Mediagazer: Netflix Hitches With SoftBank For Japan Launch (Patrick Frater/Variety)

8:55 PM ET, August 24, 2015

Top News:

A Three-Way Mostly Civilized Family Contest To Become The Next Publisher Of The Times — The issue of succession is a difficult matter not just for family-run businesses but for the families that run them. Take the Murdochs, for instance. Or the Binghams, the Kentucky newspaper clan that imploded in the 1980s.

Discussion: Politico, CNNMoney, @leighwsj, @jayrosen_nyu, FishbowlNY, @felixsalmon, @king_kaufman, Reynolds Center, Talking Points Memo, @gabrielsherman, @jayrosen_nyu and @mgsiegler

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Post-UVA scandal and amidst falling newsstand sales, Rolling Stone tries to expand further into digital — Rolling Stone Moves Beyond the Fray — Gus Wenner is 25, not much older than his father, Jann S. Wenner, was when he started Rolling Stone in 1967.

Discussion: CNNMoney, @felixsalmon, @lucas_shaw, Poynter, @lucas_shaw and Media Wire Daily

Jack Marshall / Wall Street Journal:

Despite upsurge in mobile traffic, publishers say mobile ad dollars are lagging — Mobile Readers Abound; the Ads, Not So Much — Traditional and online publishers are struggling to cash in on their surging mobile traffic, raising questions about their future growth as consumers increasingly turn …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu and Poynter

Guardian:

Following US shutdown in June, Twitter blocks 31 Diplotwoops and Politwoops accounts archiving deleted tweets of politicians, diplomats, and embassies globally — Twitter blocks access to political transparency organisation Politwoops — Group that archives deleted tweets from legislators has its access to social network shut off

Max Seddon / BuzzFeed:

Russia tells ISPs to block Wikipedia after site editors refuse to delete article about charas, a form of hashish — Russia Says It's Banning Wikipedia — The site faces a total block after Wikipedia editors failed to comply with a court decision in a remote village.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Washington Post, Global Voices, @shaunwalker7, International Business Times, RT, The Daily Dot, Popular Mechanics, @maxseddon, The Daily Caller and The Week

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Audience for New York Times newsletters ranges from tens of thousands to millions — How The New York Times gets a 70 percent open rate on its newsletters — The New York Times has caught the newsletter fever. In the past year, it has launched a dozen of them — it now has a total of 33.

Discussion: @sophia_phan

Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:

Flipboard launches short silent Cinema Loop video ads — Flipboard is expanding its promoted stories program to now include videos. Starting today, brands can submit their television-quality commercials and bring them to the digital magazine app. These video ads will feature Cinema Loops …

Discussion: The Next Web

Kara Newhouse / ivoh:

How The Christian Science Monitor is helping readers bridge the gap between content & action — Screengrab from The Christian Science Monitor's “Take Action” website. — By Kara Newhouse — Kara is an education reporter for Lancaster Newspapers, a creator of the Faces of Mental Health Recovery project …

Discussion: American Press Institute

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Neil Young's Pono Struggles With Funding, Searches for New CEO — Neil Young's music tech startup Pono is struggling with funding issues, which is slowing down the company's international expansion, the rock legend revealed in a Facebook post. “We are trying to set up stores in multiple countries …

Discussion: RAIN News

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Behind Neetzan Zimmerman's Facebook strategy at The Hill, which has contributed to the huge rise of social engagement and traffic over the past six months — ‘I am the social’: Neetzan Zimmerman brings a little bit of Gawker to The Hill — Neetzan Zimmerman is having his comeback moment.

Farnaz Fassihi / Wall Street Journal:

A Wall Street Journal reporter discusses her experience being labeled an American spy by Iranian state-run media — Smeared by Iran's State-Run Media: A Journal Reporter's Story — Veteran Iranian-American foreign correspondent Farnaz Fassihi now finds herself targeted as a spy by mouthpieces for Tehran's regime

Jeff Gammage / Philly.com:

Terry Egger named publisher of Philadelphia Media Network — The parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com named a new publisher Monday - Terrance C.Z. “Terry” Egger, an industry veteran who previously led the Cleveland Plain Dealer and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Discussion: Poynter, Philadelphia Magazine and @dlboardman

Nathalie Tadena / Wall Street Journal:

Netflix shares close down 6.8% for the day, 21% over three days, after being up 150% for year to date — Netflix Shareholders Gets Whiplash as Global Markets Plunge … As global markets continued to plunge in a tumultuous day of trading Monday, Netflix was whipsawed more than most.

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider and Mother Jones