Mediagazer: Senior official calls for release of Post reporter in Iran (Washington Post)

4:50 PM ET, July 29, 2014

Top News:

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

New York Times Reporter Lifted Text From Wikipedia, Too — Last week, BuzzFeed fired Viral Politics editor Benny Johnson for lifting phrases and sentences from other sources, chiefly Wikipedia—a phenomenon some attributed to Johnson's lack of training and the Internet's lack of rules.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, Poynter, Politico, Talking Points Memo, @eringriffith, @mathewi, @mattdpearce, @nbj914, @tylergreendc and @dylanbyers

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Interview with anonymous tweeters who exposed BuzzFeed editor Benny Johnson's plagiarism — Meet The Anonymous Twitter Users Who Brought Down A BuzzFeed Editor — When former BuzzFeed viral politics editor Benny Johnson called out another outlet for plagiarizing his work last week …

Discussion: Live Q&A's, @mattklewis, @mathewi, @andrewkirell, @cuffymeh, @mlcalderone, @timkmak, @joshtpm and @tomkludt

Dylan Byers / Politico:

BuzzFeed, online curation, and plagiarism: juggling temptation and a maturing content model — The net roots of BuzzFeed plagiarism — Benny Johnson, the 28-year-old BuzzFeed editor who was fired last week for serial plagiarism, never went to journalism school. He didn't get his start working a beat at a local newspaper.

Discussion: Newsweek, @dannysullivan, @webbspective, @sarahw, @mkonnikova, @mattdpearce and @seanhackbarth

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

Why ad buyers shrug at BuzzFeed's plagiarism scandal — Although BuzzFeed's recent plagiarism scandal is giving some journalists a healthy case of schadenfreude, it's still unlikely to do much near-term harm to the publisher's relationship with ad buyers. — BuzzFeed said on Friday …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Business Insider and Washington Post

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Despite Circulation Gains, Profit Falls 21% at New York Times Co. — Increased investments in digital products and a decline in print advertising weighed on The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings, as profit slipped 21 percent. — The company on Tuesday reported $55.7 million …

Discussion: Poynter, New York Times Company, CNNMoney.com, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, @bgrueskin, @hc, Capital New York, WKRB News, Reuters, Talking New Media, The Wrap, @romenesko, @breakingmoney, The New York Observer, FishbowlNY and Forbes

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:

New York Times adds 32,000 digital-only subscribers as profit falls — The New York Times added 32,000 digital subscribers in the second quarter of 2014, the company reported today. The number was driven by its new products — the NYT Now and NYT Opinion apps and the new Times Premier subscription tier.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Lab, Capital New York, Media & Entertainment, The Huffington Post, AdAge, NetNewsCheck Latest and AdExchanger

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

BMW Runs the First Ads on Medium, Twitter Founders' Blogging Platform — Automaker Sponsors Medium's New Design Publication — Short Form Video — When blogging platform Medium begins publishing Re:form on Tuesday, its latest “collection,” readers may notice something entirely new to the site: advertising.

Discussion: Gigaom, The Next Web, SocialTimes, Digiday, @caro, @sam_a_klein and @katelaurielee, Thanks:@msebastian

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Newspaper industry lost another 1,300 full-time editorial professionals in 2013 — The American Society of News Editors annual newsroom census, released today, found a net loss of another 1,300 full-time professionals last year. — That was better than the 2,600 net job loss in 2012 …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @kevinbogardus, @rickedmonds, @poynter and The Huffington Post

Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:

Tribune Publishing CEO: We're buying newspapers — Tribune Publishing Co. CEO Jack Griffin isn't selling off newspapers. He wants to acquire more of them. — Despite all the speculation about a sale of Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and/or the other Tribune dailies …

Discussion: Poynter and Los Angeles Times

Washington Post:

Senior official calls for release of Post reporter in Iran — A senior Obama administration official on Tuesday called on Iran to release a Washington Post journalist and his wife, as well as two other Americans who were arrested in Tehran last week without explanation.

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, Voice of America, Reuters and The Newspaper Guild

Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
State Department urges Iran to release Washington Post correspondent

Discussion: @londonoe, hrw.org/rss/news, Committee to Protect …, US Department of State, @rezamarashi and @marcburleigh

Tim Fernholz / Quartz:

One reason Time Warner execs are happy to sell: $80-million golden parachutes — The biggest corporate offshoots of Time Magazine's long march through history have at least two things in common: Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are at the center of the most anticipated mergers of the year …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @moorehn and @timfernholz

Eliza Brooke / Fashionista:

Can Indie Magazines Launched on Kickstarter Not Only Survive, But Thrive? — Any guy with a hankering for potato salad can get funded on Kickstarter. For these independent magazines, it's the daily grind of keeping a print publication afloat after the campaign is over that's the real challenge.

Discussion: @knguyen, @fashionista_com and @lapresmidi

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Apple TV Gets CNBC And FOX NOW Channels — Apple continues to fill out its Apple TV content library, with two new additions to the device today including a CNBC channel with live broadcasts and FOX NOW, the on-demand app for the network that includes episodes of Glee, Family Guy and more.