Mediagazer: I Was a Gawker Target, and I'm Terrified of the Way Gawker Just Died (Stephen Marche/Esquire)

4:40 AM ET, August 19, 2016

Top News:

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

Gawker.com announces it will shut down next week, after nearly 14 years of operation — After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week. The decision to close Gawker comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media's six other websites …

Discussion: @hulkhogan, New York Times, New York Magazine, Politico, Melville House Books, The Wrap, Washington Post, Forbes, Refinery29, USA Today, Mediaite, PAPERMAG, Adweek, Awful Announcing, Poynter, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, @palafo, NPR, Code Words, Just Jared, @clarajeffery, @erikwemple, @mattdrange, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Folio, @adamserwer, Newser, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, @eriqgardner, @s_m_i, @hamiltonnolan, Variety, Daring Fireball, The Next Web, Engadget, @ch__ans, WGN-TV, KTLA, @politico, @oliverdarcy, @jazzedloon, @theseantcollins, Guardian, VentureBeat, @eriqgardner, @adamserwer, @trevortimm, @leshorn, @daveweigel, @trevortimm, @katzish, @trevortimm, @silviakillings, @silviakillings, @ckrewson, @scoutstout, @mfortki, @zackbeauchamp, @leahbeckmann, @choire, @freedomofpress, @samfbiddle, @colbyhall, dylan tweney, @anthony, Recode, FishbowlNY, LawNewz, Nieman Lab, The Huffington Post, New York's PIX11, Talking Points Memo, @nycjim, @jktrotter, The Verge, Consumerist, Joe.My.God., Deadline, Fast Company, The Week, iMediaEthics and Digiday

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

In memo, Gawker's Nick Denton says he will not join Univision and is getting out of news and gossip business — Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker.com, toasted the website Thursday in a memo to staff in the wake of the announcement that the site is closing before Univision takes possession of its parent company.

Discussion: @leojcarey, @jeremymbarr, The Week, @jeffsharlet, @ggreenwald, Fortune, @thekarami, Business Insider, Recode, @rbilton, @mathewi, @gaberivera, Forbes, @mattdrange and @tomkludt

Stephen Marche / Esquire:

I Was a Gawker Target, and I'm Terrified of the Way Gawker Just Died — What happens when the next Peter Thiel comes along? — Gawker.com announced this afternoon that it will effectively shut down next week. — The official announcement was short and to the point and only somewhat snarky, at least for Gawker:

Discussion: @jeffgreco and @clarajeffery

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Gawker.com incubated writers who wrote with fearlessness and style, influencing broader web — If this is your first day reading an article on the web: Hello and welcome. If it isn't, you should be aware that much of what you've read on the web to this point has been shaped by the style …

Univision:
Univision formally announces Gawker Media acquisition for $135M, will not operate Gawker.com

Discussion: Fortune, The Wrap, @pkafka, Forbes, Politico, @jeremymbarr, @eriqgardner, Washington Post, New York Magazine, Adweek and TechCrunch

Ken White / Popehat:
Gawker's fate shows the US legal system is receptive to abuse that suppresses speech, and not just from vengeful billionaires

Discussion: @quinnnorton, @geneweingarten, The Wrap, Hit & Run, @mmasnick, @jason_koebler, @kevinwglass, @sdkstl, @thelancearthur, @digiphile and @walterolson

Bloomberg:

Sources: Viacom-Redstone battle ends with CEO Philippe Dauman stepping down with $72M severance package and COO Tom Dooley serving as interim CEO — COO Tom Dooley to take over as interim chief executive officer — Media company's directors have pressed the combatants for deal

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, @emilysteel, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @lucas_shaw, CNNMoney, @megjameslat, @megjameslat, @jbflint, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

The New York Times will retire its NYT Now app starting the week of August 29; at its peak in May 2015, the app had 334K total unique users — In early 2014, The New York Times introduced an app called NYT Now that would provide a curated list of stories — for a lower price …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Nieman Lab, Engadget, @sree, Fast Company, Mashable, @robinsloan, The Drum, TechCrunch, @danielradosh, @katierosman and @joshuatopolsky

Katie Benner / New York Times:

Twitter says it has suspended 235K accounts since February for promoting terrorism, bringing total to 360K since mid-2015 — SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter suspended 235,000 accounts that promoted terrorism over the last six months, as part of a continuing effort to keep people from using …

Discussion: CNBC, The Twitter Blog, MediaNama, Digital Trends, @mathewi, Techdirt, Engadget, The Hill, Guardian, Vanity Fair, BetaNews, USA Today, BGR, Fortune, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Recode, LawNewz, The Verge and Mashable

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Gretchen Carlson is close to settling sexual harassment case against Roger Ailes, but she should go to court to keep issues she exposed in the public eye — For Gretchen Carlson, a big settlement in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes might be the best outcome personally.

Discussion: New York Times, New Yorker, Daring Fireball, @sulliview, @gabrielsherman, Vox, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and The Huffington Post

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

CNN announces CNN AIR, a drone reporting unit with two full-time drone operators gathering news for CNN, Turner, and Time Warner — Following 15 months of testing, CNN today announced it is launching CNN Aerial Imagery and Reporting, or CNN AIR for short. — The CNN AIR team …

Discussion: CNN, BizPac Review, Mediaite, Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch and Engadget

Choi Chi-yuk / South China Morning Post:

Beijing tightens control over mainland news sites, says EICs must take full responsibility for any mistakes and all such sites must be monitored 24/7 by staff — Editors-in-chief will be held responsible for direction of content, and the creation, production and dissemination of news

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Twitter rolls out quality filter setting to all, letting users filter “lower-quality content” from notifications, but it may not stop targeted non-spam abuse — The changes come one week after a BuzzFeed News investigation into Twitter's decade-long failure to stop abuse.

Mother Jones:

Prison investigation by Mother Jones staff writer Shane Bauer took over 18 months and cost about $350K; banner ads that ran on the article brought in $5K — This June, we published a big story—Shane Bauer's account of his four-month stint as a guard in a private prison.

Discussion: @deanstarkman, Hit & Run, Crikey, Wonkette, Jezebel, @rafat, @awchantel, @clarajeffery, @doctorparadox, @bgpublic, @miad, @douglaslucas, Business Insider and @missryley

The Huffington Post:

Donald Trump's presidential campaign has produced a civil war in conservative media, which will lead to a post-election reckoning — “There are elements of the entertainment wing of the Republican Party that need to be dealt with.” — During the 1990s, no one had a run quite like The American Spectator.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and @ericgeller