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Profile of Ben Smith, NYT's Media Equation columnist, who is deeply devoted to scoops, intrigued by raw power, and is unafraid of making people uncomfortable — Puckish chaos agent" is how Charlie Warzel describes his former BuzzFeed News boss and current New York Times colleague Ben Smith. "
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@mikiebarb, @elanazak, @claremalone, @s_m_i, @noah__goldberg, @micahcohen, @jesshopp, @annehelen, @byjasonfoster, @sammy_roth, @dylanmatt, @sopandeb, @mattyglesias, @katienotopoulos, @adriana_lacy, @dominicholden, @meslackman, @jmartnyt, @scottmstedman, @jessicahuseman, @bernstein, @b_resnick, @ryangrim, @amandakhurley, @gabydvj, @danieldrepper, @blakehounshell, @tanvim, @rachelysanders, @kannoyoungs, @delia_cai, @papscun, @matthewkassel, @lissandravilla, @mj_coren, @shareenpathak, @matthewkassel, @dylanmatt, @jayshams, @yashar, @wexler, @maxwelltani, @jeremymbarr, @tnwhiskeywoman, @hshaban, @katie_rayford, @anandwrites and @taylorlorenz


Congressional report finds USA Today's Susan Page, who is to moderate a VP debate, hosted an event at her home honoring Medicare boss Seema Verma in Nov. 2018 — An online backlash following reports of Verma's PR spending. But it didn't underwrite Page's party, which USA today says was …
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Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, @hiltzikm, New York Magazine, @dangillmor, New York Times, @awmccall, @murshedz, @mattyglesias, Politico, Raw Story and Jezebel


How book publishers are trying to turn the age-old library system into a “reading as a service” operation through their lawsuit against the Internet Archive — In a lawsuit against the Internet Archive, the largest corporations in publishing want to change what it means to own a book.


The NFL season kickoff game Thursday averaged 19.3M viewers, about a 13% drop from 2019's kickoff — The NFL season kicked off on Thursday night, dominating the television ratings for the evening while still seeing a decline from the opening game in 2019. — Defending Super Bowl champions …
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NBC Sports Pressbox, Ad Age, @nbcsportspr, @zigmanfreud, @damonbruce, @statsonfire, @_dustincox, @sonnybunch, @sedano, @nickcradio, CNBC, Los Angeles Times and New York Post


Warner Bros. is not sharing daily box office grosses for Tenet due to worries they can be misinterpreted, breaking industry precedent and angering rival studios — People who closely follow box office earnings have noticed a surprising lack of transparency surrounding ticket sales for …
Discussion:
Deadline, Vanity Fair, The Playlist, @adityasood and The Week


Goodreads has held on to its dominant spot online despite being nearly unusable, but its reign is now being challenged by competitors, including The StoryGraph — On a typical day, a long-time user of Goodreads, the world's largest community for reviewing and recommending books, will feel like they're losing their mind.
Discussion:
@aardrian, @martinsfp, @sarahmanavis, @sachinrekhi, Matt's Newsletter, Boing Boing and Bookninja, more at Techmeme »


How TechCrunch moved Disrupt online, expanding to five days and cutting ticket prices while increasing sponsorship revenue via more expensive sponsor packages — Help us make your experience with Digiday even better by taking a quick survey. Respondents will be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
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@anthonyha, @travisbernard and @mikebutcher, more at Techmeme »


Disney confirms it is testing GroupWatch, a watch party feature for Disney+, with some users in Canada and expects to roll it out to other markets this fall — In Canada now, with more locations coming this fall — Disney is currently testing a new feature that will allow Disney Plus subscribers …
Discussion:
@andrewbucholtz, Engadget and 9to5Mac


Reporters around the world discuss the repression they have faced, like obfuscation, detention, and threats, as they cover the COVID-19 pandemic — The coronavirus pandemic touches every corner of the earth. In two hundred thirteen countries, more than eight hundred thousand people have died …


The Correspondent launches apps in English and Dutch for its audio stories with plans to integrate live Q&As between journalists and members — The Correspondent, famous for their 2018 ‘unbreak the news’ crowdfunding campaign, are branching out into audio to bring their journalism to members in new ways.
Discussion:
@estherkeziat


A month after the launch of TikTok's $200M fund, some creators are complaining about the low payouts and lack of transparency in how payouts are calculated — Users say the platform's new Creator Fund is opaque and riddled with problems. The company says it's listening.
Discussion:
New York Times, @wired, @lmatsakis, @cecianasta, @lmatsakis and @taylorlorenz, more at Techmeme »


Politico Europe became profitable in 2019 with net income of €0.7M on revenue of €18.2M, says 60%+ of its revenue comes from subscriptions, which are up 20% YoY — Politico Europe hit its first year of profitability before going into 2020. Now, it plans to grow revenue between 9% …
Discussion:
@bennettrich, @cbudoffbrown, @stephen_g_brown, @jimvandehei, @sherazadesemsar and @gbrotman