Mediagazer: Daily Mail merges foreign desk with online and looks to integrate sport across seven days (Dominic Ponsford/Press Gazette)

7:50 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: Columbia Journalism Review, Washington Post, Mashable, Poynter, @nickwoltman, @alextt, @deanbetz, @mathewi, Politico, Salt Lake Tribune, Philadelphia Magazine, Street Fight and Nieman Journalism Lab

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

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, Media Nation and @sladurantaye

Associated Press:

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 to build a social media project aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government.

Discussion: Daily Mail, RT, The Independent, Telegraph, Quartz, 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 — 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

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: @karaswisher, @lindsaycampbell, @awallenstein, @awallenstein and @tomsly

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

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, @pkafka, Variety, Los Angeles Times, Wired, TIME, Businessweek, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Mashable and App Advice

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, Gizmodo, The Verge, @joshwsmith, @tim, Wall Street Journal, 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

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

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: Reuters and Access Blog

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 …

John McDuling / Quartz:

CNN's over-the-top, nonstop coverage of MH370 might solve its ratings problem — “It was the most-watched event in TV history, and CNN owned it,” wrote Entertainment Weekly. — That was 1991, when the Gulf War propelled CNN (and for that matter, 24-hour cable news) into the American mainstream.

Discussion: Variety and Business Insider

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Ohio Newspaper May Sue Army Over Civil Rights Violations — NEW YORK — The Blade, a newspaper based in Toledo, Ohio, may file a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Army after two journalists were detained Friday for photographing the exterior of a tank plant that's visible from the street.

Discussion: @nppalawyer and Toledo Blade