Mediagazer: Chuck Todd's tweet about the “optics” of Mueller's hearing not only reflects the goal of the hearing but recognizes the importance of political spectacle today (Tom Jones/Poynter)

3:45 PM ET, July 26, 2019

Top News:

Tom Jones / Poynter:

Chuck Todd's tweet about the “optics” of Mueller's hearing not only reflects the goal of the hearing but recognizes the importance of political spectacle today — Your Friday news roundup … Good Friday morning, and thank you for reading the morning newsletter.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Fox News, @andyrichter, @pat_garofalo, @pat_garofalo, @tomwjones, Salon, The Atlantic, @jayrosen_nyu and @pat_garofalo

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Mueller hearing had an average of 13M viewers across six major networks, below the 20M viewers for Comey's 2017 testimony; cable news ratings were ~2x the usual — New York (CNN Business)If Democrats were banking on massive viewership of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's televised testimony, they're feeling broke today.

Discussion: MediaPost, Mediaite, @timcast, @dannagal and Columbia Journalism Review

The Daily Beast:
House Republicans' questions to Robert Mueller overlapped with 18 of those proposed by Sean Hannity on his show the previous night

Discussion: @noahshachtman, Mediaite, Washington Post, Media Matters for America, CNN and The Guardian

Columbia Journalism Review:

Cofounded by The Nation and CJR, Covering Climate Now announces 60+ news outlets who've committed to one week of focused climate coverage from September 16 — “Can we tell the story so people get it?” — That's the mission TV newsman Bill Moyers urged at the launch of Covering Climate Now …

Discussion: The Guardian, Press Gazette, @theintercept, @columbia, @david_bassie, @kylepope, @weatherprof and Common Dreams

Dean Sterling Jones / BuzzFeed News:

Investigation finds dozens of cases of SEO consultants buying expired URLs linked to by major news sites, like the NYT, then redirecting them to clients' sites — In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter published a glowing obituary for Patricia Disney, the first wife of former Walt Disney Company executive Roy Disney.

Discussion: @glennf and @klingebeil

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

Source: Dan Le Batard will have to check with higher-ups before talking politics; Pitaro's no-politics policy concerned changing viewer perception of ESPN — NEW YORK — New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit jogged toward the home dugout after the bottom of the second inning …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, @ennisnyt, The Big Lead, @markjburns88 and @richarddeitsch

Jemele Hill / The Atlantic:
ESPN's naive rule against political commentary forces commentators to ignore the real world, an untenable approach for a journalistic operation and for staff

Discussion: American Press Institute, @janesports, @adriennelaf, @davidrqliu, @carychow_, @alex_segura and @jemelehill

Reuters:

Australia's ACCC releases report on anti-competitive behavior and market power of tech giants, offers 23 recommendations including protections for news media — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said it would establish the world's first dedicated office to police Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Google …

Discussion: Australian Competition …, ABC, Associated Press, @caronbw, Marketing Dive, MediaNama, @reuters, NEWS.com.au, Engadget and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Sources: Long Island newspaper Newsday is offering its employees voluntary buyouts, which they can apply for until August 8 — PATRICK Dolan's Newsday took staffers by “surprise” Thursday when executives of the largest newspaper on Long Island said it is offering voluntary buyouts, Media Ink has learned.

Discussion: Long Island Business News and Talking Biz News

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

Ofcom fines RT £200K for “serious and repeated failures” to report with impartiality on Syria and the Salisbury attack; RT says it will appeal this finding — RT has been fined £200,000 by Ofcom over “serious and repeated failures” to report with due impartiality …

Brent Cunningham / Pacific Standard:

A look at the relationship between the Charleston Gazette and WV's coal and natural gas industries, and whether its new owner will support its watchdog role — The Charleston Gazette-Mail, known for its dogged accountability journalism, survived a merger and bankruptcy.

Discussion: @throwin_shadows, @stevehinnefeld, @charlesornstein and Longreads

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:

Sling TV and Dish Network have dropped the Fox regional sports networks after a temporary extension expired without a deal — The Streamable is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission when you sign up with our links. — At noon ET today, Fox Sports announced that Sling TV …

Discussion: @sarafischer, Awful Announcing, Variety, Sports Business Daily and The Big Lead

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Twitter Q2 earnings beat estimates with revenues of $841M, up 18% YoY, and total ad revenue up 21% YoY to $727M — KEY POINTS — Twitter announced in Q4 of 2018 that it would soon replace the metric with “monetizable daily active users” (mDAUs), which it said better reflect its business …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Bloomberg, Quartz, Fortune, @thedomino and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Kali Hays / WWD:

MPA: Instagram follower growth was 6.3% for 100 magazines in Q2, while Facebook likes for content and Twitter followers for these magazines grew less than 1% — Even for politics and news magazines, Instagram is the only platform with significant follower growth so far this year.

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Source: CNN wants a $300K commitment in advertising before a sponsor can purchase ads during Democratic debate telecasts; spots during debates start at ~$110K — TV's latest emerging hit takes all the thrills of a traditional reality competition program and mixes in an awful lot of drama.

Discussion: @bristei and @owillis

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

MSNBC, Georgetown, and Our Daily Planet plan to host a climate forum September 19-20, inviting all presidential candidates, which will stream on NBC News Now — A portion of the event will be televised on Chris Hayes' primetime MSNBC show. — The 2020 Democrats are set …

Discussion: @leahstokes, @sunrisemvmt, @nbchristinaginn, @jackmjenkins, @gideonresnick, @moelleithee and @gideonresnick

Kyle Blaine / CNN:
CNN will hold a climate town hall for Democratic presidential candidates on September 4 in New York City

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Common Dreams, @sunrisemvmt, @david_turnbull, @trishkahle, @_waleedshahid, @lcvoters, @tripgabriel, TVNewser and GU Politics

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Comcast Q2 earnings beat estimates with Sky accounting for a 23.6% YoY revenue spike; NBCU revenue fell 0.8% to $8.2B, but earnings grew 8.1% YoY to $2.3B — Comcast's second quarter earnings beat analysts estimates but total revenue came in just shy of expectations.