Gigaom:

European Parliament passes strong net neutrality law, along with major roaming reforms — European fans of the open internet can breathe a sigh of relief: the European parliament has passed a major package of telecoms law reform, complete with amendments that properly define and protect net neutrality.

Reuters:

Turkey lifts Twitter ban after court ruling — (Reuters) - Turkey's telecoms authority lifted a two-week-old ban on Twitter on Thursday after the constitutional court ruled the block breached freedom of expression, an official in Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Hurriyet Daily News, TechCrunch, @mike_giglio, @accessnow, Softpedia News, Electronista, The Verge and Mashable

Humeyra Pamuk / Reuters:
Turkey's Twitter ban violates free speech: constitutional court

Discussion: @policy, Hürriyet Daily News, @pamukhum and The Verge

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Tribune Buys TV Research Site TV by the Numbers, and Relaunches a TV Portal — Do we need more websites about TV shows? We're getting one anyway — or, at least, a revamped one: Tribune Co. is buying TV ratings site TV By the Numbers, and is using it to relaunch Zap2it.com …

Discussion: Adweek, Variety, Deadline.com, TVbytheNumbers, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, BroadwayWorld.com and @brianstelter

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

IBT's new editor: a focus on the “undercovered” parts of the globe — Last week, Peter Goodman started as international editor-in-chief of International Business Times, the site that's been less known for its content than for its founders' controversial religious ties and its parent IBT Media's controversial bitcoin story in Newsweek.

Discussion: @digiday, @petersgoodman and Talking Biz News

Ann E. Marimow / Washington Post:

Ex-State Dept adviser Stephen J. Kim sentenced to 13 months for leaking classified information to FOX News — Ex-State Department adviser Stephen J. Kim sentenced in leak case — A former State Department arms expert who leaked classified information to a Fox News reporter was sentenced Wednesday …

Discussion: New York Times, @joshuafoust, @evanchill, @onekade, @rm867 and The Newspaper Guild

Dominic Patten / Deadline.com:

Aereo gets support from Dish Network, EFF, small broadcasters and more in Supreme Court briefs — Aereo Attracts Support From Dish Network, EFF & More For SCOTUS Hearing — DEVELOPING: With less than three weeks before Aereo argues its case in front of the Supreme Court …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, @jeffjohnroberts, Variety, CNET, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety

Mike Masnick / Techdirt: Those Who Insist Aereo Ruling Won't Impact Cloud Computing Don't Seem To Understand Cloud Computing

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:

Liberty Media to Sell Most of Its Stake in Barnes & Noble — Nearly three years ago, Liberty Media wanted to buy all of Barnes & Noble, before settling for a big stake. Now it appears that the media conglomerate has had enough. — Liberty announced on Thursday that it would divest …

Discussion: Forbes, Media & Entertainment, USATODAY.com, Reuters, Bloomberg, Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, 24/7 Wall St., New Jersey 101.5, NASDAQ.com, Fox Business and ABC News

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

Yahoo unveils encryption measures to protect users' data — Response to Snowden revelations aims to make encryption the default for all traffic through Yahoo — Yahoo has announced major steps to encrypt its users' data in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about the extent …

Discussion: Yahoo, @ioerror, @skhaen, Softpedia News, VatorNews, @dangillmor, Gizmodo, SlashGear, The Verge and Engadget

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Heseltine takes control at Haymarket Publishing as it reports £8m loss — Owner of magazines, including Stuff and Autocar, produces one-off results for 18 months and outlines reorganisation — Lord Heseltine has taken full control of Haymarket Publishing. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Guardian:

Martin Sorrell: 'Don't underestimate the impact of Snowden revelations among consumers' - video — Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP Group, speaks to Mark Sweney at the Advertising Week Europe conference about Google v NewsCorp, why people are underestimating the significance …

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

Native ads: Advertorial for the digital age — Talking Points Memo, Andrew Sullivan, and advertising as a necessary evil — The native-ad wars have flared up again, this time over Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, the longtime standard bearer for serious, digital-first, for-profit news.

Discussion: The Dish

Telegraph:

Bids for Channel 5 expected to be less than half £700m asking price — Auction of broadcaster will disappoint Richard Desmond, say sources — The sale of Channel 5 is expected to attract bids of less than half the £700m price tag attached to the broadcaster by its owner Richard Desmond, it can be disclosed.

Discussion: International Business Times, Invezz, campaignlive.co.uk, Cable UK Blogs and Guardian

Matt Burns / TechCrunch:

Popcorn Time Has A New Home — After a brief stint without a home, Popcorn Time is back online at Popcorn-time.tv. I give it two weeks until the site is pulled and it pops up somewhere else. Meanwhile the installer is actively traded on torrent sites and back on GitHub …

Discussion: Business Insider and Mashable

Alison Flood / Guardian:

Julian Assange book to recount clash with Google chief Eric Schmidt — When Google Met Wikileaks will recount emblematic 'tug-of war over the internet's future' — Julian Assange is writing a “major” new book, in which the Wikileaks founder details his vision for the “future of the internet” …