Obama administration knew in advance about destruction of Guardian’s hard drives

Good morning. Here are 10 media stories. Want more roundups? We got ’em! From Sam Kirkland: “Why are so many news organizations still worried about retweets by staffers?” From Kristen Hare: “Chinese journalists get a warning; press freedoms halt in South Sudan.”

1. Obama administration knew British government planned to force Guardian to destroy hard drives with Snowden docs: AP scores emails with a FOIA request. “‘Good news, at least on this front,’ the current NSA deputy director, Richard Ledgett, said at the end of a short, censored email to then-NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander and others. The subject of that July 19, 2013, email was: ‘Guardian data being destroyed.'” (AP) | FLASHBACK: Video of Guardian editors destroying hard drives while technicians from the Brtitish intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) watched. (The Guardian)
2. More Canadian papers close: Torstar’s Star Media Group will close Metro papers in Regina, Saskatchewan; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and London, Ontario. 25 positions will go. (Financial Post) | Metro will still have papers in seven other Canadian cities and online editions in four more. Star Media Group President John Cruickshank: “This decision does not reflect any change in our commitment to Metro’s future, both in print in larger markets and in digital in all markets.” (The Canadian Press) | Earlier this month: Torstar shut down Toronto magazine The Grid. “The media landscape continues to be impossible for a start-up,” its editor-in-chief said. (Toronto Star) | “The Grid was not a startup.” (Craig Silverman)
3. The smoking gun? “The last two Twitter accounts that the official @TeamLeBron account followed? @ohiodotcom and @AkronBeacon.” (@EliLanger) | “Twitter feed sprinkled with reporters landing in Gaza and Cleveland.” (@MickiMaynard) | Related: Nike paid for Benjamin Markovits to write a story about LeBron James. Then it had the piece killed. (Deadspin)
4. George Clooney racks up another USA Today byline: He does not accept the Daily Mail’s apology. “[E]ither they were lying originally or they’re lying now.” (USA Today)
5. Madison’s Isthmus changes hands: Former Onion executives Jeff Haupt and Craig Bartlet teamed with former Green Bay Packers lineman Mark Tauscher to buy Madison, Wisconsin, alt-weekly Isthmus. (Wisconsin State Journal) | Former Isthmus owner Vince O’Hern: “I die a little bit when I think of the large part of my life that I leave behind.” (Isthmus) | “Long live the publication with the funny name.” (Isthmus)
6. Retweets aren’t endorsements at NYT: “I think Twitter users by now understand that a retweet involves sharing or pointing something out, not necessarily advocating or endorsing,” Times standards editor Philip Corbett says. (Poynter) | “Are NPR, the AP, and Reuters’s editorial reputations really so fragile that a 140-character tweet or retweet by a staffer can blow the whole thing down?” (Reuters)
7. Don’t expect any reality shows about being a TV critic: “Some jobs are just too hideous to contemplate,” Mike Rowe says. (Capital)
8. How hotels ditching print newspapers affects the recycling industry: “For every major hotel chain that made these changes, it would be like eradicating newspapers from a city like Akron, Ohio, Tacoma, Wash., Birmingham, Ala. or Des Moines, Iowa.” (Waste360)
9. MSM Weed Watch: Here’s a very good interactive guide to medical marijuana strains. (Los Angeles Times) | “Like any great accessory, a flashy vaporizer pen can be a conversation starter.” (The New York Times) | Man featured on front page purchasing pot legally says he’s losing his job (The Spokesman Review, via Jim Romenesko)
10. Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin: Julia Rubin will join Racked.com, a fashion website. She was formerly online features editor for Teen Vogue. (@juliarubin) | Johana Bhuiyan will be a tech reporter at Buzzfeed. She was a digital media reporter at Capital New York. (Muck Rack) | Rick Green is managing editor for Bloomberg Industries. Formerly, he was a senior finance editor at Bloomberg. Andrew Thurlow is a real estate, sports and retail reporter for Jacksonville Business Journal. Formerly, he was a reporter for Automotive News. (Muck Rack) | Nathan Baca will be an investigative reporter at WBNS in Columbus, Ohio. He is currently a reporter at KLAS in Las Vegas. (Mediabistro) | Sarah Gilbert will be supervising senior editor of NPR’s Weekend Edition. She is currently managing editor of Marketplace. (FishbowlDC) | Rachel Dodes is Twitter’s partner manager for motion pictures. She was previously a film reporter for the Wall Street Journal. (FishbowlNY) | Amina Akhtar will be editorial director of theFashionSpot.com. She was formerly executive editor of Elle. (Adweek) | Megan Moser will be executive editor of the Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury. Formerly, she was the paper’s news editor. (AP) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org

Suggestions? Corrections? Would like me to send you this roundup each morning? Please email me: abeaujon@poynter.org.

Want more? Check out Sam Kirkland’s roundup of tech and social media news in Digital Day, and Kristen Hare’s roundup of journalism news outside the U.S. in MediaWireWorld.