Mediagazer: After Arab Spring, journalism briefly flowered and then withered (Washington Post)

11:40 AM ET, July 27, 2015

Top News:

William Turton / The Daily Dot:

New York Magazine's site is down, Twitter user claims he launched DDOS attack on it — Anti-NYC hacker takes New York Magazine offline — On Sunday night, New York Magazine released a groundbreaking new cover featuring 35 victims of alleged assault from Bill Cosby. — But you can't see it.

Discussion: New York Magazine, New York Times, Jezebel, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, The Wrap, VentureBeat, CNNMoney, FishbowlNY, Paper, @pomeranian99, @planetoffinks, Fusion, @lheron, Gothamist, @harrisj, @j_zimms, @byjoelanderson, @notscientific, @samuelaadams, @_alastair, @max_read, @mhess4, @buzz and The Week

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Gawker's Future: A Conversation With Nick Denton — Earlier this month, the news and gossip website Gawker, a pioneer in web journalism, partly responsible for its tone and sensibility, published an article that accused a married male media executive of seeking, via text message, to pay for sex with a gay escort.

Discussion: @drudge_report, @drudge_siren, @cryptomeorg, @kateaurthur, Poynter, @felixsalmon and @jayrosen_nyu

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

William Arkin, founder of Gawker's national security site, first staffer to take buyout — William Arkin critiques Gawker story on the way out — William Arkin, the founder of Gawker Media's national security site, announced on Twitter Monday he is leaving the company during a round …

Discussion: @warkin

Jasper Jackson / Guardian:

Gawker to announce interim editorial lead this week, start search for new senior editors, hires ex-Google exec Ian Fette as new CTO — Nick Denton: Gawker to search for new top staff and draw up editorial code — Media group's founder says it is to begin ‘a real, civil dialogue’ in the wake …

Discussion: Observer

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:
Gawker EIC can only be hired, fired or overridden with the agreement of both the Founder and President, says Nick Denton in a new memo

Discussion: @pkafka, @jayrosen_nyu, @felixsalmon, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu and @mikeisaac

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Newsweek hires Time's Europe editor, Matt McAllester, to oversee new EMEA edition — Newsweek hires Time's Europe editor — The competition between Time and Newsweek ain't what it used to be, but apparently there's still some fire left in the old rivalry.

Discussion: Media Wire Daily, FishbowlNY and @joepompeo

Washington Post:

After Arab Spring, journalism briefly flowered and then withered — CONTROLLING THE STORY: This is the second installment in an ongoing series examining the human cost of reporting the news around the world. — MANAMA, Bahrain — Just three miles from the gleaming center of town …

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild, @seldeeb and @benmullin

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

DraftKings Raises $300 Million, Promises to Spend Much of It With Fox Sports — Attention sports fans: Prepare to see a lot more DraftKings advertising over the next few years. — DraftKings, one of the top daily fantasy sports companies, has raised $300 million in new funding led by 21st Century Fox's Fox Sports unit.

Discussion: Forbes, Variety, @paulcharchian, New York Times, @raf_keustermans, Business Insider, @scottkirsner and Wall Street Journal

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Today Show co-anchor Al Roker's production company to launch three new shows about cooking on Meerkat this week — Al Roker Offers Forecast of TV's Future With Trio of Meerkat Programs — Al Roker is reaching from the solid ground of NBC's “Today” to the shakier terrain of TV's future.

Discussion: TVNewser, @alroker and @bristei

Dino Grandoni / New York Times:

Podcasts, not regulated by the FCC, are blurring the line between sponsors and stories — Ads for Podcasts Test the Line Between Story and Sponsor — For the last several months, Lisa Chow, a reporter for and co-host of “StartUp,” a podcast about starting a business, has been interviewing engineers at Ford Motor.

Discussion: @kjblank80 and @gracehood

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Two years after launch, Bustle has overcome initial criticism with 30M monthly unique page views and 46 full-time editorial staffers — How Bustle Proved the Haters Wrong — Ten editors of the website Bustle crammed into founder and CEO Bryan Goldberg's empty office on a recent Friday afternoon for a weekly meeting.

Discussion: @maura, @zeejab and @kbsmoke

Khari Johnson / Through the Cracks:

Beacon Reader launches Bounties to let readers crowdfund and choose which stories get covered — Readers, not journalists, decide what's news with Bounties — Last week Beacon Reader launched Bounties, a service that lets readers crowdfund and choose which stories get covered.

Discussion: @crowdjournalism

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Newspapers continue backward thinking about linking — I remain an optimist that newspapers aren't dying. But if they die, the cause of death will be suicide, not that the evil Internet killed them. — Hyperlinks are not a matter of life or death, even in the digital age.

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu