Top News:
Clare Malone / New York Magazine:
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. "
Discussion:
@mikiebarb, @elanazak, @claremalone, @danieldrepper, @s_m_i, @noah__goldberg, @matthewkassel, @micahcohen, @jesshopp, @rachelysanders, @annehelen, @delia_cai, @kannoyoungs, @byjasonfoster, @lissandravilla, @gabydvj, @sammy_roth, @papscun, @dylanmatt, @sopandeb, @mattyglesias, @katienotopoulos, @adriana_lacy, @dominicholden, @meslackman, @jmartnyt, @scottmstedman, @jessicahuseman, @bernstein, @b_resnick, @mj_coren, @blakehounshell, @tanvim, @matthewkassel, @ryangrim, @shareenpathak, @amandakhurley, @dylanmatt, @jayshams, @yashar, @wexler, @maxwelltani, @jeremymbarr, @tnwhiskeywoman, @hshaban, @katie_rayford, @anandwrites and @taylorlorenz
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
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 …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, @hiltzikm, New York Magazine, @dangillmor, New York Times, @awmccall, @murshedz, @mattyglesias, Politico, Raw Story and Jezebel
Joe Otterson / Variety:
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 …
Discussion:
NBC Sports Pressbox, Ad Age, @nbcsportspr, @zigmanfreud, @damonbruce, @statsonfire, @_dustincox, @sonnybunch, @sedano, @nickcradio, CNBC, Los Angeles Times and New York Post
Maria Bustillos / The Nation:
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.
Max Willens / Digiday:
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.
Discussion:
@anthonyha, @travisbernard and @mikebutcher, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Manavis / New Statesman:
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:
@sachinrekhi, @aardrian, @martinsfp, @sarahmanavis, Matt's Newsletter, Boing Boing and Bookninja, more at Techmeme »
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
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
Columbia Journalism Review:
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 …
Esther Kezia Thorpe / What's New in Publishing:
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
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
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 »
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
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
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri says the company needs to “make our case as strongly as we can” against Apple's planned changes to IDFA tracking in iOS 14 — - Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said the company will push back on a planned change to Apple's iPhone operating system that would impact …
Discussion:
@megancgraham, @dsilverman, @bergmayer, @om, @jason_kint, @its_kminna, @nithin, @bmorrissey, Search Engine Land, AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »