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Criticized on Seizure of Records, White House Pushes News Media Shield Law (NYT)
Under fire over the Justice Department’s use of a broad subpoena to obtain calling records of Associated Press reporters in connection with a leak investigation, the Obama administration sought on Wednesday to revive legislation that would provide greater protections to reporters in keeping their sources and communications confidential. Capital New York The administration opposed an initial draft of the Free Flow of Information Act, but eventually supported a compromise version that would allow federal judges to protect reporters from subpoenas for information, if the judge determined that the news value of the reports exceeded the government’s interest in uncovering the sources of a leak. HuffPost / The Backstory New York Times reporter Charlie Savage asked Attorney General Eric Holder, who had just announced he’d recused himself from the AP leak investigation, “Are you also recused from the Stuxnet investigation out of Maryland?” The New York Times has reason to be concerned about whether investigators are using similar tactics on them. The Maryland case is believed to be focused on Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger’s reporting on how the U.S. and Israel helped derail Iran’s nuclear program through cyberattacks. Sanger’s June scoop, along with the Times’ front-page article on Obama’s terrorist “kill list,” spurred Congressional calls to investigate the leaks of classified information. The Washington Post / Erik Wemple Media Matters for America, a group that monitors the country’s conservative media for distortions and inaccuracies, fell in for criticism Wednesday over the Justice Department’s secret subpoena of the Associated Press’s phone records. Evidence of this Media Matters-Obama administration mindmeld? This piece here, which says: “If the press compromised active counter-terror operations for a story that only tipped off the terrorists, that sounds like it should be investigated.” The Daily Beast / Politics Beast David Brock explained all in a statement. “Media Matters for America monitors, analyzes, and corrects conservative misinformation in the media and was not involved with the production of the document focusing on the DOJs investigation,” he said. “That document was issued by ‘Message Matters,’ a project of the Media Matters Action Network, which posts, through a different editorial process and to a different website, a wide range of potential messaging products for progressive talkers to win public debates with conservatives.” Read more

While it was a bit more subdued than usual at Michael’s today with some of the glitterati off to Cannes and a few others up in Greenwich watching Prince Harry play polo (our invite must have gotten lost in the mail),  the usual mix of editors (Anne Fulenwider, Lucy Danziger) and media moguls (David Zinczenko) were in full power lunch mode celebrating each other’s successes and hatching their next big deals.

I was joined today by Kimberly Cherebin and Alaska Gedeon, stars of the new docu-series Newlyweds: The First Year, which premiered May 6 on Bravo. Also in attendance were the network’s PR marvels, Jennifer Geisser and Julia Nietsch, as well as the happy couple’s manager, Camille White Stern. The show is a hit, having snagged over 1 million viewers for the first episode. With Kimberly stuck in traffic en route from the studio where she was styling Justine Skye‘s new video, I got a chance to chat with Alaska first. I asked him what in the world would possess anyone to allow cameras to follow them during their entire first year of marriage. He told me he’d been absolutely opposed to doing the show at first, and Kimberly asked him “about six or seven times” before he finally agreed. Looking back on the experience (shooting wrapped earlier this year), Alaska said having the details of your daily life play out for all the world to see “forces you to raise the standard of who you are: how you treat others and especially how you treat your wife.” He then added brightly, “It’s like a mirror and like therapy.” So did he like everything he saw reflected back at him? “I just don’t think I’m that big of a jerk,” he said with a laugh. (After meeting him, I’m inclined to agree). “My sarcasm doesn’t always read well on camera.” He also told me that it wasn’t until after he viewed the scene where he and Kimberly discussed their bi-coastal marriage that he realized just how “heartbroken” Kimberly was at the prospect of their separation.

