Mediagazer: Box Office Mojo: $5.62B of tickets have been sold in H1 2019, a 10% fall YoY; Disney drove one third of ticket sales, not including 21st Century Fox movies (Tara Lachapelle/Bloomberg)

5:15 PM ET, July 3, 2019

Top News:

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

UK competition agency launches investigation into how Google and Facebook collect and use user data and if they've abused their power to dominate the ad market — Competition watchdog to investigate potential abuse of power and control of user data — The UK competition watchdog has launched …

Discussion: GOV.UK, MediaPost, CNET, The Drum and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:

Despite diversity in presidential candidates, punditry still belongs to guys who give us mediocre analysis, grotesque speech on women, and cluelessness on race — In past weeks, the curtain has officially been raised on the vast and diverse field of candidates for the Democratic nomination …

Kali Hays / WWD:

Sources: W staffers were first given one day to sign on to work for Future, later extended to two; all contracts stipulate a three-month “introductory period” — Goodbye Condé Nast and “Summer Fridays.” Hello a “revenue-comes-first” editorial outlook. — Saoirse Ronan on W's cover in 2019

Discussion: @mattbruenig, Jezebel, @mattdpearce, @itstheannmarie and @amguarnieri_

Meredith Lerner / CREW:

Heather Nauert reported a salary from 21st Century Fox while working for the govt despite an ethics waiver contingent upon not having financial interest in Fox — Heather Nauert, a former State Department spokesperson and President Trump's original pick to replace Nikki Haley …

Discussion: @heathernauert, U.S. Office …, @miafarrow and @underoak

Tara Lachapelle / Bloomberg:

Box Office Mojo: $5.62B of tickets have been sold in H1 2019, a 10% fall YoY; Disney drove one third of ticket sales, not including 21st Century Fox movies — Disney's streak of blockbusters hasn't yet reversed a tough year for the box office and cinema chains such as AMC Entertainment.

Ciara Linnane / MarketWatch:

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield says legacy media companies that are reclaiming content for direct-to consumer streaming services are taking the wrong approach — Direct-to-consumer streaming services miss the point that content is just a small part of the equation, says BTIG's Richard Greenfield

Discussion: @data168 and @richbtig

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Breitbart News has continued to lose advertisers and traffic, bottoming out at 4.6M unique visitors in May, down from 17.3M at the start of 2017, per Comscore — In January 2017, Breitbart.com was flying high. Donald Trump, the candidate it had backed during the 2016 campaign, was sworn in as president.

Discussion: @daviddtss, @kurtbardella, @nigmanoname, @chuckrossdc, @thesarcasmshow, @slpng_giants and @mlcalderone

Tess Bonn / The Hill:

In a survey of 1,000 American adults, 33% said the news media was “the enemy of the people” while 67% said it was an important part of democracy — One-third of Americans say the news media is “the enemy of the people,” according to a new Hill-Harris X poll survey.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

A look at the measures WSJ has implemented to fight deepfakes, including forming a 21-person team for detecting them and holding training sessions for staff — To combat the growing threat of spreading misinformation ahead of the U.S. 2020 general election, The Wall Street Journal has formed …

Discussion: @jonathanstray and @rjcc

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Guardian News and Media reported a median pay gap of 4.9%, favoring men, in April 2019, down from 8.4% in 2018, and 12.1% in 2017 — The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers has cut its gender pay gap by 40 per cent in the past year. — Guardian News and Media reported a median pay gap …

Discussion: Press Gazette and Financial Times

Devjyot Ghoshal / Reuters:

Three major Indian newspaper groups say the government has cut ads in retaliation for negative coverage; Telegraph publisher says it has experienced a 15% drop — NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's government has cut off advertisements to at least three major newspaper groups in a move that executives …

Discussion: Poynter, ThePrint and @tarauk

Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:

Survey of news media employment between January and June 2019: thousands laid off or offered buyouts; the industry is on course for its worst year since 2009 — Between January and May this year, approximately 3,000 people working in the news industry were laid off or offered a buyout.

Discussion: Media Nation, American Press Institute, @rachaelmyrow, @startswithane, @ehernandez, @paul_bowers, The Rural Blog, @harronwawker, bookforum.com, @film_girl, @chick_in_kiev, @mattgertz, @skooks and Bloomberg

Andrew Murfett / LinkedIn:

David Haskell, editor of New York magazine, talks about publishing E. Jean Carroll's story, why he redid his first cover a week after it hit newsstands, more — David Haskell joined New York magazine in 2007, and quickly began to climb the rungs of the seminal publication.

Discussion: @amurfett, Thanks:@chipcutter

Travis Yeh / Facebook:

Facebook updates News Feed ranking algorithm to reduce the distribution of sensational health claims or promotion of products with health-related claims — People come together on Facebook to talk about, advocate for, and connect around things like nutrition, fitness and health issues.