Mediagazer: Even after Trump Jr.'s emails, President Trump's fake-news defense will persist because it works among Trump's base (Margaret Sullivan/Washington Post)

4:15 PM ET, July 18, 2017

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Even after Trump Jr.'s emails, President Trump's fake-news defense will persist because it works among Trump's base — Shouldn't President Trump's “fake news” defense be dead by now? — For months, he has relentlessly branded the possible Russian-collusion story a hoax and denigrated the reporters who dig into it.

Discussion: PressThink, @newhousesu, @dabeard and @demfromct

Eva Dou / Wall Street Journal:

China's censors ramp up filtering of photo and video messages, disrupting apps like WhatsApp and WeChat following the death of political dissident Liu Xiaobo — Internet police step up their ability to filter photos — BEIJING—China's already formidable internet censors have demonstrated a new strength …

Discussion: Ad Age, New York Times, CNET, Ubergizmo, Shanghaiist, AP News, SiliconBeat, @emilydparker, Ubergizmo and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Memo: Sinclair's VP of News Scott Livingston lambasts recent coverage of the company and accuses the NYT and WaPo of bias — An executive at local broadcast TV giant Sinclair defended the company and lashed out against what he called “biased” news organizations that have …

Discussion: TVSpy, @owillis, @jayrosen_nyu, @timkarr, @brucebartlett, @brianstelter, @neeratanden, @hadas_gold, @shoq, @adamblickstein and @blackamazon

Ross Barkan / The Guardian:

The closure of the Baltimore City Paper is a reminder that declining revenues pose a far greater threat to the news industry than Donald Trump — mid the litany of laments over how Donald Trump's nearly-there or full-blown fascist White House is ending the free press as we know it …

Discussion: Washington Post, @dabeard, Media Nation and @janebsinger

Mike Allen / Axios:

Bob Woodward has confirmed he's working on a Watergate-themed movie with actor Robert Redford who portrayed him in All The President's Men — Robert Redford (age 80) and Bob Woodward emerged last night from Avra Madison on 60th Street in New York City. Redford played Woodward in the 1976 movie, “All the President's Men.”

Discussion: @mccanner

The Atlantic:

The Atlantic promotes Deputy Editor Matt Thompson to executive editor; staff writer Adrienne LaFrance appointed editor of the magazine's site — The Atlantic announced today the promotions of Matt Thompson and Adrienne LaFrance to two of the company's top editorial positions.

Discussion: Adweek, @ferenstein, Mediawire, @jcstearns, @bourreelam, @nprmonkeysee, @ericmgarcia, @aeisman, @sophiegg, @edyong209 and @megangarber

Barry Meier / New York Times:

Antiquities dealer Hicham Aboutaam sues the Wall Street Journal over May article alleging he was under investigation for trafficking items looted by ISIS — A leading antiquities dealer sued The Wall Street Journal on Monday, asserting he had been damaged by an article in May that said he …

Discussion: The New York Observer and Mediawire

Radiotopia:

Ear Hustle, a podcast from Radiotopia co-created by San Quentin inmates Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, exceeds 1.5M downloads in its first month — Since launching June 14th, Ear Hustle has doubled the number of advertisers — Radiotopia, the award-winning podcast network from PRX …

Discussion: Nieman Lab and @radiotopia

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Megyn Kelly's Sunday news magazine show draws its lowest ratings since its premiere peak of 6.2M on June 4, dropping to 3.1M viewers last Sunday — Megyn Kelly's Sunday news magazine this week registered its lowest ratings since its debut on June 4, according to Nielsen Research.

Discussion: Variety, @deray, @theanalogkid74, @ericgarland, @shannonrwatts, @fleshandbrand and The Wrap

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix stock hits record highs on Tuesday, up 13%, even though company says it will be cash flow negative for many years as it focuses on growth over profit — For the next few years, at least, Netflix says it's going to keep burning cash and raising debt as it focuses on content acquisition …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes and Variety

Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:

Snapchat launches its Snap Publisher self-serve ad creation tool, which can convert horizontal videos and websites into vertical video ads — Snap Publisher enables brands to edit a horizontal video into a vertical one or to have have Snapchat's computer vision technology do the work.

Discussion: Street Fight, Tubefilter, Tamebay and socialbarrel.com, more at Techmeme »

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Streaming service fuboTV says it is adding Fusion TV to its entry-level fubo Premier bundle — Univision channel is part of $34.99 tier — Streaming service fuboTV said it was adding Fusion TV to its entry-level fubo Premier bundle. — Fubo, which emphasizes sports programming …

Kelly Fiveash / Ars Technica UK:

UK government announces that porn websites will have to verify UK users are aged 18+ by April 2018; users may be asked to verify with credit card details — UK gov't brings in online porn watchdog to police site operators and force compliance. — The wobbly, squabbling, minority Tory government …