Mediagazer: Al Jazeera's negotiations with distributors eroded value of Current TV, Gore complaint claims (Keach Hagey/Wall Street Journal)

1:55 PM ET, August 22, 2014

Top News:

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: @anildash, Guardian, @iamsakuma, @justcris, @vdcphotonews, @vdcphotonews, @amaditalks, @yvonnemmu, @ryanschuessler1, The Daily Caller, @clairecmc, VDC Photo Blog, Gawker, @penenberg, @april_davis, Hot Air, @antderosa, @tomgara, @mmasnick, @elisewho, @_peech 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: TVNewser, Variety, Columbia Journalism Review and SocialTimes

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

Discussion: msnbc.com, @only4rm, @rukmini_shrini, @lawalazu, @lawrence, @the_fjp, @elizabethdrewoh, @occbaystreet, Pressing Issues, @jayrosen_nyu, @dangillmor and @johnmcquaid

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Execution of U.S. journalist reveals the changing business of war coverage — (Reuters) - A chilling video showing the execution of journalist James Foley by Islamist militants marks the second time an American reporter has been beheaded by captors overseas, echoing the murder …

Discussion: @richarddeitsch, NPR and @jammastergirish

Martin Chulov / Guardian:
James Foley and fellow freelancers assumed more risks as media outlets cut back budgets

Discussion: @davidc7, @brightey, @blakehounshell, @eefita, @javierespinosa2, @martinchulov, @renireni, @allison_good1, @janemartinson, @joshuahersh, @remcoand, @hahellyer, @robcrilly, @beltrew, @benplesser, CNN and Forbes

Tom Risen / US News:
How James Foley advised and encouraged a freelance reporter to go to Syria in 2012

Discussion: New York Times, Guardian, @jamesrisen, @tomrisen and Associated Press, Thanks:@tomrisen

Ryan Tate / Wired:

Newsletter Thrillist set to exceed $100M in revenue this year, says co-founder Ben Lehrer — The Newsletter That Became a $100M Business Selling Stuff to Dudes — Once upon a time, Thrillist was just an email newsletter with a circulation of about 600 New Yorkers.

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: Multichannel News, comScore, Inc., RAIN News, Music Ally, Wall Street Journal, @craigmod, Forbes, @benhuh, @iammobilebob, TIME, Talking New Media and Marketing Land, Thanks:@steverubel

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

Beleaguered Spin Media's new C.E.O., Stephen Blackwell, lays out a plan — Last week, as Capital first reported, Stephen Blackwell was named the new C.E.O. of Spin Media Group—a collection of more than a dozen online music and lifestyle publications that together bring in about 30 million monthly uniques.

Catalina Albeanu / Journalism.co.uk:

How FT is experimenting with aggregation service Antenna — FT Antenna gathers content from Twitter to keep FT readers up to date with the latest top stories on social media — Read more — Other top stories — Also on Journalism.co.uk...

Discussion: TheMediaBriefing

Our Bad Media:

The Paste-American World: How Fareed Zakaria Plagiarized In His International Bestseller (And The Magazines He Used To Run) — Last Tuesday, Fareed Zakaria responded to our initial blog post showing that he had clearly and inappropriately copied and pasted other journalistsÂ' work.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, @raju, @nycsouthpaw, @leftleaningec, @bro_pair and @mcmoynihan

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: Re/code, @mikesnider, BetaBoston, Electronista, TVSpy, USA Today, TechCrunch, Bloomberg and @pkafka

Maria Sheahan / Reuters:

German regulator won't pursue complaint demanding Google pay for giving access to articles — Google wins victory in row with German publishers — (Reuters) - A German regulator handed Google Inc a victory on Friday as it said it would not pursue a complaint brought against the internet …

Al Jazeera English:

Appeal filed over jailed Al Jazeera staff — Lawyers for the three journalists imprisoned in Egypt say there were several breaches of process in their trial. — Lawyers for three Al Jazeera English staff jailed in Egypt have filed appeals against their convictions.

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Al Jazeera's negotiations with distributors eroded value of Current TV, Gore complaint claims — Al Gore Had Reservations About Selling Current TV to Al Jazeera, Court Papers Say — Current TV Co-Founders Have Sued Al Jazeera for Withholding Money From 2013 Deal