Top News:
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
G/O Media's Splinter is shutting down due to insufficient traffic; G/O editorial director says staff will be reallocated but some tweet they've been laid off — The website's parent company praised the outlet but said it failed to bring in sufficient traffic. — Splinter is shutting down.
Discussion:
@aleksnotalex, Digiday, HuffPost, @nkulw, Adweek, New York Times, The Wrap, Washington Post, @hamiltonnolan, @jscros, @samjgrasso, Mother Jones, @jamieson, Variety, @kath_krueger, @jackmirkinson, @barry, @kathbarbadoro, @david_j_roth, @kath_krueger, @libbycwatson, @dansolomon, @annamerlan, @andrewperezdc, @jscros, @adriana_lacy, Mediaite, @andrewkirell, Common Dreams, @ashleyfeinberg, @freedomofpress, @jscros, @mckinneykelsey, @blumnessmonster, @nberlat, @pkafka, @flyingwithsara, @annamerlan, @laurawags, @morrisonicpod, @briebriejoy, The Daily Caller, @mattbuchanan, @tomgara, @stevenblum, @scott_tobias, @freedaaron, @freedomofpress, @murielvega, @jscros, @emmaroller, @albertburneko, CNN, Business Insider, The Hill, Axios, Fox News and New York Post
Financial Times:
Sources: James Murdoch's holding company Lupa Systems is buying a minority stake in Vice Media Group, valuing the group that now includes Refinery29 at ~$4B — James Murdoch's new holding company has agreed to buy a minority stake in Vice Media Group, according to people briefed on the deal …
Discussion:
New York Times, @mattgarrahan, Variety, The Wrap, Business Insider, @jaredbkeller and @lpolgreen
New York Times:
AG William Barr met privately on Wednesday with Rupert Murdoch, whose media holdings include Fox News, which recently has been more critical of Trump — William P. Barr, the attorney general, met privately Wednesday evening with one of President Trump's frequent confidants, Rupert Murdoch …
Discussion:
The Hill, Mediaite, @mrbromwich, @karlbode, @freedlander, @jdawsey1, @juddlegum and @chrisgeidner
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Quartz says its website has been blocked in China and its app has been removed from the App Store due to government complaints about its coverage of HK protests — Quartz says its website has also been banned in mainland China — News organization Quartz tells The Verge that Apple …
Discussion:
Billboard, @jkeefe, CNN, 9to5Mac, kottke.org, en.people.cn, On my Om, CNET, Breitbart, @ihnatko, Gizmodo, Vanity Fair, Softpedia News, @conarck, @missanabeem, Scroll.in, @jm_mcgrath, The Next Web, Ars Technica, @aaschapiro, New York Post, @zeynep, @alexstamos, @mollymckew, @lauriechenwords, @backlon, @maryhui, Music Ally, Talking Biz News, Quartz, Memex 1.1 and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NYT hires Alex Hardiman as head of product, reporting to the COO; Hardiman has been chief product officer at The Atlantic and head of news product at Facebook — The New York Times has hired former Times product veteran Alex Hardiman as the company's head of product, reporting to chief operating officer Meredith Kopit Levien.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @sarafischer, @alex_hardiman, @samsifton and @thebryandavis
Mandy Jenkins / The Keyword:
Mahoning Matters, the first Compass Experiment site supported by a Google News Initiative-McClatchy partnership, launches with staff from the Vindicator — Today marks the launch of Mahoning Matters, The Compass Experiment's first digital-only news outlet, which will serve readers in Youngstown …
Discussion:
LION Publishers, @mjenkins, @ckrewson and MediaPost
Wall Street Journal:
Source: NBCUniversal won't air a Trump re-election campaign ad targeting Joe Biden on its cable networks unless changes are made to the spot — Commercial, rejected by CNN last week, alleges Democratic candidate promised Ukraine $1 billion to fire prosecutor
Discussion:
MSNBC, The Hill, @jeffjarvis, @anikageisel, @ceciliakang and @andrewbatesnc
RELATED:
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Facebook refuses Biden campaign's request to take down a misleading Trump campaign ad, rejected by CNN, reigniting a debate about Facebook and political speech
Facebook refuses Biden campaign's request to take down a misleading Trump campaign ad, rejected by CNN, reigniting a debate about Facebook and political speech
Discussion:
