Top News:
Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
Five years later, a deep dive into Gamergate's origins and how conspiracy-fed trolling tactics it took mainstream are now central to post-truth information wars — On August 15, 2014, an angry 20-something ex-boyfriend published a 9,425-word screed and set in motion a series of vile events that changed the way we fight online.
Discussion:
@hshaban, @cwarzel, @briannawu, @max_read, @shiraovide, @schemaly, @slpng_giants, @lauren_kelley, @eveewing, @jayrosen_nyu and @poniewozik, more at Techmeme »
Knight Foundation:
Survey: Americans are “very” (66%) or “somewhat” (26%) concerned that if a large company bought their local news org, the owners' views would influence coverage — This piece was originally published on Gallup.com on August 15, 2019.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Talking Biz News, Editor & Publisher, The Wrap and Multichannel News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube changes policy: copyright owners will no longer be able to monetize creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music via its manual tool — YouTube is making a change to its copyright enforcement policies around music used in videos, which may result in an increased number …
Discussion:
YouTube Creator Blog, The Verge, @ytcreators, @jpw03, Tubefilter, Adweek, Variety, @dagamesofficial, @susanwojcicki, Engadget, @sk1er_ and hypebot, more at Techmeme »
Rand Fishkin / SparkToro:
Study from clickstream data company, Jumpshot: for the first time, a majority of all browser-based searches on Google.com resulted in zero-clicks — We've passed a milestone in Google's evolution from search engine to walled-garden. In June of 2019, for the first time …
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, @matti_sg, @agnotology42, @modestproposal1, @igalst and @randfish
Ashley Feinberg / Slate:
Transcript of NYT's recent staff meeting, in which execs grappled with queries about a front-page headline on Trump and avoided deep criticisms of NYT's role — In a transcript of the newspaper's crisis town-hall meeting, executive editor Dean Baquet grapples with a restive staff and outside scrutiny.
Discussion:
PressThink, @andreagonram, @mccarthyryanj, @ashleyfeinberg, @jayrosen_nyu, @brianstelter, @noahpinion, @mccarthyryanj, @jayrosen_nyu, @laurawags, @c_cauterucci, @darrelplant, @ashleyfeinberg, @dinabass, @kaivanshroff, @biblioracle, @kaivanshroff, @elias_isquith, @jackmirkinson, bookforum.com, Splinter, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and CNN
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
A WaPo story that Epstein's autopsy found multiple breaks in neck bones helped fuel conspiracies, but experts say evidence is consistent with suicidal hangings — New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
Discussion:
@oliverdarcy, Washington Post, WBUR, @oliverdarcy, @nycsouthpaw, @oliverdarcy, The Week and Fox News
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Taking a stricter approach than Netflix and HBO, Disney and Charter team up to combat “account sharing”, amid a new distribution deal for Hulu, ESPN+, Disney+ — Deal with Charter aims to stop account sharing on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. — Disney and Charter Communications …
Discussion:
@jasoninquires, FierceVideo, Charter and Fast Company
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
The Drudge Report has changed its ad partner, dropping Intermarkets in favor of a new company, Granite Cubed, owned by longtime Drudge associate Margaret Otto — The Drudge Report, with its Web 1.0 design offering a single page of links, is one of the enduring internet media business success stories.
Discussion:
@thezedwards and @jbenton
Allison Weis / USA Today:
Journalism student explains why she wants to be in the news media despite barriers including unpaid internships, layoffs, low pay, and attacks by Trump — Despite the unpaid internships, low salaries and relentless assaults by our world leaders, the journalism industry isn't dying. It's just changing.
Discussion:
@will_potter and @journostuff
Ashley Cullins / Hollywood Reporter:
ABC fined $395K by the FCC after Jimmy Kimmel Live! used a simulated emergency alert tone three times during a sketch in October 2018 — AMC and Discovery were also hit with fines. — A Jimmy Kimmel Live! bit making fun of President Donald Trump is going to cost ABC $395,000 …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Vanity Fair, Deadline, Fox News, Boing Boing, The Wrap and Media Law Prof Blog
Ryan Glasspiegel / The Big Lead:
Employees at The Ringer announce on Twitter that management has agreed to voluntarily recognize their union, three days after the plans were announced — While Bill Simmons has still yet to say anything publicly about the announcement from earlier this week that editorial staffers for The Ringer …
Discussion:
@ringerunion and @thebiglead
Max Willens / Digiday:
Bustle Digital Group's Elite Daily says its daily Snapchat story reached over 20M unique users last month; Insider's daily story attracted 24M users in February — Elite Daily, the Bustle Digital Group-owned Facebook-centric title, has found success on Snapchat.