Mediagazer: Sinclair's Epshteyn praises Trump for signing family-separation executive order “on his own”, blames Congress for holes in immigration law in must-run TV spot (Pam Vogel/Media Matters for America)

6:10 PM ET, June 21, 2018

Top News:

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, @dimensionmedia, Docs, @maxlinsky, @peterpham, @rafat and @tomcritchlow

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:

Twitter has made a somewhat miraculous comeback in the past two years, with rising revenue and MAUs, due to luck and a focus on news and premium video — A bird emerges from the ashes. — Two years ago, people were writing eulogies for Twitter. — Rudderless and without product direction …

Discussion: @kantrowitz, @bohan, @ashleymayer, @can, @marklittlenews, @xc, @monteiro, @kantrowitz, @cwarzel, @kantrowitz, @mathewi, @richbtig, @raju and @ratamahattass, more at Techmeme »

Pam Vogel / Media Matters for America:

Sinclair's Epshteyn praises Trump for signing family-separation executive order “on his own”, blames Congress for holes in immigration law in must-run TV spot — Sinclair's Boris Epshteyn: Media have “seized on this issue to make it seem as if those who are tough on immigration are somehow monsters”

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite, @johnjharwood, WJLA-TV, Vox, @adamcbest, @pamela_vogel, @brucebartlett, NPR and Splinter

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, BuzzFeed, @billadairduke, Bloomberg, Marketing Land, Fortune, The Daily Caller, Engadget, TechCrunch, @dpfunke, Gizmodo, @mattnavarra and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:

Sources: former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter is planning his own media company covering wealthy and famous European families, is in talks with TPG Capital — Revenge may just be the sweetest victory for Graydon Carter. — The legendary magazine editor, less than a year after stepping away …

Discussion: @meganmurp, Mediaite, @alex_norcia, @jeremymbarr and @maxwelltani

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: @jaxalemany and Talking Biz News

Donie O'Sullivan / CNNMoney:

By embedding lighthearted tweets without trying to verify the authenticity of Twitter accounts, news outlets legitimize and increase the reach of Russian trolls — Russians released anti-Clinton video game weeks before election — Russian trolls posing as an American college student tweeted …

Discussion: @lilymasonphd, @cnn and @blowryontv

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: Multichannel News, Variety, MediaPost, @jongraywb, Fortune, @kingbeyoncestan, Consequence of Sound, @thr, The Outline, The Verge, Gothamist and PAPER

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: @jformanjr, @jenparker393, Splinter, @parkermolloy, @jamilsmith and @msshanitarenee

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: Radio & Television …, Fast Company, @reckless, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, MediaPost, PR Newswire, Fortune, MacRumors, Multichannel News, The Verge, 9to5Mac and CNET, more at Techmeme »

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: The New York Observer, Knight Foundation, @brianstelter, @viacristiano and Trust, Media and Democracy

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: @noahchestnut, The Verge, Facebook, Stock Market News …, MediaNama, Fast Company, Entrackr, INSIDE, Fortune, SlashGear, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Android Police, Alex Deve, Engadget, MediaPost and @elanazak

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

Nilagia McCoy / Shorenstein Center:
Breakdown of $1.8B in media-related grants from 2010-2015: 44% to public media, 5% to magazines, 12% to national nonprofits, 5% to local/state nonprofits

Discussion: @jcstearns and Inside Philanthropy

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 6:10 PM ET, June 21, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Assistant Standards Editor, NY — NYT

Asia Metals Correspondent, Singapore — Reuters

Economic Policy Reporter, DC — Punchbowl News

Senior Director - Editorial, NY — AP

Senior Editor, FL — Flamingo Magazine

Senior Sydney Correspondent — MLex

Investigative Reporter, OR — Street Roots

Reporter I, Remote — APMG

Reporter, CO — Vail Daily

Digital Content Editor, CT — NBC

Sr. Political Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Editor, DC — The Argument

Data Reporter, TX — IRE

Local Editor, MD — Patch

Editor - Founder Brew, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Content Strategist, CA — LA Times

Audience Strategist, CO — Voice

Senior Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Community Newspaper Editor, FL — Coastal Star

Managing Editor, NY — Sportico

IT Industry Reporter, MA — CIO Dive

Multimedia Reporter, TX — Victoria Advocate

Food Correspondent, OR — Lookout

Deputy Editor-in-Chief, NY — Semafor

Breaking News Editor, Toronto — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, Remote — Daily Beast

Digital Editor, OH — Columbus Biz First

Senior Political Reporter, ME — BDN

Head of Multimedia, Sydney — The Guardian

Editorial & Opinion Page Editor, NV — LV Sun

Deputy Editor, HI — Honolulu Civil Beat

Principal Writer - Investigative & Trust — Bankrate

Culture & Travel Reporter, NY — Rolling Stone

Wealth & Philanthropy Reporter, TX — DMN

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Nathan Fuller / Courage Foundation:
Reality Winner, accused of leaking to The Intercept, takes plea deal after being held for a year on Espionage Act charge; hearing planned for Tuesday

Discussion: WJBF-TV, @petersterne, Boing Boing, @petersterne, @petersterne and The Intercept

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

Discussion: The Wrap, /Film, Deadline, Business Insider, The Wrap, Gizmodo, @thefilmstage, @themeparkjosh, Engadget, Wired and MacRumors

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

Discussion: @weinberglindsay, @amtomchak, @vivian and Fast Company

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

Discussion: Gizmodo, @aliabunimah, @levinecarrie, @costasamaras, @mikeisaac and @profcarroll

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:
T-Mobile says its deal with Sprint will create a “truly competitive” national pay TV service with lower programming rates, and more affordable video services

Discussion: Adweek

Earlier Picks:

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

Debra Birnbaum / Variety:
Apple gives a multi-series order to the nonprofit Sesame Workshop for a slate of live-action and animated children's programs, not including Sesame Street

Discussion: New York Times, MacRumors, MediaPost, @pkafka, Stock Market News …, Broadcasting & Cable, Engadget and 9to5Mac

Jon Levine / The Wrap:
Univision issues statement calling on Democrats and Republicans to end practice of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Sean Hannity, Ed Barr, @raniakhalek, @jackposobiec, @bbcjonsopel and Mediaite

Kevin Loker / Trust, Media and Democracy:
Media Insight Project study: about a third of people in US personally know a journalist or have been interviewed; 80% of those interviewed say coverage was fair

Discussion: American Press Institute

From Techmeme:

Suzanne Smalley / The Record:
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rules that police can get Google search data without a warrant; an expert warns it may encourage warrantless searches nationwide

Lydia Beyoud / Bloomberg:
The US Senate confirms Trump pick Michael Selig as chairman of the CFTC, as lawmakers consider legislation to give the agency more control over digital assets

Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is developing a new image and video-focused AI model codenamed Mango, expected to be released in H1 2026 along with its new LLM dubbed Avocado

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page