Mediagazer: B SkyB Buys Majority Stake in ‘The Great British Bake Off’ Producer (Georg Szalai/Hollywood Reporter)

5:45 AM ET, July 21, 2014

Top News:

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

Sources: NBC pulled Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza due to network infighting, not to silence him — What really happened with NBC and Ayman Mohyeldin — NBC News Foreign Correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin returned to Gaza on Sunday, four days after network management told him to leave the conflict zone amid breaking news coverage.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @blakehounshell, @jayrosen_nyu, @brianstelter, @jeffjarvis, @mlcalderone, @peterfhart, @jayrosen_nyu, @allisonkilkenny and Pressing Issues

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:
NBC reverses decision to pull reporter Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza; will send him back as soon as possible

Author Earnings:

Study: 31% of ebooks sold on Amazon are self-published; DRM harms sales at all price levels — July 2014 Author Earnings Report — It has been nearly half a year since we first pulled data for nearly every ranked ebook on Amazon.com's thousands of category bestseller lists.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Thanyarat Doksone / Associated Press:

Thai junta's gag on media raises alarm, criticism — FILE - In this June 13, 2014 file photo, Thailand's Army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, left, arrives at the Royal Thai Army Club in Bangkok, Thailand. Critics and journalists raised concerns Saturday, July 19, 2014 …

Discussion: @jonrussell, Asian Correspondent and The Week

Jeffrey Dvorkin / Now The Details:

NPR Learns About (New) Media Accountability - the Hard Way — NPR HQ in Washington, DC — It began with a job posting on the NPR website. — NPR is looking for a new ombudsman to replace Edward Schumacher-Matos who has held the post for the past three years. He steps down in September.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu and @acarvin

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

Sky News apologises after presenter is seen looking through MH17 luggage — Broadcaster met with storm of criticism after footage emerges of Colin Brazier picking items from suitcase at crash site — Media professor Joe Watson described Brazier's actions as a ‘horrible moment for journalism’.

Discussion: @pvdmeersch, @wjoewatson, @vidyut and BuzzFeed

Bloomberg:

Fox Said to Mull Using Sky Sale to Boost Time Warner Bid — Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA) is considering using proceeds from the sale of its Italian and German pay-TV assets to boost its offer for Time Warner Inc. (TWX), according to two people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Business Insider, @pkafka and @edmundlee

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

B SkyB Buys Majority Stake in ‘The Great British Bake Off’ Producer — UPDATED: The U.K. pay TV giant acquires part of Love Productions, which has had a big BBC ratings hit with the baking competition. — LONDON - BSkyB has acquired a 70 percent stake in the production firm behind BBC hit show …

Discussion: Deadline.com, Life Style Extra, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Insider Media Ltd, NASDAQ.com, City A.M., Rapid TV News and Advanced Television

David Carr / New York Times:

In the wake of a merger bid between non-print media giants, a meditation on print's inadequacy — Riding the Juggernaut That Left Print Behind — Even if you aren't one of those people worried about media consolidation — there are many in that number — the big bolt of lightning last week …

Discussion: @karaswisher and @carlquintanilla

Jonathan Ellis / Mashable:

WSJ's Facebook Page Hacked With Fake Air Force One News — A false report about the loss of Air Force One was posted to The Wall Street Journal's Facebook page early Sunday morning. The newspaper later said its page had been “compromised.” — The WSJ deleted the fake posts …

Discussion: The Wall Street, The Rakyat Post, UPROXX, The Huffington Post and Canada News …

Gail Sheehy / Politico:

Jill Abramson on Hillary Clinton, sexist “double standards”, and a lifetime of daring — What's Jill Abramson Made Of? — The fired Times editor on Hillary Clinton, sexist “double standards”—and a lifetime of daring. — The first thing one notices about Jill Abramson is her short stature.

Discussion: PandoDaily and Mediaite

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Qplay, TiVo founders' service for streaming video playlists to TVs, shuts down six months after launch — Qplay, Internet Set-Top Startup Formed by TiVo Founders, Shuts Down — Qplay, the Internet video-device and app startup launched by the founders of TiVo, is closing its doors less …

Discussion: Qplay, Forbes, The Next Web, The Verge, App Advice, Home Media Magazine and BetaNews

Nilay Patel / Vox:

Price of media is falling to zero because it's not scarce anymore, but inherently ubiquitous — Can you answer these 4 questions and save the media industry from Taylor Swift? — That headline is 100 percent pure clickbait, the finest in the world. Let's talk about why after you answer …

Discussion: @jacobschulman and @kitson

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

Kindle Unlimited: worth it if you buy 12+ books/year and find the limited catalogue appealing — Is Kindle Unlimited worth it? — Amazon.com introduced a new subscription service, Kindle Unlimited, on Friday. This $9.99 per month, all-you-can-eat feature gives you full access to a hundreds of thousands of e-books.