Top News:
Peter Kafka / Recode:
The New York Times is buying online consumer guide The Wirecutter, founded by former Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, for more than $30M — Brian Lam sells his online consumer guide to the paper of record. — The New York Times is buying The Wirecutter, a five-year-old online consumer guide.
Discussion:
@recode, @mathewi, @nickbilton, @jkottke, @blam, @tomgara, @reckless, @markgurman, @basche42, @shellen, @choitotheworld, @robpegoraro, @bxchen, @msquinn, @miradu, @arainert, Mashable, @jwherrman, @hunterwalk, @gaberivera, @tonyromm, @jbenton, @jsnell, @rrhoover and @hblodget
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
If Trump loses, news organizations should break their ratings-driven habit of giving him heavy coverage — In the final pages of Richard Ben Cramer's seminal book about presidential politics, “What It Takes,” Michael Dukakis looks around in wonderment at the scene outside his Massachusetts home less …
James Ball / BuzzFeed:
How WikiLeaks and Assange haven't changed, even though they're now darlings of the alt-right instead of the left — The Wikileaks founder is out to settle a score with Hillary Clinton and to reassert himself as a player on the world stage, says BuzzFeed News special correspondent James Ball, who worked for Assange at Wikileaks.
Discussion:
@jamesrbuk, @buzzfeedben, @stuartmillar159, @studentactivism, @raju, @janinegibson, @mattleys, @daaronovitch, @paulwaugh, @kyleworton, @paulfidalgo, @dabeard, @pinboard, @chrisgeidner, @pjux and The Week
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
MTV President Sean Atkins steps down after little over a year in the role, as the channel failed to reverse trend of downward ratings — EXCLUSIVE: Sean Atkins is stepping down as president of MTV a little more than a year after joining the network. I've learned that Atkins opted to leave …
Discussion:
Adweek, Business Insider, The Wrap, Ad Age and Variety
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Business Insider launches Markets Insider, a markets data and news site with a global focus, powered by data from Finanzen.net, Axel Springer's finance portal — The publisher's relationship with the German media conglomerate is growing closer — Business Insider's partnership …
Neil W. McCabe / Breitbart:
Former ESPN analyst Curt Schilling gets daily talk show on Breitbart.com, starting Monday, broadcasting weekdays from 9am-11am ET — The pitching hero of the 2004 Red Sox World Series championship season told Breitbart News: Sunday Edition he launches his daily Breitbart.com talk show Monday.
Kara Swisher / Recode:
Resistance from Time Warner execs like Jeff Bewkes, head of HBO at the time, doomed the AOL merger, which raises questions about the prospects of the AT&T deal — The 2000 merger with AOL made Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes nauseated, so what's different now? — In the end, I guess you could finally say Steve Case was right.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, The Wrap, CNNMoney, Variety, CNBC, Fast Company, TVNewser, New York Times, Fortune, Reuters, RexBlog.com, VatorNews, @reddy, Vox, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Time Warner Inc., @amyklobuchar, @danprimack, @mcuban, @karaswisher, Quartz, @dangillmor, @dangillmor and Light Reading
Variety:
Film fan site Film School Rejects acquires competitor One.Perfect.Shot for undisclosed sum; One.Perfect.Shot. founder Geoff Todd joins FSR as an editor-at-large — Film School Rejects has purchased One.Perfect.Shot., Variety has learned. — The two popular film fan sites will merge, with the migration expected to begin on Thursday.
Politico:
In Washington, AT&T-Time Warner deal could struggle to gain regulatory approval as both Trump and Clinton campaigns and congressional lawmakers express concern — An ambitious bid by AT&T to buy Time Warner could face major political obstacles in merger-wary Washington …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Consumerist
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
Interview with Tim Wu about his new book The Attention Merchants, the origins of modern advertising, and the effects of ads on journalism — Harvesting was perhaps the original U.S. industrial activity. Economic growth relied on the reliable conversion of plants and animals into salable products, like cotton and beef.
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Viacom to test incorporating live streams from viewers into TV programs, is expected to debut the new tech in a new show on MTV Music in Australia in 2017 — Viewers used to chant “I want my MTV!” In 2017, they may just be able to help create their MTV. — The network's owner, Viacom …