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, @felixsalmon, @jayrosen_nyu and @mgsiegler

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.


How creative work in music, TV, movies, and books persists and often thrives in the post-Napster era, contrary to initial fears by some — The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn't — In the digital economy, it was supposed to be impossible to make money by making art.
Discussion:
Future of Music Coalition, @skydylanrobbins, @freakonometrics, @borthwick, @ahmed, @stevenbjohnson and Techdirt


How a 19-year-old from Amsterdam became one of the foremost cartographers of the ISIS conflict — The Dutch Teen Who Maps the Jihadists — One of the foremost cartographers of the Islamic State conflict is a 19-year-old from Amsterdam. Now that he's graduated from high school …


European media giant investments in online video networks are growing fast — European media join push to support online video groups — Online video networks are receiving an influx of capital from European investors as the companies behind some of the most popular content on YouTube seek to reach bigger global audiences.


A Spanish-language website is working to document killings of undocumented immigrants — 31-year-old Rubén García Villalpando was shot twice in the chest this past March, after a traffic stop that police reports claimed turned into an altercation. Villalpando was unarmed at the time.


Netflix Hitches With SoftBank For Japan Launch — Next week's launch of streaming video service Netflix in Japan will be boosted by a major partnership with Softbank Corp. The two companies may also be involved in local content. — With 37 million cellphone customers …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Bloomberg Business, Hollywood Reporter and Netflix


Google, Yahoo, and Bing are testing video ads in search results — ‘A gusher of money’: Google testing video ads in search results, industry sources say — Google is testing promoted video ads in search results, a format that could bring more brand dollars to marketing there …


Iran's imprisonment of Jason Rezaian is an affront to justice — The writer is secretary general of Reporters Without Borders. — Jason Rezaian must be acquitted and freed immediately. As the final hearing in the Iranian trial of The Post's Tehran correspondent was brought to a close Aug. 10 …


As budget cuts force BBC to cut some of its output, it risks losing appeal or eroding quality — What next for the BBC? — With its budget squeezed by the government, the world's most famous public broadcaster will have to slim down to survive — The proposal for Marvellous was not entirely promising.
Discussion:
@futbolsacountry


Canada's National Post takes down, edits, then reposts Margaret Atwood column criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper — Margaret Atwood's column criticizing Stephen Harper vanishes, then returns to, National Post website — Senior National Post vice-president said the column had been taken …
Discussion:
Guardian, BuzzFeed, @margaretatwood, @jayrosen_nyu, @jpags, @jpags, @margaretatwood, @goldsbie, @id4ro, @blm849, @gmbutts, @heerjeet, @margaretatwood, Mashable and @nutgraf1


The Value of Slow Journalism in the Age of Instant Information — As news cycles speed up, ‘slow’ journalists take months—even years—to report and tell in-depth stories — Paleontologists in Ethiopia, where journalist Paul Salopek began a seven-year walk around the world …