Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Wordpress.com owner Automattic buys technology and publishing company Atavist, a deal that includes its CMS, customer base, and the Atavist Magazine — Automattic's deal for Atavist will expand the suite of subscription and membership tools it has to offer
Discussion:
The WordPress.com Blog, @tomcritchlow and @peterpham
Katherine Krueger / Splinter:
Twitter temporarily suspended some accounts that simply linked to a Splinter post that shared a phone number for White House adviser Stephen Miller — This morning, Splinter published the personal cell phone number of White House adviser Stephen Miller, an official so monstrous …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Splinter, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, Techdirt, The Daily Caller, Boing Boing, The Guardian, VICE News, @kath_krueger, The Daily Beast, Snopes.com, The Wrap, Fortune, BuzzFeed, Slate, Mashable, Engadget, @libbycwatson, @julianborger, @elivalley, @carnage4life, @buzzfeednews, @jwherrman, @gizmodo, @cwarzel, @max_read, @vahn16, @kath_krueger, @mat, @rmac18, The New York Observer, Engadget, @ashleyfeinberg, @mathewi, @penzeymoog, @petersterne, @jimcookeiii, @cwarzel and @devindra, more at Techmeme »
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook begins letting Group admins test a feature that charges members $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to exclusive sub-groups — Facebook is starting to let Group admins charge $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to special sub-Groups full of exclusive posts.
Discussion:
Facebook, Stock Market News …, The Verge, MediaNama, Entrackr, Fast Company, INSIDE, Fortune, Alex Deve, SlashGear, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Android Police, Engadget, MediaPost, @elanazak and Mashable
NBC News:
Thomson Reuters Special Services signed a $6.8M ICE contract in March; spokesperson says news gathering unit is independent of other commercial contracts — The contracts highlight how technology companies are putting their innovations to work with the U.S. government in ways that are often not visible to the public.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and @jaxalemany
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
AT&T unveils 31 TV networks offered in its WatchTV streaming service, which is launching next week for $15/month and is also included in two wireless plans — AT&T announced the launch of its new internet service Watch TV Thursday, revealing both the TV networks included in the service …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @reckless, Fast Company, Engadget, Multichannel News, PR Newswire, CNET, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Verge and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Tessa Lyons / Facebook:
Facebook announces updates in effort to fight false news: using more machine learning, expanding fact-checking partnerships, using Claim Review framework, more — Over the last year and half, we have been committed to fighting false news through a combination of technology and human review …
Discussion:
Poynter, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, @billadairduke, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller, Engadget and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »
Jack Morse / Mashable:
Facebook blocks news about policy at a detention center for immigrant children from being boosted with an ad buy, under the cover of “political ads” policy — Having missed the boat completely on fake news, Facebook appears to now be dropping the hammer on the real stuff.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, @aliabunimah, @levinecarrie, @costasamaras, @mikeisaac, @profcarroll and @reveal
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times adds Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, as a columnist for its opinion pages starting September — Today The New York Times announced that Michelle Alexander will join the Opinion pages as a columnist in September. — James Bennet, New York Times editorial page editor …
Discussion:
@jenparker393, @msshanitarenee, @jamilsmith, Splinter and @parkermolloy
Lea Trusty / The Engaged Journalism Lab:
Research finds gaps in philanthropic support for newsroom diversity, with fewer and smaller grants for ethnic and racial groups, women, and LGBTQI populations — New research released today by Democracy Fund traces half a decade of philanthropic investment in organizations, programming …
Discussion:
DemocracyFund
RELATED:
Taylor Blatchford / Poynter:
Gallup/Knight survey: 77% of Republicans believe news is biased vs. 44% of Democrats and ratings of accuracy and bias diverge especially for Fox, CNN, and MSNBC — Americans believe 39 percent of news in newspapers, on TV or on the radio is misinformation — but their views of social media are even worse.
Discussion:
Knight Foundation, @brianstelter, @viacristiano and Trust, Media and Democracy
Lindsay Weinberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Indoor fitness brand SoulCycle hires Vox Media's Angela Bowers, Glamour's Laurel Pinson, and Mashable's Gregory Gittrich to launch a media division — The indoor fitness brand has tapped talent from Vox Media, Glamour and Mashable to lead the strategy. — Attention athletic gurus …
Discussion:
@weinberglindsay, @amtomchak, @vivian and Fast Company
Brent Lang / Variety:
SEC filing: MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics plans to raise up to $164M through a bond sale and by issuing 20K+ shares — MoviePass's parent company has launched a $164 million bond sale as the struggling subscription service tries to find ways to stay afloat and boost its dwindling stock price.
Discussion:
Deadline, The Wrap, Wired, The A.V. Club and Mental Floss
Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
MTV launches MTV Studios, which will reboot and reimagine past shows and franchises like Daria and The Real World to shop them to outside networks and streamers — Network president Chris McCarthy wants to mine the youth-focused cable network's vault to revive old hits …
Discussion:
Variety, The Verge, The Outline, Consequence of Sound, Gothamist, The A.V. Club and PAPER
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: prosecutors have subpoenaed National Enquirer publisher American Media for records of its 2016 payment to Karen McDougal as part of Michael Cohen probe — Prosecutors eye whether company coordinated with ex-Trump lawyer on payment to bury affair allegation
Discussion:
New York Times, Newser, The Guardian, KTLA, CNBC, @marlownyc, The Wrap, Mediaite, @mlcalderone, @rebeccaballhaus and @tedlieu
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