Mediagazer: European Parliament passes strong net neutrality law, along with major roaming reforms (David Meyer/Gigaom)

3:50 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: Columbia Journalism Review, New York Times, FishbowlNY, Gawker, USA Today, Associated Press, NorthJersey.com, The Huffington Post, New Jersey 101.5, The Alternative Press, pressofAtlanticCity.com, Poynter and New York Magazine

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, @jaredbkeller, @ryanchittum, @profjeffjarvis, Gawker, @evaholland, @moorehn, @adrianchen, @abeaujon, @mattlanger, @poynter, @choire, @thestalwart, @mlcalderone, @sladurantaye, @adrjeffries, @jennydeluxe and @carloslozadawp

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: Columbia Journalism Review, Poynter, @sarakgoo, @facttank, @jesseholcomb, @themediaisdying, @christophclarey, @pewjournalism, @pewresearch, @newswhip and @mathewi

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.

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

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.

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

Guardian staffers win top IRE prize for NSA series — The Investigative Reporters & Editors medal for 2014 goes to Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Ewen MacAskill and others for the Guardian's reports on the NSA, which “revealed a story that continues to reverberate in the United States and across the globe,” the judges say.

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: @carr2n, @jkrim, @mathewi, @markkatches, USA Today, Gigaom, 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, Salt Lake Tribune, @alextt, @nickwoltman, @deanbetz, Columbia Journalism Review, @mathewi, Street Fight, Digital First, Nieman Journalism Lab, Politico and New Haven Independent

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

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 and Forbes

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

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

Kim Zetter / Wired:

Barrett Brown Signs Plea Deal in Case Involving Stratfor Hack — Barrett Brown, whose case became a cause célèbre after he was charged with crimes related to the Stratfor hack, has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, according to court filings.

Discussion: @dellcam, FrontBurner and Daily Dot

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

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, Gizmodo, @dangillmor, Softpedia News, VatorNews, 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 …

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

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” …