Mediagazer: Fox Corp. to buy a 67% stake in Credible Labs, a marketplace for consumer-lending info, for $265M and add up to $75M in growth capital over about two years (Joe Flint/Wall Street Journal)

6:10 AM ET, August 5, 2019

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Journalists must change how they report on mass shootings by shining a light on solutions, insisting on more accountability from officials, and taking a side — Sadly, we in the news media know just how to do it. — When a mass shooting happens, even when it happens twice in a 24-hour period …

Discussion: @bgray5, @adviserdavid, @bgrueskin, @kenwardjr, @mireyawrites, @murpharoo, @sulliview, @connieschultz, @mlcalderone and @amlwhere

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Fox Corp. to buy a 67% stake in Credible Labs, a marketplace for consumer-lending info, for $265M and add up to $75M in growth capital over about two years — Deal for Credible, a marketplace for consumer-lending information, is part of Fox's digital strategy

Discussion: Ad Age, @awallenstein and PR Newswire

Kate Clark / TechCrunch:

AI-powered news aggregation app SmartNews raises $28M Series E led by Japan Post Capital, valuing the startup at $1.1B and bringing the total raised to $116M — A $28 million financing has made SmartNews, an AI-powered news aggregation app, a unicorn. — Japan Post Capital has led …

Discussion: Bloomberg and @rafat, more at Techmeme »

Alex Pappademas / New Yorker:

The Social Network trailer influenced the music in movie trailers with its choir cover of Creep; now many songs in trailers literally explain film plots — Every story, as movie trailers never tire of informing us, has a beginning. The story of the cover-song trend in movie trailers began nine years ago …

Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:

Profile of Rui Pinto, Der Spiegel's “Football Leaks” source, now jailed in Portugal, who lawyers argue should have the same legal protections as whistleblowers — In 2016, a man who called himself John gave Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, 1.9 terabytes of data, or the equivalent of 500,000 Bibles.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:

Section 230 of the CDA is the internet's First Amendment; repealing it would hurt online speech and marginalized groups more than it would hurt Big Tech — From Josh Hawley to Kamala Harris, online free speech is under attack. — Imagine, for a moment, the following series of online exchanges.

Jessica Bennett / New York Times:

Playboy after the Hefner family: a young, socially conscious staff recruits female interviewers and photographers for its recently relaunched ad-free quarterly — The Hefners are gone, and so is the magazine's short-lived ban on nudity — as well as virtually anyone on the staff over 35.

Discussion: @ejeancarroll, @nytimes, Jezebel, @brianstelter and Newser

Adriana Carranca / Columbia Journalism Review:

After jail threat against Glenn Greenwald, experts say Brazilian law allows him to publish info of public concern even if a third party illegally obtained it — On June 9, the Intercept began publishing a series of investigative stories that sent shocks through Brazil.

Discussion: @3r1ng, @cjr and @kayesem

Pak Yiu / AFP Correspondent:

A first-hand account of reporting in Xinjiang, China: suspicious people filming and following journalists, a fake car crash, roadblocks, and more — Kashgar, China — You expect to have problems when reporting on sensitive stories in China. People following you, thugs blocking your way …

Maddy Myers / Kotaku:

E3 website leaks personal info, including addresses and phone numbers, of 2,000+ reporters and content creators; E3 has removed file but data still circulates — A spreadsheet containing the contact information and personal addresses of over 2,000 games journalists, editors …

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

CNN analyst and Playboy correspondent Brian Karem says the White House suspended his press pass for 30 days; CNN says WH cited Karem's dispute with Seb Gorka — Playboy White House correspondent and CNN political analyst Brian Karem said today the White House has suspended his press pass for 30 days.

Discussion: CNN, @brianstelter, @briankarem, Politico, @briankarem, @renato_mariotti, @jenmercieca, @joycewhitevance, Talking Points Memo, Washington Examiner and Fox News

Daniela Flamini / Poynter:

Internet shutdowns, which are on the rise by governments who say they're necessary to curb misinformation, can bar the dissemination of accurate information — In July of 2016, the young militant commander Burhan Wani was shot dead by government forces in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Discussion: @poynter, @poynter, @rhyslindmark, @poynter, @poynter, @raju, @diflams and @poynter

Richard Fausset / New York Times:

A look at The Warroad Pioneer's 121-year history, the Minnesota paper's role in the community, and its last days, “a death by familiar cuts” — The Warroad Pioneer, a pillar of its small Minnesota town, ended its 121-year run with bloody marys, bold type and gloom about the void it would leave behind.

Discussion: @journostuff, @kellystrib, @mprnews, @nytimes, @jackfromnodak, @nytimes, @marcatracy, @kellystrib, @howardfineman and @ellenbarrynyt

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment responds to the streaming age by splitting with Universal, raising cash to branch out into new content forms — BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — “So this is a blow gun,” Brian Grazer said during an interview in his office. “It shoots a very sharp dart.”

Discussion: @nytimesbusiness, @paulg, @nytimesbusiness and @brooksbarnesnyt