Mediagazer: Danny Zappin, Ousted CEO of Maker Studios, Raises $25 Million to Launch Digital Studio (Todd Spangler/Variety)

11:20 AM ET, August 5, 2014

Top News:

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: American Press Institute, Street Fight, Wall Street Journal, Jalopnik, Talking Biz News, USA Today, @kirkjim12, @pkafka, @jonmarino and New York Times

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Gannett to Separate Broadcasting, Publishing Businesses Via Spin-Off — The move is mindful of Tribune's split, which was completed late Monday. — Gannett Co. said Tuesday it would create two publicly traded companies by separating its broadcasting and digital businesses from its publishing operation.

Discussion: USA Today, BuzzMachine, Gannett Company, Inc, New York Times, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Gawker, AdAge, CNNMoney.com, Politico, @jbenton, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and @edmundlee

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: TheMediaBriefing, BuzzFeed, Consumerist, Poynter, niemanlab.org, @borthwick, Softpedia News, @pbump, @hkanji, @nickheynen, @jason_kint, @christianhern, Re/code and @justinnxt

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Reporter Addresses Israeli Censorship On Soldier Story — NEW YORK — Jodi Rudoren, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, addressed the paper's decision Friday to withhold a biographical detail about an Israeli soldier at the Israeli military's request.

Discussion: New York Times and Mediaite

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

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

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, @zephoria, @ethanz, @timkarr, @kissane, @ajc110, @southernlimitnz, @ethanz and Medium

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Shazam Inks TV Ad Pacts with A+E, AMC, Dick Clark Productions and Others — Shazam Entertainment, whose app is best known for ID'ing songs, is making an even stronger push into American TV. — The company has struck deals with partners including A+E Networks, AMC, Dick Clark Prods. and Fuse …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal and AdExchanger

Norman Solomon / Columbia Journalism Review:

Journalism groups rally around a petition supporting James Risen — The Supreme Court ruled against the NYT reporter, who is refusing to reveal sources — Ten months after the Committee to Protect Journalists issued its scathing report “The Obama Administration and the Press,” …

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:

Russian journalist's body found after disappearance — The body of an independent Russian journalist was found in a wood the day after he had gone missing following threats from law enforcement authorities. — Timur Kuashev worked for the magazine Dosh (or Dosch) as its correspondent in Nalchik …

Discussion: @rorypecktrust and Human Rights Watch

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: Poynter, @ckrewson, @dlboardman and Philadelphia Magazine

Ben Blanchard / Reuters:

China releases investigative journalist after almost year in jail — (Reuters) - A Chinese investigative journalist who accused officials of corruption has been released after almost a year in detention, his lawyer said on Sunday. — Liu Hu, a reporter with the Guangzhou-based newspaper New Express …

Discussion: China Digital Times