Mediagazer: The Seattle Times has attracted 36K digital subscribers since starting a metered paywall in 2013, uses its 183K newsletter readers to drive subscriptions (Aditi Sangal/Digiday)

12:45 AM ET, August 18, 2018

Top News:

Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:

Plaintiffs in Sandy Hook defamation suits claim Alex Jones illegally deleted content considered evidence; staff deleted material after Twitter policy violation — WASHINGTON — Lawyers for the families of two Sandy Hook shooting victims are accusing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, The Hill, sandiegouniontribune.com, The Wrap, The Splice Newsroom Archive, Motherboard, New York Post and Blog Network

Bloomberg:

Source: Amazon is working on a DVR that will record live TV, wirelessly connect to Fire TV boxes, and stream the video to smartphones — - Box would record live TV and stream that video to smartphones — Device competes with offerings from TiVo, Dish's Slingbox

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, GeekWire, Gizmodo, CNET, SlashGear, Fortune, The Verge, Engadget, MediaPost and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Jaclyn Reiss / The Boston Globe:

The US Senate passes a resolution by unanimous voice vote affirming the media “is not the enemy of the people” and condemning attacks on the free press — The US Senate on Thursday passed a resolution by unanimous consent affirming that the media “is not the enemy of the people.”

Discussion: European Federation …, Global Investigative …, CBS News, Poynter, CBS Los Angeles, TucsonSentinel.com and Fortune

Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:
Trump assails The Boston Globe for leading an effort to support a free press, says he wants “true freedom of the press” but “fake news” is trying to hurt people

Discussion: Reuters, Freedom of the Press …, Columbia Journalism Review, emptywheel, Conservative News Today, USA Today, ABC News, The Guardian, The Atlantic, @cpotterpgh, @nprinskeep, New York Times, @howardfineman, @tommygoldsmith, @coreyhutchins and The Colorado Independent

The Guardian:

Malaysia has repealed its “fake news” law; deputy minister says police will instead be empowered to deal with the phenomenon — Critics say legislation was deployed during Najib Razak's time in office to silence criticism — Malaysia has repealed its “fake news” law …

Discussion: Asian Correspondent, CNN, Nikkei, Marketing Interactive, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Business Insider Malaysia and Committee to Protect …

Christopher Barca / Queens Chronicle:

Ocasio-Cortez campaign says she was “mobbed” by reporters at a Bronx community meeting, leading to a press ban for two listening tour stops — Media was barred after reporters ‘mobbed’ her at an earlier event — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday that stops on her …

Discussion: Washington Post, @ocasio2018, @seungminkim, @seungminkim, Fox News, Hit & Run, The Week, New York Post, The Hill, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Heavy.com

Ian Burrell / The Drum:

How The Sun climbed above the Mail Online's digital reach, registering 29.7M UK users in June vs. Mail Online's 28.3M, despite earlier paywall missteps — It is exactly five years since Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper stable made its audacious - and we can now say almost calamitous - move to put The Sun behind a digital paywall.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Viacom lays off more than 30 Awesomeness employees following last month's acquisition; Awesomeness CEO Jordan Levin has left the company — As expected, Viacom has made a round of layoffs at Awesomeness, pink-slipping more than 30 employees of the digital-media company it acquired last month from NBCUniversal, Verizon and Hearst.

Discussion: VideoInk, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter and Deadline

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

comScore: pure play streaming services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now reach 5% of US Wi-Fi households, up 58% since last year — The number of U.S. households watching streaming TV services - those that deliver cable TV-like programming over the internet - has grown a remarkable 58% over last year, according to new data from comScore.

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Aditi Sangal / Digiday:

The Seattle Times has attracted 36K digital subscribers since starting a metered paywall in 2013, uses its 183K newsletter readers to drive subscriptions — While The New York Times and The Washington Post crow about attracting big digital subscriber numbers, the sledding is tougher for local newspapers.

Discussion: @jbenton and What's New in Publishing

Rob Arcand / The Outline:

PEOPLE, a free to listeners, non-commercial audio publishing platform focused on musician collaboration and works-in-progress, to launch on August 18 — PEOPLE, their new streaming platform that prioritizes collaboration and de-emphasizes the algorithm, launches this weekend.

Discussion: Billboard, Music Business Worldwide and RAIN News

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

Globe & Mail to launch C$999/year subscription newsletter on cannabis, hire at least five journalists for the beat, invest in major live events to demystify it — When life gives you nationwide legalization of recreational cannabis, you make high-priced subscription products covering the industry.

Discussion: Talking Biz News and @someday_deane

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Amazon plans an ad campaign in the US, UK, and Germany to boost its music streaming service — - Music has become one of the most popular requests for Alexa — Amazon is turning up the volume in the music business. — The world's largest online retailer will mount the first national TV campaign …

Discussion: VentureBeat and @lucas_shaw

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:45 AM ET, August 18, 2018.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

South Reporter, GA/Remote — ProPublica

Private Capital Reporter, London — FT

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Articles Editor, CA — SF Standard

Pharma Reporter, Remote US — Endpoints

Metro Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Business Reporter, TX — Fort Worth Report

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

News Correspondent, MS — Magnolia Tribune

Accountability Reporter, NC — Charlotte Observer

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Political Reporter, TX — Courier Newsroom

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Staff Writer, MA/Remote — Tech Advisor

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More News:

Marya Hannun / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at how the Afghan mujahideen documented the Soviet-Afghanistan war after Congress provided a $500,000 grant in 1985

Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:
Launched seven weeks ago, AMC's movie subscription service Stubs A-List now accounts for 5% of all attendance, with 85K enrollments in the last two weeks

Discussion: @thr and USA Today

PR Newswire:
McClatchy Studios to air three Facebook Watch shows, including a weekly documentary with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Beto O'Rourke's Senate race

Earlier Picks:

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:
A look at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Research Lab and its partnership with Facebook as it works to spot the origins of online disinformation

Discussion: Axios and @dfrlab

John Herrman / New York Times:
Unlike smaller web forums, centrally run social media platforms like Twitter are just too big to nurture healthy online communities

Discussion: Adweek, Vox, The Verge and @mathewi, more at Techmeme »

Jason Schwartz / Politico:
Reporters say that the Pentagon retaliates against negative coverage by excluding them from briefings; one journalist's embed with US troops was pulled

Discussion: @ddale8, @dburbach, @lorenraedej and @blakehounshell

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
With 255K digital subscriptions, the Times and Sunday Times are updating their mobile apps to enable comments and tell users when journalists are online

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Meet rolls out an update to let users seamlessly transfer calls between devices “without hanging up and rejoining” via its Android, iOS, and web apps

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
TSMC unveils a new chip manufacturing technology called A16; the company plans to start producing its ultra-advanced 1.6nm chips by 2026

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