Mediagazer: Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb (Ryan Devereaux/The Intercept)

7:50 PM ET, September 27, 2014

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Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

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Discussion: BuzzFeed, @karaswisher, @digiphile, @amyoleary, @amyoleary, @derekwillis, @rsm, @amyoleary, @macloo, @pmarca, @abeaujon, @poynter and @antderosa

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:

US State Department fights ISIS social media propaganda with accounts like @ThinkAgain_DOS — Digital War Takes Shape on Websites Over ISIS — WASHINGTON — Along with its surprising military success, the Islamic State group has demonstrated a skill and sophistication with social media previously unseen in extremist groups.

Discussion: Bloomberg, VICE News, ABC News and Telegraph

Ryan Devereaux / The Intercept:

Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb — Eighteen years after it was published, “Dark Alliance,” the San Jose Mercury News's bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua's Contra rebels, and African American neighborhoods in California …

Discussion: @brendan_fischer, @ggreenwald, @jayrosen_nyu, @ggreenwald, Columbia Journalism Review and SN&R Weekly Contents

Timothy B. Lee / Vox:

Newspapers weren't late to online news — they were way too early — When a new technology is invented, there's often a lot of doubt about its utility. People have trouble imagining how a seemingly exotic technology could be useful to ordinary people. And there are often major concerns …

Discussion: @mattyglesias and @ruthoutspoken

Rebecca Greenfield / Fast Company:

The (Surprisingly Profitable) Rise Of Podcast Networks — In the third episode of StartUp, the podcast about starting a podcast business, host and aspiring entrepreneur Alex Blumberg has a breakdown. — “I spent three f**king thousand dollars today,” he complains to his wife. “As I'm about to quit my job!

Discussion: Washington Post, Thanks:@jakeshapiro

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:

An Inside Look At ESPN's Decision To Suspend Bill Simmons For Goodell Comments … It was around 5:00pm ET Wednesday afternoon when Marie Donoghue, one of ESPN's highest-ranking female execs, picked up the phone in the network's Manhattan office to call Bill Simmons.

Discussion: ESPN, The Dish, @ceisenhood, @joshmartinnba and Columbia Journalism Review

Alexis Sobel Fitts / Columbia Journalism Review:

How Facebook is changing who gets paid for your work — Content curators and aggregators aren't going away — In 2009, Wired's then-executive editor, Chris Anderson, released a book with a daunting prediction. In Free: The Future of A Radical Price, Anderson claimed that the open-air marketplace …

Anne Helen Petersen / BuzzFeed:

Here's Why The New York Times Television Coverage Is So Bad — How did the New York Times, the national paper of record, and the recipient of 114 Pulitzer Prizes, find itself with the worst television criticism section of any mainstream, popular publication?

Craig Silverman / Tow Center for Digital Journalism:

News in the Grey: Rumors and Debunkings in Online Media — Our new fellow, Craig Silverman, launched his research project at the Online News Association conference in Chicago this week. The timing was perfect: It's been a big week for rumors and debunkings. — On Monday this week there were rumors that:

Discussion: @emilybell and The Atlantic Online

Rafat Ali / rafat.org:

This Vertical Life: The Media Models I Admire — Verticals have a particular attraction for me, which may have something to do with my general obsessiveness. Picking a topic you're willing to spend a good number of years in, going deep into it with everything you have …

Discussion: @jasonhirschhorn, @rafat, @zseward, @hsherman and @athorsheim

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

As Roku grows, it's moving towards pay-to-play for successful channels — Getting your app onto Roku's platform is free. But once you start to make real money, the company will ask you to sign a new deal — to the surprise of some publishers. — With 1,800 channels and growing …

Discussion: FierceCable

Karl Bode / DSLreports:

Comcast's Netflix competitor Streampix no longer stand-alone offering, now part of Xfinity TV — Comcast: Nobody Really Liked Our Netflix Wannabe Streampix — In February of 2012 Comcast unveiled Streampix, their effort at trying to prevent cord cutting by offering a Netflix-esque service of their own.

Discussion: Ars Technica, FierceCable and Light Reading