Top News:
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 …
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Star-Ledger:
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 …
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.
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 …
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USA Today, NetNewsCheck Latest, New York Times, Bloomberg, @awallenstein, @karaswisher, @awallenstein, @lindsaycampbell 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.
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Forbes, EU Press Room, Access Blog, Free Press Blog, Home Media Magazine, ZDNet, Reuters, BBC, PandoDaily, It's a Gadget, @openrightsgroup, @exiledsurfer, Kirk LaPointe's …, Electronista, Softpedia News, @jeffjarvis, @jaycstanley, Wired.co.uk, The Verge, @fightfortheftr, @leapfunder, @nbomb and Engadget
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 …
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@pewresearch, @christophclarey, @sarakgoo, @facttank, @jesseholcomb, @themediaisdying, @pewjournalism, @newswhip and @mathewi
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 …
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@carr2n, @jkrim, @mathewi, @markkatches, Gigaom, USA Today, Guardian, Media Nation, Mashable and Salt Lake Tribune
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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.
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Humeyra Pamuk / Reuters:
Turkey's Twitter ban violates free speech: constitutional court
Turkey's Twitter ban violates free speech: constitutional court
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@policy, Hürriyet Daily News, @pamukhum and The Verge
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
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 …
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Adweek, Variety, Deadline.com, TVbytheNumbers, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, BroadwayWorld.com and @brianstelter
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, @evanchill, @joshuafoust, @onekade, @rm867 and The Newspaper Guild
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.
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.
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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 …
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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 …
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Yahoo, Softpedia News, @ioerror, VatorNews, @skhaen, @dangillmor, Gizmodo, SlashGear, The Verge and Engadget
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 …
Chris Gayomali / Fast Company:
USC's Robert Hernandez to lead class to develop Google Glass-centric software for journalists — MEET THE USC JOURNALISM PROFESSOR LEADING A COURSE ON GOOGLE GLASS — “IT'S THE MOST MATURE WEARABLE PLATFORM THAT'S OUT THERE,” SAYS USC JOURNALISM PROFESSOR ROBERT HERNANDEZ.
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.
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International Business Times, Invezz, campaignlive.co.uk, Cable UK Blogs and Guardian
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” …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
After Five Years Of Bootstrapping, Imgur Raises $40 Million From Andreessen Horowitz & Reddit — Imgur, the image sharing service popular with Reddit users and a regular winner of the “best bootstrapped startup” award at the annual Crunchies event is no longer going it alone.
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Business Insider, The Technology Chronicles, Forbes, VentureBeat and Softpedia News