Mediagazer: The ravages of BuzzFeed's Benny Johnson (Erik Wemple/Washington Post)

11:40 AM ET, July 28, 2014

Top News:

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

The New York Times Will Continue Drug Testing Despite Pot Legalization Stance — NEW YORK — The New York Times came out in its Sunday editorial in support of legalizing marijuana, kicking off a six-part series to make its case. — But the editorial board's new stance doesn't mean incoming Times employees can partake.

Discussion: TVNewser, The New York Observer, Mediaite, ABC News, FishbowlNY, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Banter, The Latest Word, The Inquisitr News and Boing Boing

Andrew Rosenthal / New York Times:

Behind NYT's decision to endorse marijuana legalization and publish its “High Time” series — Some Background on Our ‘High Time’ Series — The decision to call for the end of marijuana prohibition was long in the making. — The Times editorial board has for years supported the legalization of medical marijuana.

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Apple to Buy Radio App Swell for $30 Million — Apple is close to buying the Pandora-for-talk-radio app Swell, according to multiple sources. — The deal is worth about $30 million, these sources say. — Swell had raised $7.2 million from investors including DFJ, Google Ventures and InterWest Partners.

Discussion: RAIN News, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Guardian, bizjournals, hypebot, PandoDaily, ITProPortal, AppleInsider, @brianstelter, Mashable, Business Insider, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo UK, @pkafka, Cult of Mac, App Advice, BGR and AllAccess.com

Jim Brady / NetNewsCheck:

Lessons Learned From Project Thunderdome — “Do we think local news organizations — in the disaggregated Web world we live in and the even more atomic mobile world we're speeding into — actually need much national news anymore?” asks Jim Brady, who was head of Project Thunderdome until …

Discussion: @jbinckes and @mattderienzo

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

The ravages of BuzzFeed's Benny Johnson — Perhaps former BuzzFeed “viral politics” staffer Benny Johnson should have asked himself the question he posted to the site's readers in May: “How Well Do You Know Basic U.S. Politics?” — That post, which leads readers through a quiz, carries this editor's note at the top:

Alex Weprin / Capital New York:

Fox Sports and Sporting News tie digital properties — Fox Sports and The Sporting News will combine their digital sports coverage under one umbrella, the companies said today. — The new online entity will reach some 55 million users each month, and will be called Fox Sports Digital-Sporting News Media.

Discussion: Variety

Georgi Kantchev / New York Times:

Sorted Food, a Cooking Channel, Is a YouTube Hit — LONDON — When Jamie Spafford, a 27-year-old Briton, passed through airport passport control during a visit to New York a few months ago, the immigration agent seemed skeptical about Mr. Spafford's stated occupation.

Discussion: @pakman

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Apple's Beats Acquisition Gets Approval From The European Commission — Apple has the green light to proceed with its acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music from the European Commission. Both companies do indeed sell headphones in the EU, which is part of the motivation behind the scrutiny …

Discussion: AppleInsider, ZDNet, Cult of Mac, Engadget, Belfast Telegraph, hypebot and The Next Web

Ben Cardew / Guardian:

MH17: how Storyfuls social sleuthing helped verify evidence — Stories such as the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane show the importance of checking Twitter and YouTube content — In the aftermath of an event as tragically uncertain as the MH17 plane disaster …

Discussion: Mediashift, @cairbreuk and @fiona_rogers

Globe and Mail:

Jailed journalist Mohamed Fahmy denied presidential pardon in Egypt — Dashing the hopes of his family, Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy will remain in an Egyptian jail after his name and those of his Al Jazeera colleagues were absent from a list of presidential pardons issued …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @lindseyhilsum, Gulf Business, @indexcensorship and Christian News …

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Reddit, still unprofitable, looks to grow ad revenues without alienating users — Can Reddit Grow Up? — The New York Times's Mike Isaac posed these questions to Reddit's users in a post on the site. Included here are a selection of responses. — Since its founding nine years ago, Reddit has stuck to its own weird guns.

Discussion: Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, @lpolgreen, Guardian and ITProPortal

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

A.C.L.U. and Human Rights Watch Say Surveillance Programs Hurt News Coverage — The Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have issued a sharp rebuke of large-scale surveillance programs carried out by the United States government, saying in a joint report that such practices are hindering journalists.

Discussion: hrw.org, The Huffington Post and The Hill