Atlantic Media’s new military and defense site  — Defense One — has an editor. Kevin Baron, most recently Foreign Policy’s national security reporter and E-Ring blog author, is joining the site as its executive editor.

“Atlantic Media, with its commitment to high quality journalism and a digital pedigree, is the right media company to address the evolving needs of this community into the future,” said Baron, in a statement. “I could not be more pleased to join this important venture.”

Baron is also the vice president of the Pentagon Press Association and a two-time George Polk Award winner.

Over 70 percent of Wired is freelance written, and, once you’ve scored a byline, you’re well on your way to landing more assignments. Senior editor Sarah Fallon urges writers to think of Wired‘s coverage as a continuum: “Science leads to technologies. Technologies spawn businesses and whole industries. Businesses flourish and end up influencing and changing culture,” she said.

Based in San Francisco, Wired has a laid-back but focused West Coast feel and a sensibility that welcomes everyone from the worldly generalist to the Vine junkie. There’s plenty of room for freelancers, too, so long as you’re pitching fresh meat. “We want to cover stories that you wouldn’t find in any other magazine,” Fallon explained. “If you’re going to pitch something mainstream, make sure you have a unique angle.”

For more info, read How To Pitch: Wired.

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The Department of Justice is making journalists feel like Rockwell — somebody’s definitely watching them. We already know that the DOJ secretly seized phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors. Now The Washington Post reports that in 2009, the feds also spied on James Rosen — Fox News’ chief Washington correspondent.

According to court documents, the DOJ used Rosen’s Justice Department security badge to watch when he came and went from the State Department, acquired a search warrant for his personal emails, and monitored Rosen’s phone calls with a government advisor suspected of leaking intelligence.

After reviewing the information, the DOJ said that Rosen had broken the law “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.” But all Rosen did was what reporters do: Report.

Fortunately the First Amendment makes prosecuting Rosen impossible, but the fact that he was even accused of doing something wrong shows that the government is willing to strong-arm journalists and use scare tactics to keep them away. We’re fans of President Obama, but this is outrageous. Somebody’s watching alright, and it’s him giving the orders to do so.

It’s now official: Yahoo! has purchased Tumblr for $12.75 and a pack of Newports. With the deal done, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!’s CEO, wasted no time explaining one way they’re going to make money off the acquisition: Ads on ads on ads.

In a conference call, Mayer said that Yahoo! will bring more advertisements to the Tumblr dashboard and even negotiate with some users to implement ads on their sites. As Business Insider reports, Mayer said the dashboard change involve only “a very light ad load,” but seeing as it’s relatively ad-free now, it’ll be interesting to see how people feel about this.

Of course if Tumblr users complain about Yahoo! bringing more ads into their world, we could just remind them that Tumblr is free and so they really stop bitching.

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Yahoo! Tumblrs for Cool: Board Approves $1.1 Billion Deal as Expected (AllThingsD)
The Yahoo! board has approved a massive $1.1 billion all-cash deal to buy Tumblr. It’s not clear when the official vote was taken, but sources close to the board said the acquisition was a foregone conclusion and was unanimously approved by the directors of the Silicon Valley Internet giant. The deal will likely be announced Monday morning, said numerous sources. Business Insider Marissa Mayer has made her first big move as CEO of Yahoo!. She’s buying a social networking site with a younger audience and a ton of page views. Now it’s time to monetize the thing. Tumblr has just $13 million in revenue right now. It should be able to increase that revenue following the model of Twitter and Facebook. BuzzFeed When Yahoo! was founded, Tumblr’s most important demographic wasn’t even born. This — not profit or monthly active user numbers or corporate image-making — is what explains why Yahoo! wants Tumblr. GigaOM The painful fact is that Yahoo! doesn’t just look desperate — in many ways it is desperate. Mayer has made some changes since she took over the ailing former Web portal, including the acquisition of Summly and a number of other mobile-focused startups and services, but the company still needs to make some aggressive moves if it is going to jump-start any growth at all. AllThingsD If you write about Tumblr as a business, you are required to note that Tumblr has a lot of porn. So why isn’t that an issue for Yahoo!? Read more

GalleyCat: A 17-year-old writer gets his story published on a stamp in Ireland. What were you doing when you were 17?

AllTwitter: Pro golfer Ben Crane found a caddie via Twitter. Pretty awesome.

FishbowlLA: Speaking of golf, Robin Leach is mad at Tiger Woods, marking the first time in over a decade you’ve read something about Robin Leach.

Here’s a look at the FishbowlNY stories that made the most buzz this week.

1) Meredith Buys and Folds Parenting and Babytalk

2) Cover Battle: The New York Times Magazine or Mental Floss

3) Newsweek/The Daily Beast Gets a Redesign

4) Cablevision is Okay with Newsday Losing Millions

5) Elle Launches Google Glass App

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Just in case you needed another reason to love Pat Kiernan, here he is reading Huffington Post headlines on HuffPost Live.

Kiernan is a pro, so nothing — even reading about Emma Watson’s sports bra — derails him from a smooth delivery. You’re our boy Pat!

When two of The Village Voice‘s top editors quit rather than downsize staffers, it was only a matter of time before those layoffs transpired. The cuts involved three big names. According to Gawker, Michael Musto, Robert Sietsema and Michael Feingold have all been let go.

Christine Brennan, executive editor of the Village Voice Media Group, oversaw the reductions, which included some on the business side of the Voice. She was also the one asking Will Bourne, the Voice’s last editor, to fire or reduce the roles of staffers.

Musto had been writing for the Voice since the early 1980s; Sietsema since the early 90s; and Feingold since the late 90s. When a paper just fires three of their most iconic writers, you know things are bad.