Mediagazer: Barrett Brown's lawyer says government chilled free speech with broad charges, later dropped (Ed Pilkington/Guardian)

10:30 PM ET, April 28, 2014

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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

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Tim Peterson / AdAge:

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Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Barrett Brown's lawyer says government chilled free speech with broad charges, later dropped — Barrett Brown lawyer: US tried to ‘kill a fly with a sledgehammer’ — Ahmed Ghappour speaks out after gag order was lifted and says effect of prosecutorial overreach is ‘chilling to free speech’

Discussion: WhoWhatWhy

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix and Verizon reach interconnection deal to speed up video — Netflix confirms deal that appears to be similar to agreement with Comcast. — Netflix today confirmed that it reached an interconnection agreement with Verizon, similar to the one it recently struck with Comcast.

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Marcy Wheeler / emptywheel:

DOJ Continues Its “Multi-Subject” Investigation of WikiLeaks — As I noted some weeks ago, the judge in EPIC's FOIA for materials on the investigation into supporters of WikiLeaks asked for an update. The government provided that update last night. — It said it still must withhold …

Discussion: @trevortimm, @ggreenwald, @wikileaks and @birgittaj

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Univision CEO: Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal Could Be Bad for Hispanics — UPDATED: Randy Falco says he hopes for tough regulatory restrictions as part of the deal's approval process as his company predicts it will break even on the soccer World Cup this year.

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Associated Press:
Comcast shedding 3.9M subscribers to ease deal with Charter

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Peter Kafka / Re/code:

NBCUniversal research chief Alan Wurtzell says Twitter chatter does not increase TV viewership — NBC Pokes a Hole in Twitter's TV Story — You know how Twitter is supposed to be TV's friend? — Things look a little less congenial today. — That's after a pointed article in the Financial Times …

Discussion: Gawker, Financial Times, @antderosa, VentureBeat, The Awl, @awolk, @kevinmarks, @davewiner, Business Insider, @jyarow, @mollywood and @learmonth

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Wanderful Media Raises $14.5 Million Bringing Newspaper Circulars To Mobile Phones — Circulars (the advertising inserts with coupons from local retailers) are still critical to revenues for local newspapers. In an effort to bring them into the digital age, a consortium …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Street Fight, Forbes and Wanderful Media

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Vox is publishing some of its stories and the interviews behind them in parallel — It's a small thing, but worth noting: For stories that are built around a single interview, Vox is now publishing both the story and the interview transcript in parallel. Take this Thomas Piketty piece by Matt Yglesias …

Discussion: @abeaujon, @reckless, @clockwerks, @justinglow, @scottkellum, @jbenton, @yurivictor and Daring Fireball

Cindy Royal / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Are journalism schools teaching their students the right skills? — If you are a journalism educator or media professional, I have news for you: We work in tech. — I know: That's not exactly what you signed up for when you entered the profession 20, 10, or even five years ago. But things have changed.

Zachary M. Seward / Quartz:

Quartz tracks changes in Netflix's ‘Long-Term View’ manifesto — The track-changes version of Netflix's vision for the future of TV — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is candid about his streaming video company's strategy and its place in the future of television.

Discussion: BGR