Top News:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg Business:
Sources: US Justice Department lawyers leaning against Comcast merger with Time Warner Cable, could submit recommendation next week — U.S. Antitrust Lawyers Said to Be Leaning Against Comcast Merger — Staff attorneys at the Justice Department's antitrust division are nearing a recommendation …
Discussion:
Deadline, The Wrap, Business Insider, Consumerist, @brianstelter, @waltbtig and BGR
Frances Robles / New York Times:
PR agency claiming to represent the owner, now demands $10K for South Carolina shooting video, sending news organizations cease and desist letters — Fee to Be Charged for Video of South Carolina Shooting, Publicist Says — NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The video of a North Charleston police officer shooting …
Discussion:
Poynter, NY Daily News, TVSpy, Ars Technica, News One, UPTOWN Magazine, WCIV-TV, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, @markberman, New York Magazine, @jeffjohnroberts, BuzzFeed, Gawker, @levendowski, The Week, @sarahjeong, The Daily Beast, @cassgtv, @pbump, International Business Times and Mashable
Caroline Davies / Guardian:
Operation Elveden: more journalists cleared of paying public officials — The Sun's Tom Wells, Neil Millard and Brandon Malinsky, and former Daily Mirror reporter Graham Brough not guilty of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office — More journalists have been cleared …
Discussion:
BBC, Sky News, BBC, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Bulletin Standard, Telegraph, BBC, London Evening Standard, Telegraph and The Times
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Joshua Rozenberg / Guardian:
Operation Elveden: Andy Coulson and eight other cases dropped by DPP — No evidence will be offered in case of nine journalists, including former editor of News of the World, facing trial over leaks from public officials — The director of public prosecutions is abandoning the future prosecutions …
Discussion:
Digital Spy, Guardian, BBC, Telegraph and Imedia Ethics
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Verizon offering FiOS TV packages with mix-and-match channel packs that viewers can swap out each month; plans start at $54.99 — Verizon's New Pay TV Pitch Isn't A La Carte TV. But It's Getting Closer. — People who say they hate paying for cable TV often say they only want to pay …
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
YouTube competitor Vessel raises a $57.5M Series B round led by IVP, just weeks after launch — Vessel raises $57.5m funding to expand its ‘first window’ for YouTube creators — Silicon Valley heavyweight IVP joins US startup's investors, and predicts it could be as successful as Netflix and Twitter
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Bloomberg Business, Multichannel News, Financial Times, CNNMoney, Variety, VatorNews, @om, VideoNuze Analysis, Re/code, Hollywood Reporter, VideoInk and Tubefilter
David Uberti / Columbia Journalism Review:
Reuters' Baghdad bureau chief on why he fled Iraq — Once Ned Parker saw his face plastered across an Iraqi television channel, he knew he had to flee. On April 3, Reuters' Baghdad bureau chief helped chronicle in gruesome detail the lynching of ISIS captives by government and paramilitary forces.
Discussion:
@daviduberti and NPR
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Rem Rieder / USA Today:
The details of Engel's kidnapping story raise more difficult questions for NBC News — Rieder: Syria story means more trouble for NBC News — The last thing NBC News needs is another serious problem. But it looks like it's got one. — It's bad enough that the network has to figure …
Discussion:
The Intercept, CNNMoney, TVNewser, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, TVNewser, The Nation, Poynter, @thelemniscat, USA Today and @xeni
RELATED:
Emily Steel / New York Times:
Vanity Fair Updates Article by NBC Reporter Engel
Vanity Fair Updates Article by NBC Reporter Engel
Discussion:
Mediaite, New York Times and The Huffington Post
Philip Wen / Sydney Morning Herald:
Chinese journalist Gao Yu jailed for 7 years for leaking state secrets — The 71-year-old journalist was detained before the 25th anniversary of the suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. — Beijing: A respected veteran Chinese journalist has been sentenced to seven years jail …
Discussion:
Guardian, New York Times, ABC News, South China Morning Post, International Business Times, The Independent, CBS News, DW.DE, Al Jazeera America, South China Morning Post, Daily Mail, CNN, DW.DE, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera English, Voice of America, Shanghaiist, DW.DE, International Business Times, NBC News, Mashable, Financial Times and Sky News
Mark Duffy / Digiday:
Native ads don't sell products or influence consumers but do compromise editorial content — Copyranter: Native advertising on editorial websites doesn't work — Mark Duffy has written the Copyranter blog for 10 years and is a freelancing copywriter with 20-plus years of experience.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review and The Baffler
Matthew Wall / BBC:
Zuckerberg defends Internet.org after Indian companies pull out, says project not incompatible with net neutrality — Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg hits back in Internet.org India row — Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg believes Internet.org is not a threat to net neutrality
Discussion:
USA Today, Light Reading, ThinkProgress and BetaNews
Ian Cobain / Guardian:
The Guardian, Times, Daily Mail and others launch legal challenge to reporting restrictions imposed on terrorism trial — Erol Incedal trial: media groups dispute refusal to lift reporting restrictions — The Guardian, Times, Daily Mail and others launch challenge to restrictions …
Discussion:
Lebanon Daily Star, @rj_gallagher, @anonyops and Guardian
Adrienne LaFrance / The Atlantic Online:
How NPR Tote Bags Became a Thing — Tote bags are so synonymous with public broadcasting in the United States that they're as much a physical manifestation of NPR as a radio. The humble tote bag is, and has been for much of the network's 44-year existence, a powerful brand extension.