Mediagazer: Stolen Sony emails reveal scheming by MPAA, movie studios against Google in “Project Goliath” and their fight against piracy at the expense of the open web (Russell Brandom/The Verge)

9:45 PM ET, December 12, 2014

Top News:

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Stolen Sony emails reveal scheming by MPAA, movie studios against Google in “Project Goliath” and their fight against piracy at the expense of the open web — Project Goliath: Inside Hollywood's secret war against Google — What is “Goliath” and why are Hollywood's most powerful lawyers working to kill it?

Discussion: 9to5Google, @marklemley, @chillmage, @pkafka, @elidourado, @russellbrandom, @maira, Techdirt, @granick, @maira, @caseynewton, @bcbishop, @awallenstein, Business Insider and TIME

Andy / TorrentFreak:

After SOPA backlash, MPAA and movie studios search for legal ways to block sites infringing IP — MPAA Prepares to Bring Pirate Site Blocking to the U.S. — Site blocking has become one of the go-to anti-piracy techniques for the music and movie industries.

Discussion: @karlbode, TorrentFreak, @acedtect and Electronista

Emily Yoshida / The Verge:

Why we're reporting on Sony's leaked info — Today on The Verge we published a story about a major operation by the MPAA to broadly and significantly impact the distribution of information, which would impact how free speech works on the internet. We obtained this information …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @julie_bush and @samitsarkar

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Source: Justice Department won't force NYT reporter James Risen to reveal a source in CIA book — Attorney General Won't Force NYT Reporter to Reveal Source in CIA Leak — The reporter, James Risen, has been battling for years to stop prosecutors from forcing him to name his source …

Discussion: The Wrap, LA Observed, Mediaite, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, Washington Post, Politico, @freedomofpress, @antderosa, @chrisgeidner, Boing Boing, Associated Press, @joshmeyerdc, @chrisgeidner, @bradmossesq, @bartongellman and @xeni

Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:

Department of Justice may force 60 Minutes producer Richard Bonin to testify in terrorism case — Holder Faces Another Decision on Forcing a Reporter to Testify — With Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. facing a deadline over whether to force a reporter for The New York Times to reveal his sources …

Matthew Zeitlin / BuzzFeed:

Leaked Emails Suggest Maureen Dowd Promised To Show Sony Exec's Husband Column Before Publication — The end result: kudos at the studio and an email from Dowd after it published saying, “you're amazing.” Update: Dowd says she didn't send an advance copy of the column.

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Dowd denies showing column to Sony exec's husband; emails don't show an ethics violation — Hacked Emails, ‘Air-Kissing’ — and Two Firm Denials — A BuzzFeed story, published Thursday, based on leaked Sony Pictures emails, reports that the Pulitzer-winning Times columnist Maureen Dowd promised …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @moneyries, Mediaite, TVNewser, Deadline, @profjeffjarvis, Inside Movies, The Daily Caller and Business Insider

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Circa is seeking $8M in Series A funding as it faces well-funded competition from AJ+, others — The newsonomics of Circa's uncertain future (and new competition from AJ+) — What's in the cards for Circa, an award-nabbing industry darling, a pioneer of mobile-first news apps and a visual style that still spreads on the web?

Discussion: @rafat, @mg, @mathewi, @jeffjarvis and @niemanlab

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

Inside the Collapse of The New Republic — Last Friday morning, Chris Hughes, the owner of The New Republic, and Guy Vidra, the magazine's C.E.O., presided over a meeting at the publication's Penn Quarter offices in Washington, D.C. It had been a busy twenty-four hours: a day earlier …

Kelly J O'Brien / Columbia Journalism Review:

FOIA reform dies while the press looked the other way — More than two years of work by open government advocates collapsed on Thursday night when House Speaker John Boehner closed the final legislative session of the 113th Congress without bringing the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 to a vote.

Discussion: FRONTLINE, The Hill, Techdirt, Associated Press, @foiafactor, @_rshapiro, digiphile, @alisonannyoung, @reedfrich, @muckrock, @dangillmor, @digiphile, @davidfolkenflik and @digiphile

Tamar Wilner / Columbia Journalism Review:

Laid-off Metro Pulse editors plan a new publication in Knoxville — After rejecting severance to start a competitor, journalist seek funding for Knoxville Mercury — Three former editors for Metro Pulse, the Knoxville, TN, alt-weekly recently shuttered by E.W. Scripps …

Discussion: The Knoxville Mercury and @cjr

Pablo Gorondi / Associated Press:

Hungary's leader wants drug tests for journalists — 2 photos — BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The Hungarian prime minister, who has vowed to remake his country into a “non-liberal” state as he moves closer to Moscow, called Friday for mandatory drug testing of journalists and politicians.

Discussion: Guardian