Mediagazer: HBO and AT&T announce deal that adds HBO to AT&T's upcoming streaming bundle DirecTV Now as part of broader agreement keeping HBO on DirecTV and U-Verse (Andrew Wallenstein/Variety)

9:05 PM ET, August 26, 2016

Top News:

Facebook will now select stories and excerpts automatically for Trending topic pages, show topics instead of story descriptions in Trending section — Today, we're making some changes to the Trending feature on Facebook that will make the product more automated and will no longer require people …

Quartz:

Sources: Facebook letting go of entire Trending Topics editorial staff, consisting of 15-18 workers contracted through a third party — Facebook will no longer employ humans to write descriptions for items in its Trending section, which attracted controversy over allegations of political bias in May.

Discussion: @daveyalba, @oneunderscore__, @dseetharaman, @digiphile, @dsilverman, @walldo, @auerbachkeller, @codybrown, @fmanjoo, @leibelm, @phogan, @mattdrange and Business Insider

Bloomberg:

Sources: Spotify retaliates against artists who give exclusives to rivals by demoting their songs in search results and excluding tracks from promoted playlists — Service said to tell labels it may keep tracks off playlists — Apple Music emerges as largest challenge to streaming leader

Discussion: Billboard, BGR, AppleInsider, @lucas_shaw, Business Insider, Gizmodo, The Next Web, Engadget, The Verge and Daring Fireball

Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Frank Ocean's exclusive, independent release of new album highlights tensions among artists, music labels, and digital services

Discussion: Fast Company, The Verge, @1000timesyes, MacRumors, MacRumors, @forbestech, @ennisnyt, @leftsentthis, @forbes, Pitchfork, hypebot, Complex, AppleInsider, @judystakee, Variety, @anildash, Complex, The FADER, 9to5Mac, The FADER, Business Insider, Engadget, The Drum, Complex, hypebot, Fast Company and Fortune

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Spotify calls report that it demotes songs in search due to artists' exclusives with rivals “unequivocally false”

Discussion: Daring Fireball

Alex Spence / Politico:

After the US election, alt-right website Breitbart News intends to launch in France, seeing a business opportunity in the rise of nationalist politics — LONDON — Stephen Bannon intends to get Donald Trump into the White House — and then he's set on conquering Europe.

Marie Le Conte / BuzzFeed:
How Breitbart Boosted Nigel Farage And Helped Take Him To The Heart Of The Trump Campaign

Discussion: @katherinemiller and @raheemkassam

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Sources leak 400-page “oppo” file shared inside Fox News in 2012 on Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman, with details on property records and voter registration — The memo is dated January 5, 2012. “To: Interested Parties.” “Re: Gabriel Sherman.”

Discussion: @brianstelter, Mediaite, @gabrielsherman, @lizmeriwether, @themurdochtimes, @chucktodd, @brianstelter and Washington Post

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:

After Ailes, it remains unclear if prized anchor Megyn Kelly will renew her contract with Fox; if Bill O'Reilly stays on, one source says, Kelly is likely to go — Within its subterranean newsroom, staffers and executives have a new fear: will they be able to convince Megyn Kelly to re-sign …

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

How USA Today's nuanced coverage of Ryan Lochte's Rio drama provides insights into handling a fast-moving story with caution — Last Thursday, Taylor Barnes and other journalists crowded into a theater across the street from a police station in Rio de Janeiro.

Discussion: Fox News, @jayrosen_nyu, NPR, @dangillmor, USA Today, Complex, Mediaite, South Florida Business Journal, Joe.My.God., The Daily Caller, Forbes and The Week

Ken Doctor / Politico:

Sources: Tronc mulls a third purchase offer from Gannett, at more than $18 per share, and moves forward with a formal counteroffer — It's apparently no longer a question of whether to sell or not, but for how much. — It's apparently no longer a question of whether to sell or not, but for how much.

