Mediagazer: By creating a market for on-demand TV, Netflix spawned its own competitors and is struggling to survive, with a negative cash flow of nearly $1B (Joe Nocera/New York Times)

2:05 PM ET, June 15, 2016

Top News:

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

Lawyer Charles J. Harder, hired by Thiel for earlier lawsuits, wants Gawker to reveal sources and take down its investigation of Trump's hair — Is Donald Trump's Hair a $60,000 Weave? A Gawker Investigation Is Donald Trump's Hair a $60,000 Weave? A Gawker Investigation Is Donald Trump's Hair a $60,000 Weave?

Maria Chutchian / Forbes:

Judge to rule Wednesday on whether bankruptcy court's protection for Gawker extends to Nick Denton — Gawker Media's last-ditch effort to protect itself from a debilitating $140 million judgment using Chapter 11 may be a novel strategy to the media world but pharmaceutical and casino companies alike …

Discussion: The Wrap

Adrian Chen / New Yorker:

Ex-Gawker writer Adrian Chen recounts his time writing for the site, points to its history of public interest journalism — At 8 p.m. on October 27, 2009, I sat at my desk in the hallway that I used as an office in my Brooklyn apartment and stared at a blank field on my computer screen …

Discussion: Gawker, The Daily Signal, @fivefifths, @mediashiftorg, @adrianchen, @isaacfitzgerald, @newyorker, @kantrowitz, @jakebeckman, @choire, @tomscocca, New York Magazine and @gitagovinda

Peter Sterne / Politico:

A list of the ten separate lawsuits Gawker is currently fighting — Gawker Media is fighting at least 10 lawsuits, and facing the threat of yet another — At the time it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, Gawker Media was fighting at least 10 separate lawsuits and was facing the threat of yet another.

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Pew State of the News Media Report: big platforms hog 65% of digital ad revenue but are dependent on news outlets for content — The 13th annual Pew Research State of the News Media Report documents another year of alarming declines for newspapers — the worst since the 2008-2009 recession.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Journalism.org and Broadcasting & Cable

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

By creating a market for on-demand TV, Netflix spawned its own competitors and is struggling to survive, with a negative cash flow of nearly $1B — It helped to develop all the new ways we watch TV — on-demand, bingeing, mobile. But the Silicon Valley company still has to keep reinventing itself.

Discussion: Business Insider and Fortune

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will not revoke press credentials of reporters if elected, as he has done with Washington Post, other news outlets — While Donald Trump's campaign is refusing to give press credentials to reporters from The Washington Post and several other news outlets …

Discussion: New York Times, Vanity Fair, Talking Points Memo, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @angelaisms, @markleibovich, @jimrutenberg, @armandodkos, @samsteinhp, @mj_lee, Politico, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, @wpjenna, @markusoff and @mikeindustries

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Post Executive Editor Martin Baron says Trump coverage will continue “honorably, accurately, and unflinchingly” regardless of credentials

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

“It kept coming back to our long-term independence”: FOIA site MuckRock goes nonprofit — MuckRock, a collaborative news site that helps journalists as well as interested citizens with Freedom of Information Act requests, announced Wednesday that it's received 501(c)(3) status — in other words, it's going the nonprofit route.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Tim Mahlman, head of AOL's publisher tools, takes charge of the company's ad-tech business too — AOL executive Tim Mahlman is getting a promotion. — The titles might not sound all that different — Mahlman was previously AOL's president of publisher platforms, and now he's president of AOL platforms.

Discussion: Adweek, Ad Age and AdExchanger

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Johnson Publishing sells Ebony, Jet magazines to Texas firm — Ebony covers featuring Vanessa Williams (1983), Muhammad Ali (1978), Nelson Mandela (1990) and President Barack Obama (2008). — After a 71-year run in Chicago, Johnson Publishing is getting out of publishing.

Discussion: Talking New Media, Folio, FishbowlNY and New York Post

Recode:

Twitter Ventures invests in SoundCloud; sources say investment is $70M in a round valuing SoundCloud at about $700M — Twitter wanted to buy the company a couple years ago; now it has invested $70 million instead. — Two years ago Twitter thought about buying SoundCloud, but ended up walking away from the music service.

Kelsey Sutton / Politico:

BuzzFeed fires two producers, Jenny Lorenzo and Brittany Ashley, over appearing in a web-series, citing non-compete clause most video staff are asked to sign — Two popular producers and personalities for BuzzFeed — Jenny Lorenzo, a writer, producer and actor for the company's English …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @weinbergrrrrr and @elongreen

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Comcast Ventures leads $6.8M round in virtual reality firm Felix & Paul Studios — Comcast Ventures has led a $6.8 million investment in virtual reality firm Felix & Paul Studios. The Montreal-based company, which produces cinematic VR stories like Wild: The Experience …

Sarah Kessler / Fast Company:

YouTube star Hank Green launches non-profit, the Internet Creator's Guild, to protect the rights of content creators — One of YouTube's most popular creators, Hank Green, launched the nonprofit to actively promote the interests of online video makers. — Last year, when YouTube launched YouTube Red …

Roy J. Harris Jr / Poynter:

Pulitzer Prize boss Mike Pride says further expansion of the award is ‘probable’ — The 2016 Pulitzer Prize centennial is approaching its halfway point, with three of the Pulitzer organization's four planned “marquee events” behind it. Designed to celebrate the prizes' history …

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

Knight Foundation releases new report on the Philadelphia Media Network, cautions that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to problems facing local news — If there's one lesson to take from a new Knight Foundation report on the viability of the Philadelphia Media Network local journalism model …

Discussion: Knight Foundation

David Bond / Financial Times:

Reuters Institute: 53% of online news consumers prefer sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter over traditional media sites; 44% use Facebook for news each week — More than half of all online news consumers are turning to social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter ahead …

Discussion: Nieman Lab and @risj_oxford