Mediagazer: Australian Government Proposes New Copyright Law: Basically Hollywood's Wishlist (Mike Masnick/Techdirt)

1:35 AM ET, July 26, 2014

Top News:

BuzzFeed fires Benny Johnson after finding 40 instances of plagiarism in review of 500+ posts, will add note to each offending post — Editor's Note: An Apology To Our Readers — What we're doing about an episode of plagiarism. — Starting this Wednesday, Twitter users began pointing …

Discussion: Gawker, Politico, Capital New York, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, FishbowlDC, Slate, @brianstelter, The Daily Caller, @joshualyman, @xor, @pareene, @shani_o, @katherinemiller, @dcbigjohn, @davidfolkenflik, @joshtpm, @buzzfeedben, @mathewi, @adambaldwin and @mathewi

Our Bad Media:
Six more plagiarism accusations against BuzzFeed's Benny Johnson

Gallup:

Russians Rely on State Media for News of Ukraine, Crimea — Few trust Western media or independent Russian media — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most Russians have been following the news about Ukraine and Crimea over the past few months, with nearly nine in 10 paying attention before Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 …

Discussion: Mediaite

Elias Groll / Foreign Policy:

Russian Paper Issues Front Page Apology to Netherlands for MH17

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Reuters:

Murdoch's 21st Century Fox pledges to extend buybacks — (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox said on Friday it would renew a share buyback program using the proceeds from its partial exit from European pay-TV, regardless of any acquisitions the media group undertakes.

Juliette Garside / Guardian:
BSkyB to buy Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland for £4.9bn cash

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter: BSkyB Adds More TV Subs in Latest Quarter, Posts Lower Full-Year Profit

Kamal Ahmed / BBC:
BSkyB - James Murdoch's master plan comes closer to fruition

Discussion: USA Today and @stevenjbarnett

Nick Davies / Guardian:

The pervasive power of Rupert Murdoch: an extract from Hack Attack by Nick Davies — In this first extract from his new book, the reporter who broke the phone hacking story looks at Rebekah Brooks's 2009 wedding - and how it was a perfect display of the nature of Rupert Murdoch's hold on British life

Discussion: @attardmon, @michaelemann, @peterjukes, @martinshovel, @mmfa, @dangillmor and @kenearlys

Press Gazette: Four security guards accused of helping to destroy Rebekah Brooks evidence have case against them dropped

Nate Raymond / Reuters:

Judge Denise Cote concerned about e-book settlement because Apple's liability could fall from $450M to $70M if her ruling is reversed on a minor issue — U.S. judge says she is troubled by Apple $450 million e-books deal — (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday expressed concern …

Discussion: bizjournals, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, The Register, GalleyCat and CNET

Anne Helen Petersen / BuzzFeed:

The Down And Dirty History Of TMZ … For just $53, you can purchase a guaranteed front-of-the-bus seat on the TMZ NYC Tour. After stepping on the bus in the middle of Times Square, a TMZ-trained tour guide — handsome, blond, amiable Australian — will ask you and the rest of the bus if you're a huge fan of the show.

Discussion: @mattdpearce, @erikwemple, Columbia Journalism Review, @dkthomp, @jackiewarner13, @lahlahlindsey, @nathanjurgenson, @niemanlab, Business Insider and MetaFilter

Capital New York:

The 60-second interview, Matt Buchanan and John Herrman, The Awl, co-editors — CAPITAL: What have you learned in the early stages of your reign? Is editing a website hard? — HERRMAN: A lot; not enough. Yes. — BUCHANAN: Less than I would like? And the hard thing is sort of the crush of expectations.

Discussion: @davebry9, @cpen, @niemanlab and Talking Biz News

Rowena Mason / Guardian:

Jimmy Wales says Google should not be ‘censoring history’ after web search company reveals it has approved half of requests — Right to be forgotten: Wikipedia chief enters internet censorship row — Jimmy Wales says Google should not be ‘censoring history’ after web search company reveals …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @jamesrbuk, The Verge and @chrisschaef

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Google Granting Around Half Europe's Search De-Index Requests — But Won't Show Its Workings

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Techdirt, @techcrunch, The Daily Caller, ZDNet, Reuters, Softpedia News, Telegraph, Washington Post, Gizmodo UK and Forbes

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Australian Government Proposes New Copyright Law: Basically Hollywood's Wishlist — We've been covering the discussion around copyright reform down in Australia for a while, and it's continuing to get worse and worse. As you may recall, after a long and detailed process …

TechCrunch:

Apple Secretly Acquired “Pandora For Books” Startup BookLamp To Battle Amazon — TechCrunch has learned that Apple has made another acquisition, one that it is using to boost its e-books effort and “beat Amazon at its own game.” It has bought BookLamp, a startup based out of Boise, Idaho …

Discussion: AppleInsider, @jyarow, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and Re/code

RT:

RT's Graham Phillips tweets confirmation of his release, deportation from Ukraine — Graham Phillips, an RT contributor covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine, has been deported to the UK, following his arrest at Donetsk airport on Tuesday night, local media said citing Ukraine's security service (SBU).

Discussion: @grahamwp_uk, @grahamwp_uk and @grahamwp_uk

John Eggerton / Multichannel News:

FilmOn found in contempt for streaming network TV after Aereo decision, will appeal — Court Finds FilmOn in Contempt — Must Pay $90,000 And Court Costs — New York District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald has found FilmOn in contempt for continuing to deliver network TV station signals …

Discussion: MediaPost, Variety and @eggerton

Financial Times:

Financial Times says digital subscriptions up 33%, making up 2/3 of paying audience; overall circulation up 13%, year-on-year — Financial Times - 2014 interim statement — The FT's total circulation is at an all time high - up 13 per cent year on year to more than 677,000 across print and online.

Discussion: Press Gazette, Guardian and @emilyjg

Bloomberg:
Pearson Cutting 4,000 Jobs as First-Half Sales Decline

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

Simon Zekaria / Wall Street Journal:
Financial Times publisher Pearson posts first-half net profit of £227M, sales fell 6.5% to £2.05B

Discussion: Pearson, MarketWatch, Life Style Extra, EducationInvestor magazine and Reuters

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:

Pandora joins the billion-dollar music payouts club with Spotify and YouTube — When the likes of Spotify look to a possible future as public companies, Pandora remains the most high-profile example of a post-IPO digital music business riding the Wall Street rollercoaster.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @soundboy, Quartz and TechCrunch