Mediagazer: Forecast: Tumblr Will Grow 25% In 2014, But It's Slowing Down (Jeff Bercovici/Forbes)

7:05 PM ET, August 21, 2014

Top News:

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

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, The Intercept, ThinkProgress, Associated Press and Business Insider

Tom Risen / US News:

James Foley and Syria's News Repression — Syria was ranked the most dangerous nation for journalists like Foley, who was kidnapped and murdered. — Journalist James Foley rests at a Libyan airport in 2011. Foley was later captured in Syria, which one press freedom group has deemed …

Discussion: @usnews and @abeaujon

Washington Post:
U.S. staged secret Syria operation in failed bid to rescue Foley, other journalists, hostages

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, @johnmcquaid, @occbaystreet, @dangillmor, @jayrosen_nyu, Hot Air, New York Magazine and Gawker

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

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: @jcstearns, @blackamazon, @hellothefuture, @elonjames, @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, FishbowlDC, The Daily Caller, JIMROMENESKO.COM, @adviserdavid, @mikeisaac, Guardian, @khillmatic, @mathewi, @attackerman, @jcstearns and Beacon

Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:

Thomson Reuters emails Indian digital publisher Medianama: we'll take your articles if you don't tell us not to — Thomson Reuters: we'll take your articles if you don't tell us not to — We received a email from Thomson Reuters last evening, informing us that unless we write …

Discussion: Quartz, @stevesilberman, @myrmecos, Business Insider, @over_rated, @rafat, @thestalwart, @raju, @sachinkalbag, Techdirt, @sirajdatoo, @dmjreports, @qhardy, @rohanv, @earleyedition and @rafat, Thanks:@nixxin

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: AdAge, Forbes, The Verge, Variety and Engadget

Lockhart Steele / The Verge:

Vox's Lockhart Steele commits to blogging again, hints at turning Chorus CMS into platform — The retro-futuristic future of blogging — I've been thinking about ecosystems lately. As we're digging deeper into YouTube at Vox Media, I'm coming to appreciate the ways YouTube personalities interact …

Discussion: LockhartSteele.com, @verge, @davisshaver, @jonathanglick, @lindseymgreen, @smalera, @dangillmor, @fimoculous, @nbj914 and @petersontee

Steven Perlberg / Wall Street Journal:

AdDetector plugin detects native advertising on sites like BuzzFeed and the New York Times — Meet AdDetector — The New Plug-In That Labels Native Advertising — A week-old browser plug-in may have helped solve native advertising's labeling problem. The service, AdDetector …

Discussion: @joshsternberg, The Verge and Engadget

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, @piper, @thewikipedian, @jrbg69, @congressedits, @congressedits, Ars Technica, Mediaite, PandoDaily and The Raw Story

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.

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

Conde Nast Media Group Names Vanity Fair Publisher Edward Menicheschi CMO and President — Condé Nast Media Group has named Vanity Fair publisher Edward Menicheschi its chief marketing officer and president. He will succeed Lou Cona, who in April 2013 was named the company's president and chief revenue officer.

Discussion: Media & Entertainment, Folio, AdAge, WWD, FishbowlNY, Forbes, Capital New York, Poynter and MediaWire Daily

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

Nic Christensen / mUmBRELLA:
Crikey agrees to destroy copies of leaked News Corp financial statements

Discussion: Crikey, Crikey, Guardian, Crikey, Crikey, Crikey, mUmBRELLA, Sydney Morning Herald, @nicchristensen, @kieragorden, @themurdochtimes, mUmBRELLA, Sydney Morning Herald, @chrismurphys, @peterjhinton and @ivorytowerjourn

Rick Gladstone / New York Times:

Afghanistan Defends Expulsion of New York Times Reporter — The United States sharply criticized the government of Afghanistan on Thursday over its expulsion of Matthew Rosenberg, a New York Times correspondent, calling the move a threat to the country's budding democratic system and a “regrettable step backward” for its press freedom.

Discussion: The Hill, Afghanistan, @mrosenbergnyt, @mrosenbergnyt, @rodnordland, The Huffington Post, Al Jazeera English, Washington Post, Guardian, RT and Committee to Protect …

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Time Inc.'s Pearlstine says writer rating system “no big deal”, confined to Sports Illustrated — Pearlstine on Time Inc. Spreadsheet-gate: ‘Not a Big Deal’ — The company's chief content officer calls the controversy “bulls**t.” — Shares