Mediagazer: Simon Ostrovsky Has Been Released (Vice)

11:20 AM ET, April 25, 2014

Top News:

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Former Tumblr President John Maloney is Now Circa's New President — What do you do after you help a young CEO build a giant digital property? — Take a couple years off, then try doing it again. — That's what John Maloney is doing. The Web veteran, who spent four years running …

Discussion: VentureBeat, @benjlerer and @circa

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

The FCC's new net neutrality rules will kill Aereo, even if the Supreme Court doesn't — This week, we heard a lot about Aereo, the New York-based startup that could upend the television business if it survives a Supreme Court battle with broadcasters. But even if it squeaks past …

Ryan Singel / Medium:
How The FCC Plans to Save the Internet by Destroying It: An Explainer

Discussion: New York Times, Gigaom, ZDNet, ReadWrite, Daily Dot, @gigastacey, Engadget, @brighteyesdavid, PoliticusUSA, @scottros, @saketkulkarni, @erikrose, Wall Street Journal, Free Press Blog, CNNMoney.com, Marco.org, Free Press, US News, Benzinga and kottke.org

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Why Do So Many People Describe Aereo ‘Complying’ With Copyright Law As The Company ‘Circumventing’ Copyright Law?

Discussion: @stevenlevy

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

More than a social network: Facebook aims to be the source for breaking news — Facebook has always been filled with “news,” just not the kind you'd find in a daily newspaper. — Recently, however, Facebook had made several moves to shift the content of your News Feed towards hard news …

Discussion: Capital New York, @mikeisaac, @startupljackson and @niallharbison

Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Storyful's Verification Tech Could Stop Fake News From Spreading On Facebook

Andy Mitchell / Facebook:
Facebook partners with Storyful to launch FB Newswire, a news feed for journalists on Facebook and Twitter

Jennifer Khoury / Comcast Voices Blog:

Comcast: Neflix degraded its Comcast streams, seeks to shift its costs onto all Internet users — COMCAST RESPONSE TO NETFLIX — Netflix's argument is a House of Cards. But there is no need for us to engage in a point-counterpoint with Netflix to demonstrate the continued distortions and inaccuracies on which it relies.

Discussion: Softpedia News, Talking New Media, @michaelpryor, @samgustin, @davezatz, @om, @jyarow, @pkafka, Business Insider, Guardian and Daily Dot

Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Comcast Says Netflix Slowed Down Its Own Streams

Discussion: Washington Post, @dangillmor and Daring Fireball

Ken Florance / Netflix US & Canada Blog:
Netflix says it opposes Comcast/TWC merger because Comcast charges both Netflix and its customers to connect to each other

Paul Farrell / Guardian:

Journalists' sources are no longer safe in Australia — Can government agencies instantaneously track down journalists' sources? It's looking more and more likely, and it's a dangerous state of affairs — The idea of living in a world where government agencies could almost instantaneously track …

Discussion: @colvinius, @ms_em_, @wendy_bacon, @farrellpf, ZDNet and Guardian

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Pandora's success hinges on eating terrestrial radio's lunch, company says — Pandora is now much more attractive to advertisers who typically buy ads on terrestrial (aka traditional) radio, the company said during an earnings call today. — While terrestrial radio might be boring and filled …

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Pandora reports Q1 loss, guidance hits sour note again

Discussion: USA Today, Pandora, Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter

Michael Foley / The Irish Times:

Opinion: Time to redefine the regulatory system for journalism in Ireland — Opinion: Time to redefine the regulatory system for journalism in Ireland — The media regulatory system in Ireland has a decidedly old-fashioned feel. On the one hand, there is the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland …

Discussion: @tupp_ed and @faduda

Simon Ostrovsky / VICE News:

‘I Had It Pretty Easy, Because I Was Let Go’: Simon Ostrovsky On His Detention in Sloviansk — On Thursday, armed gunmen who held me prisoner for four nights and three days released me into the streets of Sloviansk, in eastern Ukraine. My release was as unexplained as my capture.

Discussion: Poynter, @ilvestoomas, @natvasilyevaap and @joshuafoust

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Microsoft, AOL Strike Web Video Distribution Deal — AOL and Microsoft compete for advertisers' dollars. But they've figured out a way to cooperate, too: The two rivals have struck a deal which lets Microsoft distribute AOL's videos on some of its properties.

Glyn Moody / Techdirt:

Russia Orders Bloggers To ‘Register’; Outlaws Anonymous Blogging, Continues Clampdown On Social Media — As we've reported, Russia has been steadily trying to bring the Internet under control with ever-more stringent measures. After tackling general Web sites through powers that allow …

Discussion: Slate, @craigmod, Engadget, The Huffington Post, The Verge and Kirk LaPointe's …

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

BitTorrent: Netflix should defeat ISPs by switching to peer-to-peer — “Decentralized technology” could bring equality back to the Web, CEO says. — BitTorrent, Inc. CEO Eric Klinker claims that peer-to-peer architecture can “re-architecture the Web for equality,” and he urged Netflix to try it out.

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Aftermath of Ukraine Photo Story Shows Need for More Caution — The Times led its print edition Monday with an article based in part on photographs that the State Department said were evidence of Russian military presence in popular uprisings in Ukraine. The headline read: “Photos Link Masked Men in East Ukraine to Russia.”

Discussion: Consortiumnews.com, @billmon1, Mediaite and @jayrosen_nyu

Maryclaire Dale / Associated Press:

Philadelphia newspaper guild won't bid for company — WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Workers at Philadelphia's two largest newspapers won't be able to mount a bid for their troubled company, after a wealthy potential backer balked at the projected $77 million opening price.

Nicole Levy / Capital New York:

Cosmopolitan.com hires Jill Filipovic, burnishes feminist cred — Betting that articles about restrictions on women's reproductive rights are just as shareable as slideshows of cleavage at its best, Cosmopolitan.com has hired feminist writer Jill Filipovic to cover politics, particularly the impact of policy on women's rights.

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Spotify says it's ‘a matter of time’ before it overtakes Apple's iTunes in Europe — Streaming music service says it has added 1m active users in the UK alone in the last four months — Streaming music service Spotify has added more than 1m active users in the UK in the last four months …

Discussion: hypebot

Marlise Simons / New York Times:

Two Lebanese journalists charged over publication of classified information — 2 Journalists in Lebanon Are Charged by Tribunal — The international tribunal dealing with the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon has charged two leading Lebanese journalists with contempt …

Reporters Without Borders:

Reporters Without Borders and Torservers.net, partners against online surveillance and censorship — Reporters Without Borders and Torservers.net have joined forces to create and maintain 250 additional relays for the Tor network. — “In doing this, our two organizations are thumbing …

Discussion: @runasand

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Q&A: David Leonhardt says The Upshot won't replace Nate Silver at The New York Times — Yesterday, The New York Times launched The Upshot, a new politics and policy vertical that was conceived when Nate Silver left the paper for ESPN. The project is led by David Leonhardt …

Discussion: 10,000 Words, @jayrosen_nyu, @mathewi, Globe and Mail and Daily Dot