Mediagazer: Netflix orders one of its first shortform series, Follow This, a weekly docuseries following BuzzFeed News journalists as they work, premiering July 9 (Natalie Jarvey/Hollywood Reporter)

Netflix orders one of its first shortform series, Follow This, a weekly docuseries following BuzzFeed News journalists as they work, premiering July 9 — The shortform series will follow the journalists at BuzzFeed News as they report a variety of stories.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, YouTube, Columbia Journalism Review, The Wrap, Variety, @buzzfeedben, Fast Company, @scaachi, @pranavdixit, @journalistslike, @mathewi, @believekarolina, @azeen, Slate and The Daily Caller

Jason Rezaian / Washington Post:

Reporters without Borders has released its annual press freedom report-card and the US is ranked 45th in the world; Philippines slid to #133 and Turkey to #157 — Last weekend, as Nicaragua's police brutally cracked down on protesters demonstrating against President Daniel Ortega …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Reporters Without Borders, The Daily Beast, Japan Times, Al Jazeera English and Media Law Prof Blog

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

Report: billionaire investor Peter Thiel agrees with Gawker administrator to withdraw bid for the website and its archives — Peter Thiel won't be buying Gawker after all. — The billionaire investor who helped bankrupt the once-mighty gossip empire reached an agreement Wednesday …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Mediaite, Variety, @theseantcollins, @edmurrieta, Hollywood Reporter, @albertburneko, @smorgasboredom, @hamiltonnolan, @tomscocca, @freedomofpress and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Danish inventor Peter Madsen convicted of murdering journalist Kim Wall; court heard how he invited her on to his submarine with the intention of killing her — COPENHAGEN — A Danish inventor who admitted to dismembering a journalist and discarding her body from the submarine he built …

Discussion: CNN, The Wrap, Politico, @afreedma, @kennwhite, @erinlea7, @emilynussbaum, @ap and Committee to Protect …

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

The Guardian halves its losses to £19M in the year to the end of March and is on track to break even in 2018 — Publisher reports smaller than expected loss of £19m as benefits of tabloid switch filter through — The publisher of the Guardian and Observer halved its losses …

Discussion: @helenpidd

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Viacom says it is working with Snap on multiyear original content and ad deal that would include Snapchat influencers in new and existing shows — Viacom and Snapchat are working together to create new shows that would star top Snapchat stars. — In a multiyear original content …

Discussion: @kerrymflynn

Discussion: The Wrap and The Wrap

Justin Baragona / Contemptor:

Infosec expert for Joy Reid says significant evidence exists that her old blog was compromised and some recently circulated posts were not on site at any time — Earlier this week, Mediaite published a bombshell report on the discovery of a large number of homophobic posts that had been discovered …

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, @erikwemple, Fox News, @ggreenwald, @angryblacklady, @angryblacklady, @liamstack, Web Science …, @phonedude_mln, shoqvalue.com, @bernstein and Mediaite

Chris Butler / Internet Archive Blogs:
Wayback Machine says it declined to take down “fraudulent” blog posts after Joy Reid's lawyers contacted archive; robots.txt later excluded blog from archives

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Mediaite, TVNewser, Variety, The Wrap, New York Magazine, Slate, CNNMoney, Contemptor, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, TV Tattle, New York Times, The Daily Caller, PFLAG, Splinter, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, New York Post, @dangillmor, @kfile, Boing Boing, @ggreenwald, The Intercept and @kfile

Chronicle of Higher Education:

Drew Cloud, an “expert” on student loans quoted by WaPo, CNBC, and The Boston Globe, is a fictitious persona created by a student finance company — Drew Cloud is everywhere. The self-described journalist who specializes in student-loan debt has been quoted in major news outlets …

Discussion: @mollyhc, @zittrain, @edpolicyhabash, @ralphehanson, @muckrakery, @trace_urdan, @dynarski and Talking Biz News

Christopher Williams / Telegraph:

Comcast makes £22B bid for British broadcaster Sky, at £12.50 a share, sparking a bidding war with 21st Century Fox and Disney — The US cable behemoth Comcast has declared a bidding war with 21st Century Fox and Disney for control of Sky by making a formal bid for Britain's dominant pay-TV operator.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Business Insider

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Memo: staff in The Wall Street Journal's editing operation have been asked to reapply for their jobs following reorganization — Jason Anders, chief news editor at The Wall Street Journal, and Steve Wisnefski, editor of professional news, sent out the following message to the staff on Tuesday:

Discussion: @michellemanafy, @dabeard and @moorehn

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Judge lets discrimination suit against Fox News by Scottie Nell Hughes proceed but trims some claims; she alleged she was raped by host Charles Payne in 2013 — Scottie Hughes alleges being blacklisted after complaining of sexual assault by Fox Business host Charles Payne.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Bloomberg

Jon Lafayette / Multichannel News:

Conviva report: viewing of OTT video grew by 114% YoY in Q1, with total viewing hours reaching nearly 5B across mobile, connected TV, and desktop — Total viewing hours reach nearly 5 billion — Viewing hours of over-the-top, internet-delivered video grew by 114% in the first quarter from a year ago …

Discussion: MediaPost, TechCrunch and FierceCable