Mediagazer: 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 (Nathan Fuller/Courage Foundation)

5:10 PM ET, June 21, 2018

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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, @rafat, @peterpham and @tomcritchlow

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

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: @raju, @kantrowitz, @ratamahattass, @ashleymayer, @monteiro, @richbtig and @marklittlenews, more at Techmeme »

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

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 …

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, Fortune, Consequence of Sound, The Outline, The Verge, Gothamist, The A.V. Club 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: @jenparker393, Splinter, @parkermolloy, @jamilsmith and @msshanitarenee

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: /Film, The Wrap, Deadline, @thefilmstage, @themeparkjosh, Engadget, Wired, Business Insider, The A.V. Club and Fast Company

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, TechCrunch, The Daily Caller, Engadget, Gizmodo, @mattnavarra and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

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 »

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 …

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

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, Inside Philanthropy, @facttank and @evanasmith

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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

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

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

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

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

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

Earlier Picks:

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

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

Discussion: New York Times, Newser, The Guardian, KTLA, CNBC, @marlownyc, The Wrap, Mediaite, @mlcalderone, @rebeccaballhaus and @tedlieu

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, Recode 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:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A UK CMA report finds that Apple's policies hold back innovation in mobile browsers and recommends investigating Apple and Google's mobile ecosystem activities

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Threads is testing AI-generated summaries of what users are discussing, in the app's Trending Now section in the US, and Search and Trending Now improvements

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