Mediagazer: Major labels sue Russian social network vKontakte for ‘large-scale’ music piracy (Stuart Dredge/Guardian)

9:20 AM ET, April 3, 2014

Top News:

The View From New Haven: What Went Wrong With Digital First — The end may be near for one of the most widely watched experiments in local journalism. — Early today, Ken Doctor reported at the Nieman Journalism Lab that Digital First Media was pulling the plug on Project Thunderdome …

Discussion: Poynter, Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Mashable, @nickwoltman, @alextt, @deanbetz, @mathewi, Politico, Salt Lake Tribune, Street Fight, Philadelphia Magazine, New Haven Independent and Nieman Journalism Lab

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: @mathewi, @carr2n, Media Nation and @sladurantaye

John Paton / Digital First:

Moving On From Thunderdome — Media changes very fast these days and nothing changes faster than digital. — Make a change, then get set in your ways and become reluctant to make other changes and you get left behind. — Today, we are going to be making some changes to our Project Thunderdome activities and go in a new direction.

Discussion: Mmm. Smooth Buttry Goodness, Gigaom, USA Today, Guardian, Poynter, @jbenton, @mattsebastian, @gnadv, @jilliansed, @raju, @dfmthunderdome, @stevebuttry, NetNewsCheck Latest and Kirk LaPointe's …

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 …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Capital New York, Gizmodo, Riptide 2.0, The Week, Daily Mail, RT, The Independent, Telegraph, Quartz, @themurdochtimes, @drixander, @jpacedc, @texasinafrica, @paullewis, @b_fung, The Voice of Russia, News, @thekarami and @peterlattman

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Those Who Insist Aereo Ruling Won't Impact Cloud Computing Don't Seem To Understand Cloud Computing — A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the Aereo case, which will be heard by the Supreme Court in a few weeks, is likely to have a huge impact on the future of cloud computing, and went into detail to explain why.

Dominic Patten / Deadline.com:
Aereo gets support from Dish Network, EFF, small broadcasters and more in Supreme Court briefs

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

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: New York Times, Bloomberg, @karaswisher, @lindsaycampbell, @awallenstein, @awallenstein and @tomsly

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.

Discussion: Access Blog, Softpedia News, Reuters, The Verge, @jaycstanley and @leapfunder

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Parental controls, gaming, and Amazon's focus on kids' content could give Fire TV a boost — Here's why Amazon's Fire TV could become a big seller: Kids — Amazon's new Fire TV streaming box offers a lot of the same content that's already available through competing devices like Apple TV …

Discussion: Daily Dot, ZDNet, Softpedia News, @alexweprin, It's a Gadget, Radio & Television …, New York Times and Broadcasting & Cable

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget:
Amazon launches Fire TV, an Android-powered streaming and gaming set-top box for $99

Discussion: The Verge, Amazon.com, ReadWrite, TechCrunch, cnbc.com, Gigaom, MacRumors, @joshwsmith, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, The Verge, @tim, canada.com, BBC, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, CNNMoney.com, TechRadar.com, The Wire, The Next Web, SlashGear, Mashable, ExtremeTech, VG247, NBC News, TechCrunch, @emily and The Verge

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Same Stuff, Same Price, More Features: Amazon's TV Box Aims at Apple TV and Roku

Discussion: New York Times, AdAge, USA Today, The Wrap, Mashable, @pkafka, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Wired, TIME, Businessweek, Washington Post, The Huffington Post and App Advice

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

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Major labels sue Russian social network vKontakte for ‘large-scale’ music piracy — Sony, Universal and Warner want court to force site to scan for copyrighted songs and pay damages — Three major labels are suing Russian social network vKontakte, claiming that the company has deliberately fostered …

Discussion: TechCrunch, BBC, Wall Street Journal, rapsinews.com and Music Week

Joel Hills / ITV:

Independent owner yet to receive a single offer for the newspaper — The owner of the Independent has been looking for someone to take on the newspaper since the beginning of the year. — Today Evgeny Lebedev admitted, although there have been expressions of interest, he has yet to receive a single offer.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Sam Thielman / Adweek:

You Can Buy Nielsen Ratings on YouTube Starting Next Month — Google is now confident enough in Nielsen's Online Campaign Ratings product (which has been nipped and tucked by the data company over the last few years in ways that have quieted some of the more skeptical marketers) …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and MediaPost

WashPostPR / Washington Post:

The Washington Post Launches New Arts & Style Section, Redesigned Magazine — The Washington Post today announced updates to its Sunday feature sections to enhance the weekend reader experience. Beginning April 6, the Arts and Sunday Style sections combine into one robust source of arts …

Discussion: @mlcalderone

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Daily Mail merges foreign desk with online and looks to integrate sport across seven days — The Daily Mail is merging its foreign desk with Mail Online and looking to integrate sport across the Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday and Online operation. — So far the Mail titles have retained distinct daily, Sunday and online operations.

Heather Timmons / Quartz:

China's state media seem to be at odds with China's state censors — China's state media have been openly reporting on recent protests, even as censors have been scrubbing news about them from social media. — The protests, over the planned construction of a chemical plant in the southern city of Maoming …