@ewarren, Vox, @kylekulinski, Fast Company, MediaPost, Breitbart, CNN, @drvox, @jason_kint, Ars Technica, @nickgillespie, @fraying, The Daily Caller, The Verge, @donie, Street Fight, @cwarzel, @ryan, @ruskin147, @samanthajpower, @andrewfeinberg, @donie, @alecmacgillis, @mikeisaac, @danpfeiffer, @ilvestoomas, @digiphile, TechCrunch, CNBC, The Hill, Fortune and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook's choice to allow political ads with misinformation, while making ad details public, is not a perfect decision but it is a sensible and democratic one
Facebook's choice to allow political ads with misinformation, while making ad details public, is not a perfect decision but it is a sensible and democratic one
Discussion:
New York Times, @karaswisher, @nytopinion, @brianstelter, @juddlegum, @slpng_giants, @ingridlunden, @fredbenenson, @dancharvey, @ferrasvinh and @cwarzel
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
As power goes off for 800,000 to 2M in California, local newspapers have taken down paywalls, but we still need to talk more about paywalls and info amid crises — In what would be the world's fifth-largest economy by itself, at least 800,000 but as many as 2 million residents have already lost power …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Weather Channel, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and @newsbyschmidt
Max Willens / Digiday:
To shift from advertising to subscriber revenue, NYT, WaPo, and Hearst added CMOs in 2018; Kantar: WaPo more than doubled its media spend YoY to $14M in H1 2019 — Publishers pivoted to subscriptions, in part, to reduce their reliance on a business dominated by Facebook and Google.
Discussion:
@lenfestinst
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
TheMaven CEO says the company plans to build three studios, two in New York and one in LA, to produce 20 hours of news per day for Sports Illustrated — Despite a brutal round of cutbacks that resulted in more than 50 people axed at Sports Illustrated last week, the new publisher “definitely” …
John Seabrook / New Yorker:
A behind-the-scenes look at how OpenAI's GPT-2 predictive text algorithm works, which can be “fine-tuned” to write phony customer reviews or even news articles — I glanced down at my left thumb, still resting on the Tab key. What have I done? Had my computer become my co-writer?
Discussion:
@newyorker, @sapinker, @benwallacewells and @michaelluo
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Memo: NBC News Chairman Andy Lack disputes Ronan Farrow's claims that NBC mishandled Farrow's reporting on Weinstein and downplayed claim against Matt Lauer — NBC chief Andy Lack pushed back hard on Ronan Farrow's explosive revelations that the network mishandled the Pulitzer Prize winner's reporting …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast, New York Times, The Wrap, Page Six, @maxwelltani, @wade_davis28 and Variety
RELATED:
Variety:
Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill has an interview with former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils, who alleges that Matt Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics
Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill has an interview with former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils, who alleges that Matt Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics
Discussion:
Washington Post, Page Six, TVWeek.com, Fox News, NBC News, USA Today, New York Post, Variety, CNN, @jkbjournalist, The Independent, CNN, Vanity Fair, @briannawu, The Hill, Breitbart, @miafarrow, @sulliview, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller, Fortune, Full Feed, The Guardian, Mediaite, HuffPost, @brianstelter, Poynter, The Week, Ad Age, The Daily Beast, Newser, @variety, @rtraister, @karaswisher, Mediaite, @gretchencarlson, @jeremymbarr, @jeremymbarr, New York Times, @evansiegfried, @brianstelter, @jeremymbarr, @sherman4949, @brianstelter, @nycsouthpaw, @nycsouthpaw, @brianstelter, @variety, @brianstelter, Just Jared, @julie_bush, The Wrap, Vox, Hollywood Reporter, NPR, Know Your Meme Editorials, Slate and Consequence of Sound
Gustavo Solis / San Diego Union-Tribune:
A look at local “fixers” in Tijuana, Mexico, who say the work can be particularly gruesome and journalists' requests are often “like a wish list to Santa Claus” — Margarito Martinez spent 10 nights sleeping inside his white minivan parked outside a Tijuana makeshift shelter …
Discussion:
@anniebknox, @najera13, @sjgrattan and @dennisjromero