Matthew Keys, a 26-year-old deputy social media editor for Thomson Reuters, has been charged with helping the hacker collective Anonymous attack the Web site of The Los Angeles Times, Amy Chozick reports. Mr. Keys once worked as a Web producer at KTXL Fox 40, which, like The Los Angeles Times, is owned by Tribune Media. A federal indictment of Mr. Keys said that he provided Anonymous with login information for Tribune Company computers, encouraged the hackers to log on to the company’s server and damage it, and helped the group in an attack that allowed them to alter a feature on the newspaper’s Web site. Mr. Keys could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each substantive count.
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain announced on Thursday that talks on a government method for regulating the country’s unruly press had broken down and that he would seek his own proposal for a method of self-regulation, Alan Cowell and John F. Burns write. Mr. Cameron’s abrupt move comes after months of inquiries into a phone-hacking scandal. It underscores the divisiveness of the debate about press regulation, at present supervised by a self-regulatory body generally seen as feeble. A report on the phone-hacking scandal called for press regulation backed by parliamentary statute. Mr. Cameron risks alienating the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partners with his Conservative Party, who might end up voting against his proposal.
The first upfront by NBCUniversal News put on a happy face even though the company has been without a president for more than a month and the “Today” show has trailed ABC’s “Good Morning America” in morning show ratings for months, Stuart Elliott writes. Matt Lauer, the co-anchor of “Today” whose tenure has been the subject of speculation and press scrutiny, strode onstage with his co-anchor Savannah Guthrie toward the end of the presentation to make light of the situation. “From the bottom of my heart, I promise to spend all my time and energy the next several weeks and months trying to keep Savannah out of the headlines,” Mr. Lauer said, drawing appreciative laughter. NBCUniversal News Group executives did not directly address the issues facing the company but played up the benefits of advertising on “Today,” “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and “Squawk Box” on CNBC, which collectively reach 43 million people.
“The World According to Dick Cheney,” a documentary by R.J. Cutler that will be shown Friday on Showtime, contains insights and revealing moments but may prove dissatisfying for critics who long to confront Mr. Cheney, Alessandra Stanley reports. The documentary, a long interview with Mr. Cheney interspersed with news clips and journalists, is not an indictment or a spooky character study. It allows Mr. Cheney to make assertions without contradiction or follow-up questions and shows his utter complacency about blunders on his watch, like the false information that led to the war in Iraq, Ms. Stanley writes. “I did what I did, it’s all on the public record, and, um, I feel very good about it,” Mr. Cheney says at the end. “If I had to do it over again, I’d do it in a minute.”
Conservative media is undergoing an identity crisis, with leaders in the field calling for a return to reporting basics and a move away from weaponized and sometimes inaccurate reporting, Dylan Byers reports on Politico. Representatives for major conservative media outlets will come together on Friday to discuss how they can gain more recognition and credibility with mainstream media outlets at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC organizers may have different ideas; they invited media figures like Dick Morris and Donald Trump to speak at the conference.