Mediagazer: In defense of Rebekah Brooks: a British lawyer cripples the prosecution case (Reuters)

7:25 PM ET, June 28, 2014

Top News:

Chet Kanojia / Aereo:

Aereo chooses to “pause its operations temporarily” following Supreme Court decision — A Letter to Our Consumers: Standing Together for Innovation, Progress and Technology - An Update on Aereo — “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”

Discussion: VentureBeat, Forbes, Capital New York, @aereo, VatorNews, Gizmodo, BetaBoston, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Variety, Gigaom, Engadget, Re/code, Business Insider, WGBH News, New York Magazine, The Next Web, TechHive and Glass

Reuters:

In defense of Rebekah Brooks: a British lawyer cripples the prosecution case — (Reuters) - Just weeks before her trial on phone-hacking charges was due to start, Rebekah Brooks got some crushing news: the former head of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm learnt that her main defense lawyer could no longer represent her.

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone-hacking trial was officially about crime; but in reality, it was about power — Rupert Murdoch's money washed through the ‘trial of the century’ like a Rolls-Royce. The story behind the News of the World scandal was not about journalists behaving badly, but the power of money and its abuses

Discussion: UK Blog on The Huffington Post, Mirror.co.uk, @peterjukes, Columbia Journalism Review, @susanpenhaligon, @hackedoffhugh, @martin_flanagan and Spectator

Wall Street Journal:

NBC in discussions with Dish over Dish's ad-skipping Hopper recorder, puts lawsuit on hold — NBC, Dish Talks Ease Tensions Over Ad-Skipping — Two-Year-Old Standoff With Broadcasters May Be Easing — Dish Network Corp. is in discussions with NBC over Dish's ad-skipping digital video recorder …

Discussion: @shaliniwsj

Dominic Rushe / Guardian:

Fox moves to use Aereo ruling against Dish streaming service — Fox has cited Wednesday's ruling - which found Aereo to be operating illegally - to bolster its claim against Dish — The clash with Fox centres on Dish's Dish Anywhere streaming service and its Hopper DVR ‘sideloading’ feature

Discussion: @acedtect, Techdirt, The Verge, Gizmodo, Techdirt and Gigaom

Mohammed Ademo / Columbia Journalism Review:

Ethiopia reportedly fires 18 journalists from a state-run outlet — The quiet dismissal of some 10 percent of the station's journalists underscores the country's further descent into total media blackout — On June 25, when 18 journalists from Ethiopia's state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization …

Discussion: Gadaa.com-FinfinneTribune

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

Knight Foundation commits $1.4 million to improving DocumentCloud — Investigative Reporters and Editors announced today that the Knight Foundation has pledged $1.4 million to developing the document-hosting service DocumentCloud in order to make the platform “faster, easier to use and more robust.”

Discussion: IRE.org

Jim Romenesko:

Digital First Media memo has names of staffers being cut and considered for dismissal … I then sent Paton the above chart and he replied: “I couldn't possibly comment as it would violate employee privacy. Whoever sent to you has done that which is, of course, a serious breach of that very privacy.”

Discussion: @mathewi, @ryanchittum, @romenesko and Denver Newspaper Guild

Dave Winer / Scripting News:

New York Times never had blogs as they were edited, the term was usurped by reporters who felt threatened by blogs — I know what a blog is — A blog is the unedited voice of a person. — The lack of editing is central, because it's one person who's responsible for every word.

Discussion: PandoDaily, @davewiner, @johnmcquaid, @jason_cobb, Scripting News, @niemanlab, @palafo, @scottros, @jayrosen_nyu and @mathewi

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:

Hillary Clinton's book won't be distributed in China, translation rights declined as well — China Blocks Hillary Clinton's Book — Distributors and publishers impose an “effective ban” on Hard Choices , which is critical of the Chinese government. “It's outrageous and unfortunate.”

Discussion: @miriamelder, New York Times, Politico, @comradewong, Guardian and The Week

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

GE teams with news organizations to produce its own news website, Pressing — GE becomes legitimate online news publisher — After a very entertaining stunt with Jimmy Fallon, GE, an early adopter of content marketing, has been putting a focus on hard news of late.

Discussion: @dmgaspar, @raju, @zerohedge, Digiday, @gierasimczuk, Nieman Journalism Lab, @digiday and @davidcho

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Combining a creative studio and ad smarts, Victory Journal tells lush, visual sports stories — Statistics don't matter to the sports magazine Victory Journal. Neither does the score of a game, really. Rather the magazine, which comes out in print twice each year, covers …

Discussion: @niemanlab