Top News:
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:
Deadline.com, The Awl, CNNMoney.com, VentureBeat, Gigaom, The Verge, TIME, bizjournals, Reuters, Business Insider, Variety, Daily Dot, AppleInsider, BBC, Gizmodo, Electronista, Consumerist, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, @jackshafer, Mashable, Bookseller news, @sherman_alexie, @publisherslunch, @deanbaker13 and The Next Web
Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Jury in Rebekah Brooks trial retires to consider verdicts — Eight-month trial over alleged phone hacking, corruption and perversion of the course of justice enters final phase — The jury in the Rebekah Brooks trial has retired to consider its verdicts on a string of offences related to phone hacking …
Sam Kirkland / Poynter:
Fortune magazine triples amount of online content even as Time Inc. cuts costs — As the newly standalone Time Inc. looks to cut costs by 25 percent and media writers [Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Nieman Lab] outline the magazine publisher's tenuous digital prospects, Fortune and Money …
Discussion:
Digiday
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
In the news media, are Muslims the only ‘terrorists’? — What do you call a couple who espouse an extremist, anti-government ideology and kill two policemen and a bystander while draping one of their victims in a flag associated with a political movement? — After Sunday's shooting spree perpetrated …
Discussion:
Pressing Issues and VICE
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, Poynter, Philly.com, The Huffington Post, @davidleepreston, @will_bunch, @carrierickey, Philly.com and @taramurtha
Ted Johnson / Variety:
Music Groups Urge D.C. Lawmakers to Revamp Licensing Laws — Characterizing the current system as outdated as the heyday of vinyl records and 8-track tapes, representatives for musicians and music publishers called on Congress to overhaul laws governing how songwriters and others in the industry …
Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:
2014's most talked-about media startups aren't distinguished by the what, but the how — With the launch of new site after new site in 2014, it's been a fascinating time to watch digital media try to figure itself out. Amid the turmoil of disruption, buffeted by tech companies' control …
Discussion:
The New York Observer, @conorsen, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, @jimtankersley and @jkavanagh
Felix Salmon / Matter:
BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti Goes Long — The media mogul (twice over) on being both contagious and sticky — I first got to know Jonah Peretti in February 2011, very shortly after the Huffington Post was sold to AOL. At the time, he explained to me that BuzzFeed, a company he had built …
Discussion:
New York Magazine and kottke.org
New York Times:
Hong Kong Media Worries Over China's Reach as Ads Disappear — HONG KONG — In what may be a major escalation of pressure by mainland China on Hong Kong's independent-minded news media, two major British banks have stopped advertising with one of the city's biggest newspapers, a top media executive said.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
RIAA Revenue Drops to Record Low — The RIAA has submitted its latest tax filing to the IRS, covering the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, which provides some background on how the organization is faring. — Continuing the trend from recent years the total revenue of the anti-piracy group dropped once again, to $24.2 million.
Discussion:
Music Week and VentureBeat
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:
UK - The Huffington Post, broadcastnow.co.uk, @davidfolkenflik and Guardian
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
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.
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
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, TheStreet.com, Wall Street Journal, TVNewser, Inside Cable News, @antderosa and Sky News
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Boston Globe launches Capital, a new section for political junkies — Boston Globe wants to make political-junkie-style coverage accessible — On Friday, The Boston Globe launched Capital, a new section on politics that comes out Fridays in print and updates regularly online.
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:
Gigaom, Watchdog.org, @gigibsohnfcc, @bruce_katz, NationalJournal.com and Broadcasting & Cable
John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:
Industry body representing Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others opposes Comcast/TWC merger — CCIA Opposes Comcast/TWC — Association says it threatens innovation and should be blocked — The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has come out against the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.
RELATED:
Kate Tummarello / The Hill:
Tech group calls on feds to block Comcast merger