Mediagazer: Friends of ISIS captive Sotloff speak out admiringly of his talent, passion (CNN)

10:55 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, @elizabethdrewoh, @the_fjp, @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: The Daily Caller, @anildash, @clairecmc, @iamsakuma, Gawker, @penenberg, @vdcphotonews, @antderosa, @elisewho, @ryanschuessler1, @tomgara, Hot Air, @yvonnemmu, @april_davis, @vdcphotonews, @amaditalks, @mmasnick, @_peech, VDC Photo Blog and Mediaite

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, The Huffington Post and Digiday

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

Amanda Meade / Guardian:
News Corp Australia defends use of James Foley beheading images

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, @pkafka 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, mUmBRELLA, Capital New York, MediaNama, FishbowlDC, @nsabloff and FishbowlNY

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

How a Norwegian public radio station is using Snapchat to connect young listeners with news — The newsonomics of Schibsted's VGTV and web-native TV — In 2011, the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK set the world record for the longest single television show by broadcasting a cruise ship traversing the country's coast.

Discussion: AdExchanger, VatorNews, SocialTimes, Pocket-lint, Digital Spy and The Verge

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., @benhuh, 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 …

Discussion: @yingworld

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.

CNN:

Friends of ISIS captive Sotloff speak out admiringly of his talent, passion — (CNN) — When freelance journalist Steven Sotloff disappeared during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2013, his family kept the news a secret. Families of hostages are frequently advised to do this by security firms …

Discussion: USA Today

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