Mediagazer: Oliver Stone Options Novel by Edward Snowden's Russian Lawyer (Stuart Kemp/Hollywood Reporter)

4:15 AM ET, June 11, 2014

Top News:

Ralph Cipriano / Big Trial:

Lenfest to buy out Drew Katz to take sole control of Philly Daily News, Inquirer, websites — The Partnership That Didn't Last Twenty Minutes — Auction winners Gerry Lenfest and Lewis Katz — for Bigtrial.net — In the moments after Lewis Katz and H.F. “Gerry” …

Discussion: Philadelphia Magazine, Philly.com, @carrierickey, @taramurtha, @davidleepreston and @will_bunch

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for ‘Lego’ and Other Warner Videos — The Everything Store is shrinking again. Amazon customers who want to order forthcoming Warner Home Video features, including “The Lego Movie,” “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Winter's Tale” and “Transcendence,” are finding it impossible to do so.

Discussion: @publisherslunch, The Verge, Mashable, @deanbaker13 and @sherman_alexie

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Fox News pushes back on Gawker report — Fox News says it has not retracted its claim that former executive Brian Lewis submitted fraudulent expense reports, despite a Gawker report alleging otherwise. — On Tuesday, Gawker unearthed a document filed in court appearing to state that the network …

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
Fox News Retracts Fraud Claim Against Former Executive

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik, @gabrielsherman and @ericboehlert

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Stars from YouTube and Vine capitalize on internet success with live festivals and concerts — Performing Without Net: Stars of YouTube Take to the Stage — A capacity 12,500 tickets have been sold. More than 70 performers are appearing on three stages.

Maxim Eristavi / Columbia Journalism Review:

Reporter forced to leave Eastern Ukraine after Russian journo accuses him of “spreading lies” — In Eastern Ukraine, one journalist turns on another — A German reporter is forced to flee after a Russian counterpart denounces him on social media

Discussion: Poynter

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

The Vice-Time Warner deal, HLN, and CNN — With the news that Time Warner is seeking a major investment in Vice, the possibility of HLN's involvement raises a number of questions. — HLN has been teased as possibly going to Vice as part of the deal, though there was enough wiggle room …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, TVNewser, Inside Cable News, @antderosa and Sky News

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Mirror group faces new phone-hacking claims — Cilla Black, Christopher Eccleston, Alan Yentob and Davina McCall among new claimants for compensation — The publisher of the Sunday Mirror is facing compensation claims over alleged phone hacking from at least a dozen new litigants including Cilla Black …

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik and Guardian

Tom Wheeler / Official FCC Blog:

Wheeler: state laws hurt broadband access in places like Chattanooga; FCC could preempt rules — Removing Barriers to Competitive Community Broadband — If any city understands the power of networks to drive economic growth, it's Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Discussion: Watchdog.org, @gigibsohnfcc, @bruce_katz, NationalJournal.com and Broadcasting & Cable

David Kravets / Ars Technica:

Google's university book scanning can move ahead without authors' OK — Court gives Google significant fair use protections. — A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the right of universities, in conjunction with Google, to scan millions of library books without the authors' permission.

Discussion: Guardian, Courthouse News Service, The Berkeley Blog, Publishers Weekly, bookforum.com, Gigaom and Washington Post

Stuart Kemp / Hollywood Reporter:

Oliver Stone Options Novel by Edward Snowden's Russian Lawyer — The filmmaker and his producing partner have acquired movie rights to “Time of The Octopus” by Anatoly Kucherena, set to be published later this year. — Oliver Stone and his producing partner, Moritz Borman …

Discussion: Variety and Media Law Prof Blog

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

BBC journalists to ballot for strike action — Union members call for overhaul of pay gap with managers, rejecting ‘derisory’ offer of 1% pay rise — BBC journalists are to ballot for strike action after rejecting an offer of a “derisory” 1% pay rise. — Members of the National Union …

Discussion: Poynter, Press Gazette and mUmBRELLA

Jason Deans / Guardian:
BBC Radio to cut 65 more posts

Discussion: broadcastnow.co.uk, mirror, MediaTel, Prolific North, Telegraph, Gigwise, Digital Spy and BBC

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Top PR Firms Promise They Won't Edit Clients' Wikipedia Entries on the Sly — Edelman, Burson-Marsteller Among Those Signing Pledge — Smart Marketing Using Big Data — Several of the largest public-relations agencies issued a joint statement Tuesday promising to play by the rules of Wikipedia.

Discussion: Edelman, TIME, In2, @noahchestnut, The Drum and MarketingVox News & Trends, Thanks:@steverubel

Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:

Andrew Sullivan's The Dish introducing ads for non-subs soon, keeping premium product ad-free — Is Big Online Media Doomed? — You only have to observe the painful and austere transition of Time Inc. to see the grim portents of a much leaner future. And a lot of this has to do with a double problem …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @jeffbercovici, @jason_pontin, @sullydish and @journo2go

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

How a credulous media repeated dubious claims of a Turing Test milestone — No, A ‘Supercomputer’ Did NOT Pass The Turing Test For The First Time And Everyone Should Know Better — So, this weekend's news in the tech world was flooded with a “story” about how a “chatbot” passed the Turing Test for …

Discussion: @worldscifest and New York Magazine

Bryan Bishop / The Verge:

Sony formally announces PlayStation original sci-fi series ‘Powers’ — There were reports that it was in the works a few months ago, but Sony has now made it official: the first original television show for the PlayStation is coming, and it is called Powers.

Discussion: VentureBeat, Arcade Sushi, Observation Deck and TechRadar.com