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
RELATED:
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 …
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
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
Guardian, HoldTheFrontPage, Independent.ie, Life Style Extra, nechronicle, The Irish Times and The Drum