Mediagazer: Press freedom groups file petition to halt legal action against N.Y. Times reporter (Alejandro Davila Fragoso/McClatchy …)

9:55 AM ET, August 15, 2014

Top News:

Gary Strauss / USA Today:

Icahn takes 6.6 percent stake of Gannett, wants role in company's planned split — Carl Icahn places bet on Gannett — Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken 6.6% stake in Gannett, saying he wants a role in the company's planned split of its TV and newspaper divisions.

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Deadline and Forbes

Will Oremus / Slate:

Peretti: deleted BuzzFeed posts were created before company chose to become journalistic — One Viral Media Company That Isn't Evil, Just Misunderstood — Thirty-Nine Listicles Whose Sourcing Is Shaky at Best. — One Writer Fired for Plagiarism. — Four Thousand Old Posts That Mysteriously Disappeared.

Discussion: New York Magazine, @mathewi, @peretti, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, Gawker, @clarajeffery, @seanmcelwee, @mlcalderone, @timfernholz, @peretti and @jackshafer

David Holmes / PandoDaily:

If Twitter implements a Facebook-style algorithm, you may not hear about the next Ferguson — Like many across the country, I've been closely following the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, allegedly at the hands of an white cop.

Discussion: Medium, @sarahcuda, @nrmehta, @jennatar, @steveo772, TechCrunch, @tonyromm and SocialTimes

David Uberti / Columbia Journalism Review:
Why Obama's statement on reporters' arrests in Ferguson is hypocritical

Discussion: Guardian, Poynter, Mediaite, Latest News & Headlines, @heytammybruce, @tonygorder, @meghabuda, Global Voices, Reporter's Committee …, The Huffington Post and @freedomofpress

Brian Fung / Washington Post:
How the absence of tweets led journalists to figure out that two reporters had been arrested

Mike Williams / BBC:

Premier League warns posting videos of goals online breaks copyright laws — Premier League warns about posting goal videos online — The Premier League has told Newsbeat they're going to clamp down on fans posting unofficial videos of goals online. — Thousands of goal Vines were posted on social media during the World Cup.

Discussion: Guardian, Latest News & Headlines, @zseward, @gethill, Engadget, Sky News, The Independent, The Drum, Law on the Web, City A.M., Who Ate all the Pies, Gizmodo, The Next Web, TorrentFreak and Electronista

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

“Meet the Press:” Gregory out, Todd in — NBC will name Chuck Todd the new host of “Meet the Press” as early as Thursday afternoon, according to people with direct knowledge of the network's plans. — The sources confirmed widespread speculation that David Gregory, the moderator …

New York Times:

Ferguson Images Evoke Civil Rights Era and Changing Visual Perceptions — Left, Whitney Curtis for The New York Times; right, Bill Hudson, via Associated Press — Danny Lyon, one of the photographers whose work came to define the civil rights upheaval in the South in the 1960s …

Discussion: Philadelphia Magazine

Clifford Coonan / Hollywood Reporter:

China's Alibaba Discovers Possible Accounting Fraud in Newly Formed Film Unit — Alibaba Pictures, the recently formed film production arm of the e-commerce and entertainment giant says it won't be able to publish interim results on time — Alibaba Pictures, the recently formed film …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Quartz, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Amazon Continues Its Higher Ed Book Sales March At Purdue, Offers Staffed On-Campus Pickup — Amazon debuted a program that seemed both inevitable and unthinkable earlier this year, depending on your perspective, when it teamed with UC Davis for a unique school-specific storefront that provided …

Discussion: GalleyCat

Alejandro Davila Fragoso / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Press freedom groups file petition to halt legal action against N.Y. Times reporter — WASHINGTON — For six years James Risen, a reporter of The New York Times, has been battling prosecutors who want him to identify an anonymous source. And despite his setbacks, he's willing to keep fighting.

Discussion: Guardian, The Huffington Post, Politico, Voice of America and Latest News & Headlines

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

UK consumer magazines lost nearly 1m print sales in first half of 2014 ABC — Sales of the hundreds of paid-for weekly and monthly titles fell 4.4% compared with previous six months, according to latest healthcheck — Music magazine New Musical Express has suffered another slump in its print sales.

Discussion: Guardian, @merciecaltd and @raju

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Andy Coulson eligible for move from Belmarsh prison — Ex-News of the World editor classified as posing no risk to society, clearing way for transfer from high-security institution — Andy Coulson, David Cameron's former director of communications, looks set to be moved …

Discussion: @neilwallis1 and mUmBRELLA

Hollywood Reporter:

Xbox Shops Entertainment Studio to Warner Bros. — Microsoft's TV production arm might not be gone for good — Microsoft may have decided to shutter its nascent Xbox Entertainment Studios but it's not necessarily game over for the Santa Monica studio. — Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter …

Discussion: The Verge, Windows Phone Central and Polygon

Amanda Meade / Guardian:

Australian ABC faces more cuts amid major restructure, says Managing Director Mark Scott — ABC faces more cuts amid major restructure, says Mark Scott — Managing director says ‘significant decisions’ on funding priorities will follow once Canberra makes budget clear

Discussion: mUmBRELLA and ABC

Ethan Zuckerman / The Atlantic Online:

Ad-supported web led to targeting and surveillance as a default; let's try again, with fees for service — The Internet's Original Sin — Ron Carlson's short story “What We Wanted To Do” takes the form of an apology from a villager who failed to protect his comrades from marauding Visigoths.