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:
New York Times, Variety, Variety, CNBC, CNN, /Film, Variety, Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Guardian, Business Insider, The Verge, @stevekovach, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, @benmullin, @pkafka, @matthewkeyslive, @umairh, @trekfan4747, @keithboykin, @benmullin, Engadget, 9to5Mac, @benmullin, @benmullin, @tvmojoe, @edmundlee and @techjournalist
RELATED:
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:
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, CNET, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Hill, @profcarroll, Boing Boing, New York Post and Wall Street Journal
RELATED:
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:
VICE, @emilybell, @mathewi, @dabeard, @tefomohapi, Fox News, The Daily Beast and PolitiFact Facebook …
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:
Reason, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, @trinitymustache, Politico, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, NPR, Politico, @b_fung, @rmc031, Fox News, The Hill, Poynter 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 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, BBC and CNET
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, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, @aoc, @xpangler, @nyslabor and @nyslabor
RELATED:
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, @apantazi, @henderson_mark and @dankennedy_nu
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 …
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk
New York Times:
How some of Kashmir's journalists keep publishing despite India's lockdown of online communications and imposition of travel restrictions — SRINAGAR, Kashmir — Ever since Kashmir's autonomy was suddenly revoked last week, Raja Mohi-ud-din, an editor at one of the few Kashmiri newspapers still operating …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, Foreign Policy, @gbahadur, @cjr and @mayalau
Lily Kuo / The Guardian:
Chinese state media outlets went from near silence and blanket censorship on the protests in Hong Kong to actively pushing propaganda, over the past two months — China's media used to ignore the turmoil. Now the state is waging a campaign that could pave the way for intervention
Discussion:
Politico and PEN America
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 and The Conversation
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
