Mediagazer: AAJA: America's newsrooms on track to miss ASNE's new 2025 workforce diversity deadline; minorities to make up 39% of US, but only 17% of newsroom workforce (Jessie Tseng/AAJA Voices)

4:00 AM ET, August 2, 2017

Top News:

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Lawsuit: Fox News pundit Rod Wheeler claims the network worked with a wealthy Trump supporter and the White House to create a fake story about Seth Rich's death — The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House …

Discussion: Yahoo, Washington Post, @joekloc, Mediaite, CNNMoney, BuzzFeed, CNNMoney, WBUR, HuffPost, @adrienne_dnc, @cnntonight, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, @aseitzwald, @grahamdavida, Axios, Media Matters for America, New York Magazine, TVNewser, The Guardian, Mashable, @abigailtracy, CNNMoney, The Wrap, Mother Jones, The Outline, Vanity Fair, @markberman, @lachlan, @hereandnow, @christopherjm, @mollymckew, circa.com, USA Today, Washington Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, @daveweigel, @adrienne_dnc, @oliverdarcy, BuzzFeed, @markmackinnon, @oliverdarcy, The Hill, @brianstelter, @mlcalderone, The Week, Washingtonian, Boing Boing, Variety, KTLA, Code Words, New York Times, @reaganbattalion, @andrewmseaman, @markusjrussell, @mypoornerves__, @justinhendrix, @ericgeller, @aexia, @lindafader, @rabiasquared, @michaelskolnik, @davidfolkenflik, @justinhendrix, @lrozen, @yashar, @hadas_gold, @brianstelter, @mlcalderone, @lachlan, Poynter and Mediaite

Paul Farhi / @farhip:
Fox News President Jay Wallace: lawsuit claim that Fox posted Seth Rich story to “detract” from Russia stories is erroneous, and Fox denies discrimination claim

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Mother Jones, TVNewser, The Wrap, Washington Post, @brianstelter and Deadline

Media Matters for America:

How Circa, Hannity, and other right-leaning media pushed claim that Donald Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting was a “setup”, after Trump's lawyers proposed the idea — Trump's legal team suggested giving Trump Jr. meeting details to Circa, spinning meeting as “setup” by Democrats

Discussion: The Guardian, Mediaite, Washington Post, Business Insider, Chicago Tonight, Mashable, Mother Jones, @susan_hennessey, KTLA, circa.com, Vanity Fair, Jezebel, The Week, Fortune, New York Magazine, WGN-TV, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Vox and Axios

YouTube Blog:

YouTube details additional steps to tackle terrorist content, including machine learning-based detection, consultation with wider panel of experts, more — A little over a month ago, we told you about the four new steps we're taking to combat terrorist content on YouTube …

Discussion: Facebook, The Daily Caller, Fortune, TechCrunch, Engadget, Adweek, The Drum, The Verge, The Guardian, Gizmodo, SiliconBeat, Digital Trends, CNET, TechCrunch, MacRumors, Axios and Microsoft on the Issues, more at Techmeme »

Jimmy Wales Foundation:

Sources: Bassel Khartabil, the head of Creative Commons in Syria who had been imprisoned since 2012, was executed shortly after he disappeared in 2015 — Troubling news coming out of Syria about the death of Bassel Khartabil, the Wikipedian and Head of Creative Common in Syria, who has been imprisoned in Syria since March 15, 2012.

Discussion: Creative Commons, The FADER and Rami Jarrah

Washington Post:

How Facebook unevenly silences posts about discrimination, censoring important conversations, while often allowing blatantly racist content to remain — Francie Latour was picking out produce in a suburban Boston grocery store when a white man leaned toward her two young sons and …

Discussion: @sarihorwitz, @dangillmor, @sarahemclaugh, @stevenoverly, @matt_cagle, @conor64, Forbes, @drewharwell, @lizzadwoskin and @bayoumimoustafa

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Podcast network Gimlet Media raises $15M round led by Stripes Group, sources say at $70M post-money valuation and company to generate ~$15M revenue this year — Podcasts are popular, but the podcast industry is tiny. Here's a bet it will grow. — You are used to reading …

Discussion: Financial Times, Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, @pkafka and @hankgreen

Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:

Gizmodo files FOIA lawsuit for FBI files on Fox News CEO Roger Ailes after first seeking the records May 18 — This morning, Gizmodo filed a lawsuit against the FBI seeking access to any files it holds on Roger Ailes, the one-time chief executive of Fox News.

Discussion: Axios and @tomdreisbach

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: SoundCloud to sell stakes to Raine Group, a boutique bank, and Temasek, Singapore's state investment firm, by end of this week — SoundCloud Ltd. is close to selling stakes to the Raine Group and Temasek Holdings, deals that would help stabilize the owner of the popular music-streaming service …

Discussion: 9to5Mac and Billboard, more at Techmeme »

Alex Heath / Business Insider:

Sources: Snap has asked top US college newspapers to make campus editions for Snapchat Discover section, will share ad revenue with school or publication — Snapchat is going back to college. — The company has asked college newspapers to produce local campus editions for its Discover section …

Discussion: The Verge

Jessie Tseng / AAJA Voices:

AAJA: America's newsrooms on track to miss ASNE's new 2025 workforce diversity deadline; minorities to make up 39% of US, but only 17% of newsroom workforce — Fifty years ago, riots sparked by racial unrest broke out in major cities across the United States, leaving dozens of people dead and neighborhoods across the nation in ruins.

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Amazon outbids Sky for UK rights to tennis' ATP World Tour in a deal thought to be worth £10M/year; it's Amazon's first major live TV sports deal outside the US — Amazon Prime streaming service will now show nearly all elite men's tennis events except the four grand slams

Discussion: Engadget

Jim Waterson / BuzzFeed:

BrexitCentral, a new site where five of seven staffers worked for Vote Leave, gains Parliament gallery access, which is unusual for a new partisan outlet — How to turn a campaign into a journalistic outlet approved by parliament. — A pro-Brexit website run by former Vote Leave campaigners …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, @walesforeurope and @alexgspence

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Pro-Trump media icons like Mike Cernovich are beating NYT, Bloomberg, others on White House stories, giving credibility to the fake news stories they publish — Before the tweet left President Trump's fingers, alt-right digital media personality Mike Cernovich had already reported …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Daily Caller