Mediagazer: New U2 album gets pushed to iTunes users by default, may appear on your iPhone automatically (Andrew Cunningham/Ars Technica)

2:50 PM ET, September 11, 2014

Top News:

Spin Media lays off 19, kills Vibe print edition — Spin Media Group eliminated 19 positions on Tuesday, C.E.O. Stephen Blackwell told Capital in a phone interview. — Blackwell told Capital that Tuesday's “reduction in force” affected about 14 percent of the company's 127 staff members …

Discussion: New York Post, Folio, FishbowlNY, MediaWire Daily, Hip-Hop Wired, @jasonlipshutz, @pm_jawn, @jawnita, @digiphile, @en_cohen and FishbowlNY

Ezequiel Minaya / Wall Street Journal:

Venezuela's Press Crackdown Stokes Growth of Online Media — Digital Alternatives Expand as Newspapers and Broadcasters Struggle — CARACAS, Venezuela—Angel Alayon's Prodavinci.com blog, with its serious political analysis, drew a few dozen readers when he started five years ago.

David Yi / WWD:

Maxim Magazine Names Kate Lanphear Editor in Chief — MAXIM'S SURPRISE: After weeks of industry speculation about who would be named Maxim magazine's new editor in chief, WWD has learned the job will go to Kate Lanphear, who is jumping to the title from her current role as style director at T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

Discussion: New York Magazine, MinOnline, FishbowlNY, MediaWire Daily, theFashionSpot and Racked National

Bloomberg:

Disney, Fox Said to Weigh Joining Sony's Web-TV Service — Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and 21st Century Fox Inc. are in discussions to supply Sony Corp. (6758) with programming for its planned Internet-based TV service, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Discussion: New York Times, ITProPortal, AdAge, Press Release, Hollywood Reporter and Re/code

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

News Corp. C.E.O. touts newspaper improvements, tighter focus — News Corp. C.E.O. Robert Thomson is optimistic about improvements at the company's newspapers despite ongoing declines in advertising revenues. — In particular, Thomson said Wednesday at the 23rd Annual Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

David Cameron's Daily Telegraph article broke editors' code of practice — At its final meeting a week ago, the Press Complaints Commission ruled that an article written for the Daily Telegraph by the prime minister, David Cameron, breached the editors' code of practice.

Discussion: Press Complaints Commission, New Statesman, Mirror.co.uk, Press Association, UK - The Huffington Post, Full Fact, Press Gazette and Left Foot Forward

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Secret state: Members of armed forces must notify press officers even if they meet a journalist socially — New official guidelines impose strict controls on anyone from the armed forces making contact with journalists, even in a social setting. — The rules state that when a member …

Discussion: Poynter, @cavasships, @markhookham, Guardian, @defencechris, @simondebrux, @fleetstreetfox, @reporterboy, @benfarmerdt, @jamesrbuk, @andybizarre, @imagejunkies, @thegreycardigan, @guywalters, @fleetstreetfox and @tnewtondunn

Reiji Yoshida / Japan Times:

Daily Asahi Shimbun retracts faulty Fukushima story, sacks top editor — The Asahi Shimbun on Thursday retracted a story on the Fukushima nuclear crisis and sacked Nobuyuki Sugiura as executive editor after acknowledging the article contained a serious error — the latest to rock the major left-leaning daily.

Discussion: New York Times, GlobalPost, Japan Times latest, The Japan News and AJW

RT:

Ukraine's security service raids independent Kiev newspaper after report on SBU chief's family — The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has raided the office of a Kiev-based online newspaper and seized its servers, downing its website. The tabloid's editor-in-chief says the raid was after a report on the SBU chief's family in the US.

Mark Sweney / Guardian:

Channel 4 to replace 4oD with new online hub All 4 — New site will offer live and on-demand streaming, exploiting growing trend in viewing on tablets and smartphones — The All 4 online hub will feature all of Channel 4's TV networks as well as its on-demand service 4oD

Discussion: Pocket-lint, Hollywood Reporter, The Independent, TechRadar.com, BBC, IAB UK, The Next Web, Broadband TV News, KitGuru, Telecompaper, CR Blog, The Drum, Cable UK News, Engadget, Digital TV Europe, Compare Mobile Phones …, CNET and broadcastnow.co.uk

Philip N. Howard / New York Times:

Hungary's Crackdown on the Press — BUDAPEST — The European Union faces a challenging conundrum. While Hungary has embarked on building Europe's most controlled media system, the European Commission just agreed in August to provide the country with nearly 22 billion euros of economic assistance.

Discussion: @zeynep

Tara Conlan / Guardian:

BBC News strike called off as compulsory redundancies suspended — Interruption of Scottish independence referendum coverage averted as corporation enacts freeze on external hirings — A strike by BBC News staff that could have hit coverage of the Scottish independence referendum next week …

Discussion: Press Gazette and BECTU

David Lieberman / Deadline:

Verizon CEO Says Its Internet TV Service Will Be Up By Mid-2015 And Will Include “Custom Channels” — CEO Lowell McAdam offered a few more details this morning about Verizon's plan to offer a TV-like service over the Internet, a market that Sony and Dish Network also hope to lead.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Gigaom, Engadget, Gizmodo and The Verge

Karissa Bell / Mashable:

Yahoo News Digest Lands on iPads With Katie Couric Videos — When Yahoo announced last year it would acquire Summly, a London-based startup specializing in summarization technology headed up by 17-year-old founder Nick D'Aloisio, in a deal reportedly value at $30 million, it left many scratching their heads.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, VentureBeat, CNET, BuzzFeed, @adamcahan, MobileSyrup.com, BBC and The Verge

Mong Palatino / Global Voices:

East Timor's “Repressive” Media Law Declared Unconstitutional — East Timor journalists and human rights groups scored partial victory when the Court of Appeal ruled that the Press Law passed by parliament last May is unconstitutional. — Media and activist groups oppose the law …

Discussion: @phelimkine and Economist

Jessika Walsten / Broadcasting & Cable:

Monetization a Big Obstacle for TV Everywhere #NextTV — With more and more content and platforms, effective advertising is key — Santa Clara, Calif. — TV anywhere, anytime still faces many challenges. But panelists at Next TV Summit San Francisco Wednesday returned to over and over to monetization.