Mediagazer: Facebook revamps ‘Notes’ to be your next blogging platform (Nathan McAlone/Business Insider)

6:35 PM ET, August 17, 2015

Top News:

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

State Department finds over 17K emails sent or received by Philippe Reines relevant to Gawker FOIA request after initial denial, plans to produce them Sept. 30 — State Department Finds Thousands of Philippe Reines Emails It Claimed Did Not Exist — Earlier this year …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill, The Week and The Daily Caller

John Cook / GeekWire:

Full memo: Jeff Bezos responds to brutal New York Times story, says it doesn't represent the Amazon he leads — The cruel and back-stabbing environment described by The New York Times in a recent report on the workplace culture at Amazon.com has struck a nerve with Jeff Bezos …

Dylan Byers / Politico:

CNN's Dana Bash named chief political correspondent — Longtime CNN correspondent Dana Bash has been promoted to Chief Political Correspondent, one of the most coveted editorial positions at the cable news network, CNN President Jeff Zucker announced Monday.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, FishbowlDC and Poynter

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Comcast will offer content creators 70% of ad revenue on its new Watchable platform, more than Facebook and YouTube — Comcast's ‘Watchable’ Streaming Portal to Give Creators a Bigger Cut of Ad Revenue — Comcast is offering Web content partners for its new …

Discussion: Multichannel News and Light Reading

Evie Nagy / Fast Company:

Midroll relaunches Howl podcast app, free version with limited access, $4.99/mo premium offering with full network archive, WTF, Comedy Central access, more — Is Howl The “Netflix Of Podcasts” We've Been Waiting For? — There's no true one-stop, all-you-can-eat shop for podcast distribution.

Discussion: @mattgourley, Splitsider, @abbieruzicka and Observer

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Straight Outta Compton Leaves Assault on Female Journo Straight Outta the Movie — After a long and winding road to the big screen, the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton hit it big this weekend, racking up an estimated $56 million in ticket sales and creating an online buzz …

Discussion: Adweek, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, Variety and The Daily Banter

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

The Times-Picayune, Heroic During Hurricane Katrina, Braces For More Cuts As 10th Anniversary Nears — “The city now seems to be a pile of wet wood and no one has the heat intense enough to light the fire.”

Discussion: @samsteinhp and Gambit

Serena Ng / Wall Street Journal:

Liberty Interactive, owner of home shopping TV network QVC, to acquire online retailer Zulily for $2.4B in stock and cash deal — QVC Buying Online Shopping Site Zulily — Flash-sales pioneer's sales growth has slowed in recent periods — The owner of television shopping network QVC …

Discussion: CNNMoney, Reuters, Bloomberg Business, Variety and Fortune

Nathan McAlone / Business Insider:

Facebook revamps ‘Notes’ to be your next blogging platform — Facebook “Notes” has long sat mostly dormant, a strange appendage to Facebook whose added function beyond “statuses” wasn't quite clear. — But now Facebook has decided what the function will be: blogging.

Discussion: The Verge, @davewiner, The Next Web and Fortune

Bloomberg Business:

Sources: French music-streaming service Deezer is seeking funds at about €1B valuation, roughly $1.1B — Spotify Rival Deezer Said to Seek Funds at $1 Billion Valuation — Deezer is seeking funds from investors in a transaction that could value the French music-streaming service …

Shannon Bond / Financial Times:

BuzzFeed partners with Yahoo Japan to launch Japanese version of the site — BuzzFeed looks to go viral in Japanese — BuzzFeed is launching a joint venture with Yahoo Japan, the country's top internet portal, to create a Japanese-language version of the viral news and entertainment site.

Discussion: Politico