Mediagazer: The New York Times adds Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, as a columnist for its opinion pages starting September (The New York Times Company)

3:10 PM ET, June 21, 2018

Top News:

Wordpress.com owner Automattic buys technology and publishing company Atavist, a deal that includes its CMS, customer base, and the Atavist Magazine — Automattic's deal for Atavist will expand the suite of subscription and membership tools it has to offer

Discussion: The WordPress.com Blog, @rafat, @tomcritchlow and @peterpham

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:

Twitter has made a somewhat miraculous comeback in the past two years, with rising revenue and MAUs, due to luck and a focus on news and premium video — A bird emerges from the ashes. — Two years ago, people were writing eulogies for Twitter. — Rudderless and without product direction …

Discussion: @kantrowitz, @ratamahattass, @ashleymayer, @monteiro, @richbtig and @marklittlenews, more at Techmeme »

Katherine Krueger / Splinter:

Twitter temporarily suspended some accounts that simply linked to a Splinter post that shared a phone number for White House adviser Stephen Miller — This morning, Splinter published the personal cell phone number of White House adviser Stephen Miller, an official so monstrous …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook begins letting Group admins test a feature that charges members $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to exclusive sub-groups — Facebook is starting to let Group admins charge $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to special sub-Groups full of exclusive posts.

Discussion: Facebook, The Verge, Stock Market News …, MediaNama, Entrackr, Fast Company, INSIDE, Fortune, Alex Deve, SlashGear, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Android Police, Engadget, MediaPost, @elanazak and Mashable

NBC News:

Thomson Reuters Special Services signed a $6.8M ICE contract in March; spokesperson says news gathering unit is independent of other commercial contracts — The contracts highlight how technology companies are putting their innovations to work with the U.S. government in ways that are often not visible to the public.

Discussion: Talking Biz News and @jaxalemany

The New York Times Company:

The New York Times adds Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, as a columnist for its opinion pages starting September — Today The New York Times announced that Michelle Alexander will join the Opinion pages as a columnist in September. — James Bennet, New York Times editorial page editor …

Discussion: @jenparker393, @msshanitarenee, @jamilsmith, Splinter and @parkermolloy

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

AT&T unveils 31 TV networks offered in its WatchTV streaming service, which is launching next week for $15/month and is also included in two wireless plans — AT&T announced the launch of its new internet service Watch TV Thursday, revealing both the TV networks included in the service …

Discussion: @reckless, Hollywood Reporter, Fast Company, MediaPost, Engadget, Multichannel News, MacRumors, The Verge, PR Newswire, 9to5Mac and CNET, more at Techmeme »

Tessa Lyons / Facebook:

Facebook announces updates in effort to fight false news: using more machine learning, expanding fact-checking partnerships, using Claim Review framework, more — Over the last year and half, we have been committed to fighting false news through a combination of technology and human review …

Discussion: Poynter, BuzzFeed, @billadairduke, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller, Engadget and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »

Jack Morse / Mashable:

Facebook blocks news about policy at a detention center for immigrant children from being boosted with an ad buy, under the cover of “political ads” policy — Having missed the boat completely on fake news, Facebook appears to now be dropping the hammer on the real stuff.

Discussion: Gizmodo, @aliabunimah, @levinecarrie, @costasamaras, @mikeisaac, @profcarroll and @reveal

Lea Trusty / The Engaged Journalism Lab:

Research finds gaps in philanthropic support for newsroom diversity, with fewer and smaller grants for ethnic and racial groups, women, and LGBTQI populations — New research released today by Democracy Fund traces half a decade of philanthropic investment in organizations, programming …

Discussion: DemocracyFund

Nilagia McCoy / Shorenstein Center:
Breakdown of $1.8B in media-related grants from 2010-2015: 44% to public media, 5% to magazines, 12% to national nonprofits, 5% to local/state nonprofits

Discussion: @jcstearns, Inside Philanthropy, @facttank and @evanasmith

Taylor Blatchford / Poynter:

Gallup/Knight survey: 77% of Republicans believe news is biased vs. 44% of Democrats and ratings of accuracy and bias diverge especially for Fox, CNN, and MSNBC — Americans believe 39 percent of news in newspapers, on TV or on the radio is misinformation — but their views of social media are even worse.