Alaska Gedeon, Kimberly Cherebin and Diane Clehane

When Kimberly arrived, I asked her why she was so enthusiastic about  doing the show, and she admitted that she didn’t exactly know what she was getting into. “At first, I thought it was one of those David Tutera>-type ‘planning your wedding’ shows, and I thought that would be fun, but it was nothing like that,” she explained. Once she did understand that she and Alaska would be agreeing to 10-hour shooting days over the course of year and be required to use their ‘Couples’ Cam’ on each other to capture intimate moments (not that kind, silly), she remained undaunted. “It seems like when you see marriages on TV you either see these fairy tales or something pretty terrible. We have really ‘extreme’ careers, and this was a chance to show how you balance it all.” 

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SocialTimes: Google just revamped Google+ and packed it with over 40 new features! Yeah, we know, you still don’t care about Google+. We were hoping that exclamation point would swing you, but yeah, we get it.

AgencySpy: Twitter fights are stupid, but they’re even worse when they’re with brands.

AllTwitter: Speaking of Twitter, the SEC ruled that companies can spread vital info via social networks. What could go wrong?

Everyone loved The New York Times’ digital Snow Fall piece. We praised it. It won a Pulitzer. Even Jill Abramson started using Snow Fall as a verb. Now Newsweek/The Daily Beast appears to be taking it a step farther. Its site redesign is very similar to Snow Fall. It features a giant banner photo at the top of each story, and (while in beta) no ads among the copy.

Baba Shetty, CEO of NewsBeast, told Ad Age that the site’s design was already in place when Snow Fall was published, and that might be true. Either way, the new Newsweek/Daily Beast is great. It’s clean and bold.

One thing we do worry about? Shetty says that when ads do come to the new site, they’ll be going the sponsored/native route. Shetty said that they’ll be “beautiful, high-impact units.” Let’s all hope that doesn’t actually mean “Annoying, disruptive ads that try too hard to mimic editorial.”

Angelina Jolie’s op-ed in the New York Times detailing her decision to have a preventative double mastectomy has garnered a lot of attention. Time is keeping that going with its latest issue. The cover features the 37-year-old actress and inside is a report on how Jolie’s decision could affect other women and much more.

The new issue of Time hits newsstands tomorrow.

The New Yorker has launched an anonymous online tip box called “Strongbox.” The tool is designed to allow anyone to send a document, file, image, whatever, to the New Yorker, while keeping their identity a total secret. It’s basically WikiLeaks for pretentious people. Kidding!

The Wall Street Journal has something similar called SafeHouse, but that had several security flaws. And since you never hear about it, it seems like it’s not going so well. The New Yorker recognizes that something could go awry when submitting. In a post about the tool, the magazine states, “Strongbox does not provide perfect security. Among other risks, if you share your unique code name, or if your computer is compromised, any activities, including communications through Strongbox, should be considered compromised as well.”

If you’re willing to take that risk, have at it. Start sending your cartoons of pigs at the complaint department today.

Jayne Jamison has been named vice president and publishing director of Seventeen and Redbook magazines, a new role at Hearst Magazines. Jamison was most recently vice president, publisher and chief revenue officer of Seventeen, a role she had held since 2003. This marks a return to Redbook for Jamison, as she was with the magazine from 1997 to 2003.

“Seventeen is the number one teen magazine in the market and Jayne has taken it to new heights, achieving tremendous advertising growth, up more than 11 percent in the first half of 2013,” Michael Clinton, Hearst Magazines’ president, marketing and publishing director, said in a statement. “Her relationships and experience in fashion and beauty are a great asset as she adds the new, style-focusedRedbook to her responsibilities.”

Jamison is taking over Redbook’s publishing duties from Mary Morgan, who is leaving Hearst Magazines.

If you don’t watch FOX or even TV in the mornings, you may occasionally see her on the cable clip show “The Soup” as the woman who puts up with co-anchor Greg Kelly‘s antics.

New York native Rosanna Scotto, morning anchor for FOX owned station WNYW, sat down with the mediabistroTV crew to talk about how St. Patrick’s Day and the antics of world-famous director Woody Allen are what lead to her first big break.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Will Kahn has been named Town & Country’s accessories editor. He comes to the magazine from W, where he held the same role. He had been with W since 2007.

Prior to his time at W, Kahn worked with Teen Vogue and New York.

Kahn’s appointment is effective immediately.