Top News:


Brexit funder Arron Banks issues legal threats against Netflix and journalist Carole Cadwalladr over The Great Hack documentary, which comes out this week — Legal threat comes as campaigners warn UK government that courts are being used to intimidate journalists
Discussion:
The Guardian, @carolecadwalla, @carolecadwalla, @stilldelvingh and Digital TV Europe
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Observer editor, press freedom nonprofits, and others pen open letter concerning rising use of SLAPP litigation in the UK to silence journalists — In an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Jeremy Wright, the culture secretary, the Observer's editor …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, @carolecadwalla, @caoilfhionnanna, @carolecadwalla, @justinbbarthet, @pcaruanagalizia, @peterjukes and @scottishpen


Knight Foundation invests $50M at 11 American universities and research institutions to better understand how technology is transforming democracy — Cross-disciplinary research centers and projects will fill knowledge gaps on how society is informed in the digital age
Discussion:
Medium and @sarafischer


Insider has shifted its video strategy to focus on longer videos, with 35.5% of published videos from April-July 2019 running 5+ minutes, up from 7.8% last year — In 2017, Business Insider's top executives used their pitch at the NewFronts to talk about its short-form video know-how …
Discussion:
@austin_rief and @mattnavarra


Steven Edginton, a Brexit party staffer who describes himself as a freelance journalist, says he was the middleman who passed the Darroch cables to the Mail — Lying awake at 2am last Wednesday and unable to sleep for the third night in a row, I listened as footsteps crunched up and down the gravel outside my ground-floor flat.


Former White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah, who left in January, has joined Fox as SVP, will report to Viet Dinh, Fox's chief legal and policy officer — Stelter looks at the Trump, Fox News ‘love story’ — (CNN)In the latest turn of the revolving door between the Trump administration …
Discussion:
@amy_siskind, @brianstelter, @brianstelter and Mediaite


Following Cairncross Review, UK establishes a £2M pilot fund for publishers to explore new ways of providing sustainable public interest journalism — The UK Government will establish a £2m innovation fund to support public interest journalism, with a focus on local and regional news providers.


Cumulus Media blocks country radio stations from airing Blair Garner's interview with Pete Buttigieg, citing the FCC's equal-time rule — Nash FM's Blair Garner recorded an interview with the Democratic presidential candidate last week, but the broadcasting company spiked it.
Discussion:
Poynter, Rolling Stone, CNN, @kurtbardella, HillReporter.com, @blairgarner, Washington Post and SoundCloud


Inside the debate at BBC on how to describe Trump's tweets about the “squad” and why its anchors refrained from calling them racist while some reporters did not — “Our role is to be the platform on which the British people will have the argument. I don't want us to be sucked in by the Twitter mob."
Discussion:
@radioproducer, @jon_allsop, @triciamarwick, @thattimwalker, @evanhd, @markdistef and @charliebeckett

Report for America president responds to Tow Center assessment, recognizing need for more awareness of RFA and questioning if local candidates are always best — In May, CJR published a report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, entitled, 'Can Report for America build trust in local news?


A look at the ethics of monitoring social media and how it can cross into surveillance, and the need for stronger guidelines to avoid compromising privacy — This post has been updated to acknowledge earlier writings on the subject that we felt should be attributed.
Discussion:
@kalexakoenig, @firstdraftnews, @shaydanayurbani and @cward1e


NYT Obits uses a statistical tool to “achieve a yearly 30% representation of women”, according to internal docs, though section editor says it's aspirational — The Times is using an “Obits Diversity Analysis Tool,” which monitors obituary subjects' genders.