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The White House asked the White House Correspondents' Association to release a statement criticizing a reporter's story, WHCA President Jeff Mason has claimed — The White House asked the White House Correspondents' Association to single out a reporter and criticize an article, WHCA President Jeff Mason said Monday evening.
Discussion:
@pareene, @john_hudson and @tvietor08
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Despite claiming that it had no role in making and soliciting sex ads on its site, Backpage used a Philippine contractor to lure such ads from competitors — A contractor for the controversial classifieds website Backpage.com has been aggressively soliciting and creating sex-related ads …

Knight First Amendment Institute sues Trump for blocking Twitter users, alleging the practice amounts to an unconstitutional effort to suppress dissent — A free-speech group said on Tuesday it sued U.S. President Donald Trump for blocking Twitter users from his @realDonaldTrump account …
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Fact-checking site Snopes is locked in a legal battle with a small digital services company, Proper Media, over control of Snopes' parent company — The owner of Snopes is locked in a legal battle with a small digital services company for control of the popular debunking site.

Hearst Magazines' international arm is partnering with an Indian company to open a chain of whiskey lounges in the country under Esquire magazine's brand — Starting with a location in central Delhi scheduled for 2018 — Here's an interesting twist on the international management of a brand-name U.S. magazine.
Hadas Gold / Politico:
NBC News confirms Megyn Kelly's morning show will premiere September 25 at 9AM with a live studio audience — EXCLUSIVE — MEGYN KELLY MORNING SHOW DETAILS: Megyn Kelly's new morning show will debut on NBC Sept. 25 at 9 a.m. and will feature a live studio audience, I have learned and NBC News has confirmed.

Nielsen Music Mid-Year Report: on-demand audio streams in the US up 62.4% year-over-year to 184.3B in the first half of 2017 — A new report from Nielsen out this week paints a picture of the booming on-demand audio streaming business, pointing to a significant increase in consumers' use …
Discussion:
@leolaporte, hypebot and Marketing Charts

Reuters redesigns its website, adding content widgets to each article, tracking readers interest to deliver more relevant stories, and cutting page load by 50% — Despite his last name, Isaac Showman isn't a fan of big, dramatic website unveilings. — That's why, if you visit Reuters.com this morning …

Ex-FT owner Pearson set to raise $1B after selling its Penguin Random House shares to majority owner Bertelsmann, reducing its stake from 47% to 25% — Pearson (PSON.L) is set to raise $1 billion from the sale of a 22 percent stake in book publisher Penguin Random House to majority owner Bertelsmann …
Discussion:
Fortune, The Bookseller and Fox Business

Heat Street failed because it tried to appeal to every faction of the online right at once with the most barebones content possible, spreading itself too thin — The website aimed at young conservatives never really made much sense. — As of August 4, Heat Street, a news outlet featuring …

Pew: 85% of Republicans and Republican leaners think the national news media has a negative effect on the country, up from 76% two years ago and 68% in 2010 — Republicans increasingly say colleges have negative impact on U.S. — Republicans and Democrats offer starkly different assessments …

A Pulitzer-winning NYT story that relied heavily on a Russian news site offers a case study in how foreign correspondents re-report articles by local media — The Times' prize-winning story relies heavily on two articles in Meduza, a Russian news site based in Latvia.
Discussion:
New Yorker, @mtaibbi, @gwfrink3, @perlberg, @miriamelder, @mrochabrun and @mccarthyryanj

Sources: Chinese government has told state-run telecoms to block individuals' access to VPNs by February 1, 2018 — 2018 deadline to stop individuals from accessing global web — Tightening controls come amid Xi's goal of “cyber-sovereignty” — China's government has told telecommunications carriers …
Discussion:
Mashable, Tech Wire Asia, The Guardian, The Verge, Engadget, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, @limlouisa, @selenalarson, @larsonchristina, @davidinglestv, @joshchin, @w7voa and @markmackinnon