Discussion: Knight Foundation, @brianstelter, @viacristiano and Trust, Media and Democracy

Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:

MTV launches MTV Studios, which will reboot and reimagine past shows and franchises like Daria and The Real World to shop them to outside networks and streamers — Network president Chris McCarthy wants to mine the youth-focused cable network's vault to revive old hits …

Discussion: Variety, Consequence of Sound, The Outline, The Verge, Gothamist, The A.V. Club and PAPER

Lindsay Weinberg / Hollywood Reporter:

Indoor fitness brand SoulCycle hires Vox Media's Angela Bowers, Glamour's Laurel Pinson, and Mashable's Gregory Gittrich to launch a media division — The indoor fitness brand has tapped talent from Vox Media, Glamour and Mashable to lead the strategy. — Attention athletic gurus …

Discussion: @weinberglindsay, @amtomchak, @vivian and Fast Company

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:10 PM ET, June 21, 2018.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Commissioning Editor - Practical Law — Reuters

Energy Markets Reporter, London — WSJ

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

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More News:

Brent Lang / Variety:
SEC filing: MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics plans to raise up to $164M through a bond sale and by issuing 20K+ shares

Discussion: Deadline, The Wrap, Wired, The A.V. Club and Mental Floss

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:
T-Mobile says its deal with Sprint will create a “truly competitive” national pay TV service with lower programming rates, and more affordable video services

Discussion: Adweek

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: prosecutors have subpoenaed National Enquirer publisher American Media for records of its 2016 payment to Karen McDougal as part of Michael Cohen probe

Discussion: New York Times, Newser, The Guardian, KTLA, CNBC, @marlownyc, The Wrap, Mediaite, @mlcalderone, @rebeccaballhaus and @tedlieu

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Taiwan-based news startup The News Lens says it raised a $3M-$4M Series C to finance its international expansion and has 9M unique monthly readers

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph, Guardian, and News UK announce a digital ad sales venture, The Ozone Project, to launch in fall, giving direct access to over 39.4M users

Discussion: Adweek, GroupM and Editor & Publisher

Marie C. Baca / Columbia Journalism Review:
Facebooks's local news initiative includes off-the-record dinners with media, persistent pitches, and meetings with govt officials with some reporters left out

Discussion: @profgalloway, @mayvortega, @turnernovak, @sesmith and @usprojectcjr

Earlier Picks:

Debra Birnbaum / Variety:
Apple gives a multi-series order to the nonprofit Sesame Workshop for a slate of live-action and animated children's programs, not including Sesame Street

Discussion: New York Times, MediaPost, MacRumors, @pkafka, Recode, Stock Market News …, Engadget, Broadcasting & Cable, 9to5Mac and Deadline

Jon Levine / The Wrap:
ABC News apologizes after showing a chyron for about five seconds falsely stating Paul Manafort had pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Discussion: Fox News, HuffPost, Mediaite, Broadcasting & Cable, @cotatninetz, @realdonaldtrump, iMediaEthics and @brianstelter

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram debuts IGTV, a hub for high-profile creators, and says it will begin letting users upload videos up to an hour long, up from previous one minute limit

Discussion: Marketing Land, Wired, FierceCable, The Drum, Recode, Tubefilter, MediaNama, Ad Age, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Fast Company, @instagram, @theperezhilton, Fortune, @supersaf, @jonathan_gantt, @joshconstine and @joshconstine

Jon Levine / The Wrap:
Univision issues statement calling on Democrats and Republicans to end practice of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Sean Hannity, Ed Barr, @raniakhalek, @jackposobiec, @bbcjonsopel and Mediaite

Kevin Loker / Trust, Media and Democracy:
Media Insight Project study: about a third of people in US personally know a journalist or have been interviewed; 80% of those interviewed say coverage was fair

Discussion: American Press Institute

From Techmeme:

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

Decrypt:
Eighteen US states, led by Kentucky, sue the SEC and its commissioners, including Chairman Gary Gensler, over its crackdown on the crypto industry

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