Top News:
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
EIC Megan Greenwell is leaving Deadspin and says G/O Media leaders refused to guarantee Deadspin's editorial independence and told the site to “stick to sports” — The new bosses in charge of what used to be the Gawker network of websites have drastically upended the culture …
Discussion:
@hayesbrown, Washington Post, Awful Announcing, @derektmead, @mattrhinton, @albertburneko, @loather, @mattgoldberg, @nicka_martin, @garylegum, @abbyabrams, @alanalevinson, @robpegoraro, @katiedrumm, @davidsrudin, @jeremymbarr, @mikemitchnh, @megreenwell, @elanazak, @tylercoates, @classlicity, @espiers, @davidklion, @clarajeffery, @sokane1, @libbycwatson, @shortformernie, @heykmenz, @gideonresnick, @jonbernhardt, @max_read, @christrobbins, @lindseyadler, @kateconger, @whitneym02, @thesarahkelly, @dellcam, @stevekandell, @josephfcox, @craigcalcaterra, @no_little_plans, @bendwalsh, @davidsrudin, @ericgeller, @petersterne, @jeremymbarr, @dcsportsbog, @banikarim, @maxwelltani and Bloomberg
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, @timmarchman, @max_read, @unburntwitch, @briannawu, @lauren_kelley, @nytopinion, @shiraovide, @jayrosen_nyu, @moryan, @schemaly, @slpng_giants, @poniewozik and @eveewing, more at Techmeme »
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, RAIN News, @jpw03, @radicalbytes, @dagamesofficial, @susanwojcicki, @sk1er_, Engadget, Tubefilter, Adweek and Variety, 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, @davidmihm, @agnotology42, @gfiorelli1, @lisavation, @modestproposal1, @igalst, @randfish and @matti_sg
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, Multichannel News, The Wrap and USA Today
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.
Discussion:
@paulgreenberg
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The company emerging from a Gannett-GateHouse merger would have a cost savings goal of $300M each year; that's bad for readers, staff, and democracy — For a local journalist, having your newspaper snapped up by the Gannett chain never was a joyful prospect.
Discussion:
@langloislane, @briannolan1974, @sulliview and @dangillmor
Rowland Manthorpe / Sky News:
Highly charged Instagram political ads have been shown to UK teens ages 13-17, with most from Conservatives; children's commissioner calls content irresponsible — Hundreds of ads were shown to 13 to 17-year-olds on Facebook and Instagram, most from the Conservatives featuring Boris Johnson.
Discussion:
@rowlsmanthorpe, @leepatrick0, @digi_ad, @rowlsmanthorpe, @rowlsmanthorpe and @femi_sorry
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:
@carinajulig, @journostuff and @will_potter
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:
@nitomatta, @jasoninquires, @jbu3, FierceVideo, Fast Company and Charter
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:
The Wrap, Jezebel, @oliverdarcy, New York Times, Washington Post, WTVR-TV, @cnnbusiness, @oliverdarcy, @nycsouthpaw, @oliverdarcy and The Week
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Court blocks an inquiry into UK's Independent and Evening Standard over a Saudi-tied cash infusion, because the government had missed a deadline to intervene — Evgeny Lebedev-controlled titles successfully argue that government is too late to investigate 2018 deal