Media stories of note for Wednesday, April 24, 2013:

Churnalism US is a new tool to help determine if journalism has been heavily borrowed from other sources. It is a joint project of the Sunlight Foundation (which reports on it here) and the Media Standards Trust. It works by pasting a URL or text into the site, which then patrols the web for similar content. Last week, for instance, it determined that a prematurely published obituary had borrowed heavily from a Wikipedia entry.

ESPN has a new ombudsman starting June 1. Robert Lipsyte has been one of sports journalism's most ardent critics over decades. The New Republic looks at his career and his outlook in the new role. Lipsyte replaces what had been a team-ombudsman approach at ESPN, which was using Poynter to help resolve public complaint issues.

Last week's British journalism conference, news:rewired, featured a session on media standards and ethics in the digital age. It produced a five-point guide that emphasizes accuracy over speed, stronger transparency on process, constant addition of value as stories are linked and shared, a commitment to corrections, and a strategy for trolls.

Andrew Donohue, a Knight Fellow and former editor of the Voice of San Diego, writes in the Nieman Journalism Lab on how to turn a reporting beat into something far more engaging, accountable and effective. He outlines a three-step program: finding the needs and the story, creating it, and pushing for fixes.

The New York Times writes on recent U.S. court decisions that suggest employers have been too aggressive in some instances in curtailing the social media expression of employees. In some cases the U.S. National Labor Relations Board has forced companies to rewrite their policies that had prohibited employees from disparaging their firms.

NetNewsCheck interviews Dan Kennedy, a veteran journalist and critic who teaches at Northeastern University, and he asserts that newspapers are not getting it right in digital. Their paywalls are not the answer and they are too debt-laden to succeed. That being said, he notes that non-profits and hyperlocal sites are also struggling with revenue challenges.

It didn't take terribly long for the first response to the $500-million sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera. Time Warner Cable dropped Current TV from its offerings. The new Al Jazeera America will reach about 40 million households, Huffington Post reports.

The Journalism.co.uk site has a list: 10 things journalists should know in 2013. They range from skills to tone to accountability to recognition and embrace of change.

John Gapper of The Financial Times examines the reasoning behind online paywalls and explores the concerns that substantial journalism is going to become the preserve of the wealthy consumer. (The column in question is available only through registration.)

The Independent has a critical piece on England's secretive Privy Council, which seemingly is going to be tapped to help oversee the conduct of newspapers.

Poynter has a look at the quality of reporting on mental health following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Beat reporters praise the effort as progress.