Top News:
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
CNN's first debate, featuring divisive questions, frustratingly short response times, and outsize attention to fringe candidates, was a lost opportunity — About 40 minutes after the start of Tuesday night's Democratic primary debate, I got an email from a Washington Post reader with this subject line: “I don't care for this.”
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @realdonaldtrump, @jayrosen_nyu, Mediaite, Bloomberg, Mediaite, Washington Post, Slate, Adweek, Fortune, @lawrence, @rmc031, @jamesfallows, @lpolgreen, @deanluk, @cjr, HuffPost, @slate, The Week, @nymag, @jcstearns, The Cut, @fenitn, @mattgertz, @gadyepstein, @jon_allsop and @jayrosen_nyu
Tom Jones / Poynter:
Internal memo says LA Times is nowhere close to meeting its goal of doubling digital subs from 150K in 2018 to 300K in 2019, having only netted 13K this year — Troubling news at one of the nation's top newspapers. — Digital subscriptions at the Los Angeles Times are way below expectations …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @noahchestnut, American Press Institute, @raju, @poynter, @conroyforreal, @juliaturner, @emilyweinstein, @thebenbergman, @jmckellogg, @mitrakalita, @jkristufek, @juliaturner, @daytonpubpolicy, @jayrosen_nyu, @sewellchan, @juliaturner, @scribeguy, @juliaturner, @esotouric, @jbenton, @juliaturner, @shelbygrad, @susannahbreslin and @palewire
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
After six months fact-checking for Facebook, Full Fact makes 10 recommendations, including expanding the program to Instagram, enlisting help on public health — In December 2016, Facebook enlisted a handful of U.S.-based news organizations (ABC News, Snopes, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org …
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Deadspin, owned by G/O Media, is planning a story on company CEO Jim Spanfeller; Spanfeller reacts publicly with plans for an outside editor to review the story — A friendly piece of advice for whomever ends up buying the former Gawker Media sites: Don't try to tell them what to write.
Discussion:
New York Post, @benmullin, @benmullin, @pblest, @megreenwell, @albertburneko, @nbj914, @joannelipman, @libbycwatson, @ourand_sbj, @erikwemple, @erikwemple and @erikwemple
Jon Marcus / Nieman Reports:
A look at the debate behind the journalistic practice of strategic silence when it comes to naming shooters, addressing lies, and covering extremist ideologies — Journalists often withhold details of mass shooters and suicides to discourage copycats. Should that “strategic silence” …
Discussion:
@mathewi and @niemanreports
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Bustle Digital Group, which had planned to relaunch Gawker in September, has laid off Gawker's staff and postponed the relaunch — A planned relaunch of snarky news and gossip web site Gawker is on hold indefinitely, The Post has learned. — Bustle Digital Group, which owns Gawker …
Discussion:
Newser, The Cut, New York Times, @timmarchman, @lyzl, @libbycwatson, @rafat, @jon_christian, @kevinmdraper, Variety and The Wrap
Wall Street Journal:
Four major broadcast networks sue Locast, which is funded by AT&T, to try to stop it from freely retransmitting the signals of their local TV stations — CBS, ABC, NBCU and Fox say AT&T-funded Locast is retransmitting their signals without permission and in violation of copyright law
Discussion:
The Wrap, MediaPost, Variety, Light Reading, Associated Press, FierceVideo, The Verge, Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News and @jbflint, more at Techmeme »
Variety:
How WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, a long-time AT&T executive and no-nonsense manager, is remaking WarnerMedia, trying to bridge the culture gap with Time Warner — Months after AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner, senior leaders from HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner flew out to the telecom giant's headquarters …
Discussion:
Observer
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Sources: Nielsen open to selling itself in pieces after failing to find a buyer for the whole firm; Blackstone and Goldman Sachs dropped out earlier this year — An auction to sell Nielsen Holdings appears to be a bust — but the ratings giant has not given up and is now looking to sell itself in pieces, The Post has learned.
Natalie Jarvey / Billboard:
Apple's services business, a division that includes revenue from subscriptions like Apple Music, iTunes, Apple Pay and iCloud, brought in sales of $11.46B in Q3 — Han Haidan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images — The division that includes revenue from subscriptions like Apple Music …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Ad Age, AdExchanger, The Streamable and Fortune, more at Techmeme »
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks beats Q2 earnings expectations with $129M profit on $772M in revenue, up 1.4% YoY; US ad revenue fell 11.1% YoY — The cable networks company, led by CEO Josh Sapan, beat Wall Street earnings expectations, but fell short of revenue estimates. — AMC Networks, the cable networks company …
Claire Atkinson / NBC News:
Sources: if CBS and Viacom merge, Shari Redstone will consider even more acquisitions to help the company compete with other sizable media operations — Shari Redstone has held conversations about quickly pursuing acquisitions that would help the company compete with other sizable media operations.
Discussion:
@claireatki
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