Mediagazer: BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Mashable, others adopt rainbow avatars to acknowledge marriage ruling, marking an era of open allegiances for some in media (Dylan Byers/Politico)

5:05 PM ET, June 26, 2015

Top News:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Mashable, others adopt rainbow avatars to acknowledge marriage ruling, marking an era of open allegiances for some in media — Should news outlets declare allegiances? … Following Friday's landmark Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriages …

Discussion: @petersterne, @dangillmor, @caitleg, @chris_perkins1, @kristenicoleast, @reblavoie, @nickmanes1 and Re/code

Peter Elkind / Fortune:

Instead of hardening security defenses, Sony Pictures focused on offending North Koreans less, and was more afraid of security costs than risks — Part 2: The storm builds — We will take “a merciless counter-measure.” — On June 17, leaked emails show, Sony's appetite for mocking a “real persona” instantly diminished.

Discussion: @danprimack and @fortunemagazine

Alan Murray / Fortune:
Fortune spent six months investigating Sony Pictures hack to warn other companies about the importance of cyber defense

Discussion: @danprimack, Deadline, Business Insider and Fortune

Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:

The Wall Street Journal to shut its India edition, downsize India ops — The Wall Street Journal is downsizing its India operations and will pull the plug on its Indian edition, three sources have confirmed to MediaNama. The India website, http://www.wsj.com/india, will be merged into its global website.

Discussion: FishbowlNY and @aruproy2611

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Heftig, Upworthy clone and third-largest German media company on Facebook with 1.7M fans, faces uncertain future as Facebook begins favoring original content — German site Heftig modeled itself after Upworthy, and what happened next will blow your mind — Three years ago …

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Sirius XM settles licensing suit for pre-1972 songs with Sony, Universal, Warner Music, and ABKCO for $210M — Sirius XM Settles Royalty Dispute Over Old Recordings — Sirius XM, the satellite radio service, will pay $210 million to the major record labels to settle a lawsuit over royalties …

Discussion: Variety, RAIN News, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Reuters and The Verge

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Meerkat launches new embeddable web player today, partners with Discovery to implement the player for Shark Week — Meerkat Outs An Embeddable Player, Hooks Discovery Channel's Shark Week — Livestreaming app Meerkat has launched an embeddable player so that content being broadcast …

Discussion: Variety

Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:

Interconnection fees for companies like Netflix remain an issue in last-minute talks with regulators for AT&T-DirecTV deal — Why the government is about to approve the AT&T and DirecTV mega-deal - and the one thing that remains a big concern — A decision on AT&T's merger with DirecTV …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Broadcasting & Cable

Ted Johnson / Variety:
Charter Will ‘Go Further’ Than FCC's Net Neutrality Rules in Merger With Time Warner Cable

Discussion: Forbes, NetNewsCheck Latest, Wired, Multichannel News, The Hill, Techdirt, Deadline and Media Law Prof Blog

Ken Doctor / Capital New York:

Huffington Post aims to increase site contributors from 100K to 1M through new self-publishing platform that requires only one-time editor approval — Arianna Huffington's next million mark — What's one million mean these days? If we're talking about unique visitors or even page views …

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Bloomberg TV's New Show 'What'd You Miss' Aims for Broader Crowd — Bloomberg LP, one of the biggest names in buttoned-down business talk, is about to unveil a new TV show seeking instead to push the limits on a more broadly appealing kind of financial chatter.

Discussion: Media Wire Daily, @jyarow, @antderosa and Talking Biz News, Thanks:@amandabcowie

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Spotify acquires analytics firm Seed Scientific that included Beats Music as a client, will exclusively get access to services — Spotify Buys Beats' Analytics Provider Seed Scientific — Spotify wants to own big data about bands. Today it acquired analytics firm Seed Scientific to forge …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, RAIN News and Media & Entertainment

CBS News:

Family of missing journalist Austin Tice applauds new US ransom policy that helps families negotiate with kidnappers — Tice family: New hostage policy “excellent step forward” — Shares - — The new hostage policy announced Wednesday is a landmark shift in how the U.S. government …

Discussion: Houston Chronicle, @jecon and Associated Press

Noor Zainab Hussain / Reuters:

Trinity Mirror to double cuts to £20m to offset falling print revenues — Trinity Mirror warns on revenue, to cut costs further — British newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror Plc (TNI.L) said it was targeting to double cost savings for the year from its earlier plans as weak print advertising took a toll on first-half revenue.