Mediagazer: Traffic to Chartbeat customers fell 3% during Facebook outage; mobile went 8.5% down; desktop went 3.5% up (Josh Schwartz/Chartbeat Blog)

5:05 AM ET, August 5, 2014

Top News:

Josh Schwartz / Chartbeat Blog:

Traffic to Chartbeat customers fell 3% during Facebook outage; mobile went 8.5% down; desktop went 3.5% up — Traffic During the Facebook Outage — As you've all but certainly heard, Facebook had a major outage midday on Friday. Overall traffic on news sites dropped by 3% …

Discussion: niemanlab.org, BuzzFeed, Poynter, Softpedia News, @nickheynen, @pbump, @justinnxt and Re/code

Alex Sherman / Bloomberg:

Source: Gannett agrees to pay $1.8B for the 73% of Cars.com it doesn't already own — Gannett Said to Agree to Buy Rest of Cars.com for $1.8 Billion — Gannett Co. (GCI), the owner of USA Today, has agreed to pay $1.8 billion for the 73 percent of auto-sales website Cars.com it doesn't already own …

Discussion: @jonmarino, @pkafka, USA Today and New York Times

Gilad Lotan / Global Voices:

Analysis: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter serve as siloed propaganda engines for Gaza news — Israel, Gaza, War & Data - The Art of Personalizing Propaganda — Instagram co-tag graph, highlighting three distinct topical communities: 1) pro-Israeli (Orange), 2) pro-Palestinian (Yellow), and 3) Muslim (Pink).

Discussion: @pemiblue, @robertmackey, @saharhghazi, @ajc110, @southernlimitnz, @zephoria, @ethanz, @ethanz, @kissane and Medium

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google News Gives Publishers More Control Over How It Indexes Their Sites — While European publishers have a rather contentious relationship with Google News, U.S. publishers have no such qualms and are more than happy to be indexed by the search giant's crawlers.

Discussion: Google News Blog, VentureBeat, WebProNews, Search Engine Land and The Next Web

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Mike Nizza named executive editor of Bloomberg's politics site — Bloomberg has hired Mike Nizza away from Esquire as part of the company's efforts to develop a new suite of media brands aimed at a consumer audience, Capital has learned. — Nizza, who currently serves as Esquire's digital editor …

Discussion: @mikenizza, @antderosa and Politico

Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:

John Oliver uses slot on HBO to attack NYT, others for using native advertising — John Oliver goes off on native advertising — In June, The New York Times published what many considered the “Snow Fall” of native ads. The post, sponsored by Netflix to promote the second season of Orange …

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, The Week, @joepompeo, bookforum.com, mUmBRELLA, Adweek, Business Insider, Re/code, The Wrap and AdAge

Jonathan Mahler / New York Times:

Time Warner Rebuff of Fox May Not Just Be Negotiating Ploy — Rupert Murdoch tends to finish what he starts. So from the moment the news broke last month that Time Warner Inc. had rejected an $80 billion bid by Mr. Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, the assumption on Wall Street and in the media world …

Discussion: @brianstelter, @poniewozik, @adamostrow, @emilysteel, Re/code, mUmBRELLA and New Yorker

Frank Rose / Wired:

How the Smartphone Ushered In a Golden Age of Journalism — When I first — arrived in New York, some time back in the last century, I gazed in awe and fascination at subway riders reading The New York Times. Thanks to a precise and universally adopted method of folding the paper …

Discussion: @signored, @frankrose, @thefoodeconomy and @colvinius

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Tribune Co. Changes Name to Tribune Media — The company, led by CEO Peter Liguori, recently approved the spin-off of Tribune Publishing, which houses the Los Angeles Times and whose stock is set to start regular trading on Tuesday. — Tribune Co. said Monday it was changing its name to Tribune Media Co.

Discussion: niemanlab.org, New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety and Politico

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Los Angeles Times CEO Eddy Hartenstein to resign Monday

Discussion: Los Angeles Times

Reid Cherlin / Rolling Stone:

Former Obama spokesman explains the toxic relationship between media and the White House — The Presidency and the Press — The White House distrusts the media, reporters feel persecuted - a former Obama spokesman on the history of the toxic relationship

Discussion: @briannolan1974, @mhess4, @glennthrush, @mlcalderone, @hadas_gold, @b_fung, @daviduberti and Washington Post

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Danny Zappin, Ousted CEO of Maker Studios, Raises $25 Million to Launch Digital Studio — Danny Zappin, who was fired as CEO of Maker Studios and unsuccessfully tried to block a shareholder vote on Disney's acquisition of the mulitchannel network he co-founded, has raised $25 million …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, bizjournals, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Fast Company

Linda Loyd / Philly.com:

Inquirer's company hires executive director for digital strategy — Eric Ulken, who currently is director of product management for SeattleTimes.com, has been named executive director of digital strategy for Philly.com and the company's other digital news properties, Interstate General Media owner H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest said Monday.

Discussion: @ckrewson, @dlboardman and Philadelphia Magazine

Marc Graser / Variety:

Legendary Buys Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry — Network joins Chris Hardwick's Nerdist Industries, already in Legendary's portfolio — Legendary Entertainment has acquired Felicia Day's digital network Geek & Sundry, and plans to develop both scripted and non-scripted TV projects and digital series with the company's founder and star.

Discussion: Multichannel News and Hollywood Reporter