Discussion: Deadline, @imleor, @politico_media, The Wrap, @pkafka, @markcaro, @jonchesto, @kdoctor, @kdoctor, @alexweprin and FishbowlNY

Alexios Mantzarlis / Poynter:

Study: frequent readers of partisan news sites are more likely to hold misperceptions even if they're aware of evidence — Reading lots of partisan news online makes you more likely to hold inaccurate beliefs even if you are aware of the prevailing evidence, according to a study published …

Discussion: @edkelley16, @heddingkj, @poynter, @lmoliva_, @wpmediainsights, @samrat, @brikeilarcnn, @_hgz_, Wiley Online Library, @mantzarlis, @msidealab, @mediashiftorg, @journalismfest, @poynter and Cision

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Sources: Twitter is working on an anti-harassment tool to let users filter posts using keywords — Abuse has led to depature of several high-profile users — New solution is similar to Instagram's keyword-based filter — Twitter Inc. is working on a keyword-based tool that will let people filter …

Discussion: @sarahfrier, The Hill, @digiphile, @kurtwagner8, @willoremus, MacRumors, Gizmodo, The Verge, Engadget, @torbahax, CNET, @caseynewton, @sarahfrier, @kcoxdc, @kantrowitz, @nicholasadeleon, @oliverdarcy, New York Magazine and Consumerist

Juliette Garside / Guardian:

Draft rules for EU would let publishers demand payment from Google and Facebook for article extracts in services like Google News — Measures are part of a series of planned European commission changes designed to strengthen rights of creators and publishers

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Consumerist, Fast Company, @jeffjarvis, @mathewi, IT ProPortal and Recode

Jon Ralston / Ralston Reports:

Reporters for Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal were told to ask candidates a not-for-publication question about public funding for Raiders stadium — Reporters for Sheldon Adelson's newspaper have been told to ask candidates if they support public money for the stadium proposed …

Discussion: Deadspin, Deadspin, Mediaite, @jayrosen_nyu, @ralstonreports, Awful Announcing and @ralstonreports

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More News:

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
HBO and AT&T announce deal that adds HBO to AT&T's upcoming streaming bundle DirecTV Now as part of broader agreement keeping HBO on DirecTV and U-Verse

Discussion: PR Newswire

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
NYT is launching digital-first teams to cover gender, education, and climate change as part of a strategy to disentangle itself from the daily print bureaucracy

Discussion: The Daily Caller, New York Times, @danfagin, @yannicrack, @poynter, @amyalex63, @benmullin and @craigtimes

Kyle Blaine / BuzzFeed:
Glenn Beck discusses how Donald Trump should start his rumored post-election media channel, as an OTT product run by campaign chief Steve Bannon

Discussion: @kyletblaine, @kyletblaine, @cgannettrun and @kyletblaine

Sahil Patel / Digiday:
NBCUniversal's partnership with BuzzFeed for Olympics Snapchat coverage garnered 35M viewers over two weeks, with 2.2B views and 230M minutes of consumption

Discussion: @andrewgauthier, Strategist, @digiday, @joelcifer, @mattjroper, @hearstcorp, @peretti, @poynter, @tomgara and @niemanlab

Earlier Picks:

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Reuters partners with tech firm ONEm to deliver news via text or voice mail to users around the world without mobile internet

Discussion: Thomson Reuters, @mobileworldlive and FishbowlNY

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
MediaFile, a media criticism site to be run by students from George Washington University, launches Monday

Discussion: Washingtonian, @shansquared, @bychrisyoung, @scottnover, @nytfridge, @shawncp92, @jackshafer, FishbowlNY, @timafranklin, @laurenshiplett, @marimanoog and @saramerken

James B. Stewart / New York Times:
Sources: Viacom's Philippe Dauman lost his fight for control by losing backing of board members who concluded his tactics hurt the firm and their reputations

Discussion: @jamesstewartnyt

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Vermont publisher Ross Connelly extends essay contest deadline as he struggles to find a successor for The Hardwick Gazette, his weekly community newspaper

Discussion: @davidplotz, @jbenton and FishbowlNY

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google releases a free Gemini app for iOS, letting users ask questions, chat via text, voice, or their camera, and use the conversational mode Gemini Live

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2

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