Mediagazer: Beleaguered Spin Media's new C.E.O., Stephen Blackwell, lays out a plan (Peter Sterne/Capital New York)

3:15 PM ET, August 22, 2014

Top News:

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, @jammastergirish, NPR and Journalism News

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 and @tomrisen, Thanks:@tomrisen

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

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: Variety, TVNewser, 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, Pressing Issues, @occbaystreet, @jayrosen_nyu, @dangillmor and @johnmcquaid

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

The Guardian and St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial pages are teaming up for Ferguson coverage — It started, like so many things now do, with a tweet. On August 12, three days after Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. and just as the protests there were beginning …

Discussion: @mccanner, @tonymess, @losowsky, Mother Jones, RT, American Journalism Review, Guardian and The Raw Story

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.

Discussion: MediaWire Daily

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.

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, @mcmoynihan, @leftleaningec, @raju, @bro_pair and @nycsouthpaw

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

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.

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Video discovery app N3twork launches, provides access to Apple TV via AirPlay — A Video Startup Teaches Apple TV Some New Tricks — Remember when AirPlay was going to be a big deal? — AirPlay is Apple's system for beaming stuff from users' phones, tablets and laptops to Apple TVs, and then onto actual TV sets.

Discussion: Forbes

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