Mediagazer: A Ferguson Story on ‘Conflicting Accounts’ Seems to Say ‘Trust Us’ (Margaret Sullivan/New York Times)

10:00 PM ET, August 21, 2014

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

A Ferguson Story on ‘Conflicting Accounts’ Seems to Say ‘Trust Us’ — Want an object lesson in the problems of dubious equivalency and anonymous sources? — Look no further than Wednesday's Times, where a highly fraught question — precisely how, in Ferguson, Mo., a black teenager …

Discussion: msnbc.com, @lawrence, @lawrence, @jayrosen_nyu, @dangillmor, @occbaystreet, @johnmcquaid, Pressing Issues, Hot Air and New York Magazine

Ryanschuessler / Ryan L. Schuessler:

Flood of cameras, appalling media behavior in Ferguson spur freelancer to opt out of spectacle — I will not be returning to Ferguson — I had been on the ground helping Al Jazeera America** cover the protests and unrest in Ferguson, Mo., since this all started last week.

Discussion: Gawker, The Daily Caller, @penenberg, Mediaite, @vdcphotonews, @vdcphotonews, @_peech, @april_davis, @amaditalks, @yvonnemmu, @ryanschuessler1, @antderosa, @elisewho, @tomgara, Hot Air, @mmasnick and VDC Photo Blog

Pew Research Center:

Cable, Twitter picked up Ferguson story at a similar clip — The shooting death of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, quickly became a national news story on mainstream and social media last week. A new Pew Research Center analysis of media coverage of the event and subsequent protests finds …

Discussion: SocialTimes, Digiday and The Huffington Post

James Ball / Guardian:

Twitter's claim to be just a platform, and not a publisher, is suspect if it censors images and videos — Twitter: from free speech champion to selective censor? — By acting on footage of James Foley's murder, Twitter has taken responsibility in a way it hasn't over abuse and threats.

Discussion: Jack Shafer, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, The Intercept, Business Insider and Associated Press

Amanda Meade / Guardian:

News Corp Australia defends use of James Foley beheading images — Julian Clarke tells forum ‘hiding the brutal reality’ is in no one's interest, despite family requests for the images not to be used — The chief executive of News Corp Australia has defended the decision to publish …

Discussion: Latest News & Headlines, Forbes, The Huffington Post, @coopesdetat, @meadea and Digital Life

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

A federal court rejects Aereo's request to argue it's a cable company — Aereo's seemingly last-ditch argument to save itself won't be given an airing in court, according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. — Instead, if the shuttered streaming video company wants to keep fighting for its survival …

Discussion: TechCrunch, USA Today, Bloomberg and @mikesnider

Michelle Castillo / Adweek:

HuffPost India launching November 25; won't be overseen by former managing editor Jimmy Soni — Huffpost India Is Launching Thanksgiving Week — Editor Jimmy Soni won't direct the project after all — It's official: HuffPost India—a partnership between the Huffington Post Media Group …

Discussion: @bobbymacreports, @bobbymacreports, Capital New York, MediaNama, mUmBRELLA, @nsabloff and FishbowlNY

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Wikipedia blocks edits from Congressional IP address again after edits from “obvious transphobe” — ‘Orange is the New Black’ fight sparks new House Wikipedia ban — For the third time this summer, computers in the House have been blocked from editing Wikipedia due to a string of controversial edits.

Discussion: Business Insider, @congressedits, @piper, @jrbg69, Ars Technica, PandoDaily, @thewikipedian, @congressedits, The Raw Story and Mediaite

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:

Forecast: Tumblr Will Grow 25% In 2014, But It's Slowing Down — Yahoo paid about the same price for Tumblr, around $1 billion, as Facebook did when it acquired Instagram, and the two had similar numbers of users at the time of acquisition, in the realm of 30 million.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Majority Of Digital Media Consumption Now Takes Place In Mobile Apps — U.S. users are now spending the majority of their time consuming digital media within mobile applications, according to a new study released by comScore this morning. That means mobile apps, including the number 1 …

Discussion: comScore, Inc., Talking New Media and Marketing Land, Thanks:@steverubel

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:

This: Why Atlantic Media is funding a social platform for sharing links, one at a time — By now, you might have heard that Atlantic Media's Andrew Golis is incubating a small social network inside the company. Golis came to Atlantic Media as entrepreneur-in-residence a little over a year ago …

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:

Comcast to launch ‘Xfinity on Campus’, IP-based video service targeted at college students — Comcast: ‘Xfinity On Campus’ Is Open For Business — Several Schools On Board For IP-Based Multiscreen Offering — Following an extensive trial period, Comcast said it has moved forward …

Discussion: The Verge, Forbes, Engadget, Variety and AdAge

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:

Why it's smart of the HuffPo to partner with Beacon Reader in crowdfunding a reporter — The Huffington Post has sparked a backlash by partnering with Beacon Reader to crowdfund a reporting fellowship in Ferguson, Mo. — but the project is actually a smart way to experiment …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, @hellothefuture, @blackamazon, @elonjames, @jcstearns, @elonjames, @sandersak and FishbowlDC

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Huffington Post teams up with Beacon Reader to fund a local journalist reporting in Ferguson for a year

Discussion: Nieman Lab, The Awl, 10,000 Words, The Local News Lab, AdAge, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @adviserdavid, The Daily Caller, FishbowlDC, @mikeisaac, Guardian, Beacon, @khillmatic, @mathewi, @attackerman and @jcstearns

Kim Williams / Sydney Morning Herald:

Former CEO Kim Williams calls News Corp leaks a festival of vengeance — During my time at News Corporation there were frequent frustrating leaks, much like the one this week, a comprehensive set of numbers on the company's Australian enterprises. — The leak, published in Crikey …

Discussion: @cjoye, @gay_alcorn and Guardian