Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
CBS and Viacom to merge in an all-stock deal creating a company valued at ~$30B; Shari Redstone to be chair, Bob Bakish CEO, Joe Ianniello chairman/CEO of CBS — Companies seek greater scale to survive in a media landscape dominated by major tech companies and bulked-up rivals
Discussion:
CNBC, New York Times, Variety, Variety, Ad Age, Variety, Deadline, The Verge, The Streamable, MediaPost, The Streamable, Deadline, /Film, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Reuters, Reuters, Fortune, @stevekovach, @backlon, The A.V. Club, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, @benmullin, @pkafka, @matthewkeyslive, @benmullin, Engadget, @benmullin, 9to5Mac, @keithboykin, @tvmojoe, @trekfan4747, @edmundlee, @benmullin, @umairh and @techjournalist
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Peter Kafka / Vox:
A combined CBS and Viacom will still not be big enough to compete with Netflix, Apple, and Disney, and will have to become a buyer of smaller companies — Shari Redstone controls both Viacom and CBS, and has wanted to merge them for years. Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Viacom
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, @ranimolla, @pkafka, @taralach, @pkafka, Bloomberg, Washington Post and CNN
Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:
Detailed post about Epstein's death was on 4Chan 38 minutes before officials announced it; NYC Fire Department investigating if a first responder is responsible — The New York City Fire Department is investigating whether a first responder posted about Jeffrey Epstein's death …
Discussion:
CBS News, Mediaite, The Daily Dot, Rolling Stone, CNET, Gizmodo, The Hill, Business Insider, @profcarroll, Boing Boing, New York Post and Wall Street Journal
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Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The Twitter-fed misinformation disaster following Epstein's death makes a case for slow news consumption, where readers disengage from breaking news — If, by some crazy chance, you wanted to be well-informed these past few days about the sudden death of Jeffrey Epstein, there was a way.
Discussion:
Vox, @b52malmet, @emilybell, @mathewi, @dabeard, @tefomohapi, The Verge, VICE, Fox News and @hshaban, more at Techmeme »
CNN:
Washington Post executive editor responds to Bernie Sanders' suggestion that Bezos influences coverage, calling it a “conspiracy theory” — (CNN)The executive editor of The Washington Post hit back at Sen. Bernie Sanders' suggestion that the paper's coverage of the presidential candidate …
Discussion:
Fox News, Reason, The Daily Beast, Politico, Washington Post, @b_fung, @rmc031, The Hill, Poynter, NPR, Politico, @trinitymustache and @sulliview
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta, giving podcasters valuable listener data like age, gender, location, music taste, and episode listening duration — Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today — Spotify is going to give podcasters listener data they can't get anywhere else.
Discussion:
Spotify, @ashleyrcarman, @marcoarment and @mims, more at Techmeme »
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
Report: UK to give Ofcom new legal powers to penalize video-sharing platforms that fail to establish robust age verification checks and parental controls — European politicians have been tightening the screws on U.S. tech platforms on multiple fronts. Now, a European-wide directive …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, @hadas_gold, @joshajhall, Telegraph, The Independent, CNET and BBC
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy openly threatens to fire employees engaged in union organizing, which would violate federal labor laws — Dave “El Presidente” Portnoy, founder of media company Barstool Sports, really, really hates unions. Now he's made explicit threats to fire employees …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Fox News, @annamerlan, Deadspin, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, @aoc, The Daily Dot, @nyslabor, @nyslabor and @xpangler
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Tom Jones / Poynter:
Layoffs hit GateHouse newsrooms: five at the Oklahoman, two at the Palm Beach Post, two at the Cape Cod Times; many non-newsroom staff have also been laid off — Last week, GateHouse and Gannett announced their intent to merge and form the largest newspaper chain in the country, a consolidation designed to save money.
Discussion:
New York Post, Boston Business Journal, @apantazi, @henderson_mark and @dankennedy_nu
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
NYT says deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman has been demoted and will no longer oversee the team covering Congress or be active on social media — New York (CNN Business)Jonathan Weisman, the deputy Washington editor for The New York Times (NYT), has been demoted after a pair …
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hill, Politico, @_waleedshahid, @_waleedshahid, Washington Examiner, @maxwelltani, The Daily Beast, @karenkho, @mottel, @blackamazon, @gothamgirlblue, @drphilgoff, @farhip, @craigsilverman, @marcatracy, @andrewperezdc, @pareene, @oliverdarcy and @mlcalderone
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
In Australia, after recent raids on media organizations, new government directive adds some protections for journalists, but not for sources and whistleblowers — Back in June, Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided the headquarters of the country's main public broadcaster, the ABC …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Conversation, The Conversation and @niemanlab
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Memo: Facebook is funding two new BuzzFeed shows, including a daily news roundup, as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch — Facebook is funding 2 new BuzzFeed shows as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch, according to an internal memo by BuzzFeed editor …
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