Mediagazer: The Tantaros lawsuit highlights shady tactics of the Fox News PR unit, like leaks to embarrass Fox staffers and denial of interviews (Brian Stelter/CNNMoney)

12:55 AM ET, August 24, 2016

Top News:

Moscow bureau of The New York Times was target of attempted cyberattack, but no evidence of a breach to internal systems, spokeswoman says — The New York Times's Moscow bureau was the target of an attempted cyberattack this month. But so far, there is no evidence that the hackers, believed to be Russian, were successful.

Discussion: Reuters, Financial Times, BBC, @jysexton, Associated Press, Washington Post, Boing Boing, @dangillmor, TechCrunch, Fortune, The Wrap, The Week and Poynter

CNN:

Sources: FBI investigating cyber “intrusions” of NYT, other news orgs; the hackers are suspected to be affiliated with Russian intelligence agencies — Hackers thought to be working for Russian intelligence have carried out a series of cyber breaches targeting reporters …

Discussion: The Wrap, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, The Daily Caller, @nicoleperlroth, @nicoleperlroth, Hot Air, Politico, The Week, @brianstelter, @leonardpittsjr1, Joe.My.God., Business Insider and Talking Points Memo

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

BuzzFeed reorganizing into two departments: BuzzFeed News under Ben Smith and BuzzFeed Entertainment Group led by BuzzFeed Motion Pictures president Ze Frank — A staff memo underscores how the new media giant sees video as key to its longevity. — BuzzFeed, the somewhat new media giant, is multiplying.

Discussion: Washingtonian, CNNMoney, @mikeisaac, @joshtpm, @benmullin, @scottmaustin, Politico, One Man & His Blog, Fast Company, The Wrap, Poynter, @pkafka and @rkearney

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Shane Smith says Vice tried to buy The News of the World at the height of the phone-hacking scandal — The family-friendly entertainment conglomerate, worried about reaching young men in an era of cable-cutting, is betting big on the profane gonzo journalism of ex-punk rocker Shane Smith

Discussion: Mediaite, Adweek, @srabil, @jackmarshall, @hblodget, @keachhagey, @owlese, @perlberg, @mattgarrahan, @keachhagey and @keachhagey

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

The Tantaros lawsuit highlights shady tactics of the Fox News PR unit, like leaks to embarrass Fox staffers and denial of interviews — This week's lawsuit by Andrea Tantaros against Fox News depicts the network's public relations department as a dirty tricks operation …

Discussion: Variety, @brianstelter, @hadas_gold, TVNewser, The Wrap and KTLA

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Tantaros lawsuit alleges Ailes quizzed her about Fox News staffers' sex lives and used racist stereotypes to describe Kimberly Guilfoyle and Harris Faulkner — The hits just keep coming for embattled former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, whose reprehensible conduct is being further detailed in a lawsuit by Andrea Tantaros.

Discussion: Gothamist, Hollywood Life, Newser, @deanofcomedy, @joyannreid, portal.liberalamerica.org, Politicus USA, @jimdwyernyt and New York Times

Associated Press:

Wikileaks published sensitive personal data, including the names of two teen rape survivors and the address of a man arrested for being gay in Saudi Arabia — CAIRO (AP) — WikiLeaks' global crusade to expose government secrets is causing collateral damage to the privacy of hundreds of innocent people …

Discussion: PinkNews, Mediaite, The Hill, Blog on the Run, Complex, RT, @ruthdavidsonmsp, ATTN, The Daily Caller, AOL, The Huffington Post, Engadget, Hot Air, Forbes, @davidkenner, Fast Company, The Next Web, @ingrahamangle, The Verge and The Week

Hannah Karp / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Spotify tries to get long-term deals with labels wanting higher cuts and other rights while operating on short-term extensions of old contracts — Streaming service is in talks with record labels to negotiate new contracts — As Spotify AB gears up for a potential initial public …

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide, Ubergizmo, AppleInsider, MacRumors, hypebot, 9to5Mac and Fast Company

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Google plans to lower search rankings of publishers' mobile pages that use intrusive interstitial ads starting January 10 — Google has announced that it will begin cracking down on “intrusive interstitials” on January 10, 2017, because this type of ad “can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller.”

Discussion: Google Webmaster Central Blog, VentureBeat, @rafat, Ubergizmo, @eringriffith, TechCrunch, @mikeisaac, The Next Web, @ow, @dangillmor, @rafat, Engadget, Mashable, The Verge, New York Magazine and Fast Company

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Instapaper has been acquired by Pinterest and will continue to operate as an independent app — It will continue to operate as an independent app — Instapaper, a pioneering app for saving articles to read later, has been acquired — again. The app, which was created by developer Marco Arment …

Discussion: Instapaper, AppleInsider, Recode, SocialTimes, The Next Web, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Engadget, @mhbergen, @caseynewton, @kfury, @brianroemmele, Wall Street Journal, AppAdvice.com Latest, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fortune and MacStories

Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:

Former Facebook product manager Vadim Lavrusik and two co-founders launch Alively, an iOS app to share live video with select friends, available in US — Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are just some of the services encouraging us to broadcast what we're doing at this very moment.

Discussion: App Store, TechCrunch, Guardian and Wall Street Journal

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Google's Daydream service is launching “in the coming weeks” as the company pays YouTube stars for VR content and helps promote some Hulu projects — Company to release Daydream virtual reality service in weeks — Google said to back games, short films with YouTube celebs

Discussion: Ubergizmo, Pocket-lint, Engadget, The Next Web, The Verge, TechCrunch, Fortune, ZDNet, @bradstone and Fast Company

Tom Scocca / Gawker:

How Peter Thiel's covert bankrolling of Hulk Hogan's lawsuit effectively gaslighted Gawker's business and editorial sides — A lie with a billion dollars behind it is stronger than the truth. Peter Thiel has shut down Gawker.com. — This is the final act in what Thiel wished to present …

Discussion: Poynter, Freedom of the Press …, The Concourse, @jayrosen_nyu, @howardlindzon, Ad Age, @jakebackpack, Gawker Data Team, Quartz, Salon, The Wrap, Business Insider and Mediaite

Ted Scheinman / Pacific Standard:
Interview with First Amendment Coalition's Peter Scheer: Gawker case could lead to journalists self-censoring in fear of people with huge financial resources

Discussion: Guardian, The Daily Caller, @nbj914 and @ted_scheinman

Nick Denton / Gawker:
Nick Denton's farewell post, detailing the rise and fall of Gawker, as the site shuts down today

Discussion: Medium, Pando, Death and Taxes, Rolling Stone, @holdendcat, @thefoehesought, @mariabustillos, Business Insider and Newser

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Melania Trump takes legal action against Daily Mail for defamation; Charles Harder, her attorney, represented Hulk Hogan in Gawker case

Discussion: portal.liberalamerica.org, ValueWalk, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, Fortune, The Week, FTVLive, Mediaite, FishbowlNY, Techdirt, The Huffington Post, WCTX-TV, The Wrap and Blog on the Run

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Itay Hod / The Wrap:
CNN Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said BuzzFeed was not a legitimate news outlet even though the network lifted 23 stories from the site without giving credit

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Joe Pompeo / Politico:
The New York Times has begun recruiting journalists for newsrooms in Canada, Australia

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @ryanchittum, Editor & Publisher, @joepompeo, @leroy_lynch and @abeaujon

Lucy Westcott / Newsweek:
Women journalists share their stories of sexual harassment in the media industry

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