Mediagazer: Apple removed QDrops, an app that sent alerts about Qanon conspiracy theory, after months at the top of the App Store; app still available at Google Play Store (NBC News)

6:50 PM ET, July 16, 2018

Top News:

FCC's Ajit Pai has “serious concerns” about Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media, worried Sinclair has kept control of “divested” TV stations — Ajit Pai said he is concerned about so-called “side-car deals” that would allow Sinclair Broadcast Group …

Discussion: Politico, Variety, Fast Company, TVNewser, Radio & Television …, Media Matters for America, The Hill, Hit & Run, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, @cnbcnow, @karlbode, @aclu, The Daily Beast, @davidfolkenflik and @lucas_shaw

Instapaper:

Pinterest to transfer ownership of Instapaper to Instant Paper, Inc., a new company owned and operated by the developers who have run Instapaper since 2013 — Today, we're announcing that Pinterest has entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of Instapaper to Instant Paper, Inc. …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Adweek, MediaPost, TechCrunch, MacStories, @pkafka, 9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Kim Chandler / Associated Press:

The estate of John B. McLemore, subject of the podcast S-Town, files lawsuit against creator Brian Reed and others, claiming they exploited him — The estate of the man at the center of the popular “S-Town” podcast is suing the show's creators, saying they exploited details of his private life for financial gain.

Discussion: Vulture, Jezebel, @gerryfsmith and al.com

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

The Washington Post is launching a channel on Amazon-owned livestreaming site Twitch, broadcasting two shows initially — The Washington Post is looking to Twitch's livestreaming gamers of all places to reach new video audiences, with a new channel starting this week. — The channel will kick off with two shows.

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, @jordanuhl, @smorgasboredom and @mattkmoore

Wall Street Journal:

Netflix reports Q2 membership growth of 5.2M, 1M less than forecast, and a profit of $384M, up from $65M last year; stock down 13% after hours — Video site blamed faulty internal forecasting, not business reasons like price increases — Netflix Inc. missed its own forecasts …

Discussion: The Wrap, Ad Age, Variety, Business Insider, Fast Company, CNNMoney, Bloomberg, CNBC and netflixinvestor.com, more at Techmeme »

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Weinstein Co. Closes $289 Million Sale to Lantern Capital — A Texas private equity firm has closed its $289 million acquisition of the Weinstein Co., and will seek to revive the studio that was driven into bankruptcy by Harvey Weinstein's sex assault scandal.

Discussion: TVWeek.com, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, Vanity Fair and IndieWire

NBC News:

Apple removed QDrops, an app that sent alerts about Qanon conspiracy theory, after months at the top of the App Store; app still available at Google Play Store — One of the App Store's top entertainment apps pushed a conspiracy theory about a child sex ring and a Trump secret police force.

Discussion: @lanceulanoff, @alex__katz, @oneunderscore__ and Media Matters for America, more at Techmeme »

Sam Forsdick / Press Gazette:

Finland's largest daily newspaper erected ~300 billboards along Trump and Putin's route to Helsinki summit highlighting importance of free press — Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were greeted with almost 300 billboards and posters that bring attention to their “turbulent relations with the press” …

Discussion: NBC News, Fast Company, Mediaite, New York Times, The Daily Beast, Observer, Adweek, Fortune, @garethharding and @pourmecoffee

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Hearst Inc reached a $50M settlement of a lawsuit claiming it violated Michigan privacy law by selling its magazine subscribers' personal info — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hearst Communications Inc on Thursday reached a $50 million settlement of a lawsuit claiming it violated Michigan privacy law …

Discussion: @travelfish

Charles Preston / Committee to Protect Journalists:

Profile of Zachary Stoner, an independent music journalist and YouTuber in Chicago who covered the city's neglected black communities before being killed in May — I weighed the possibility of being killed for writing this. Seriously. I know that shedding light on or speaking …

Discussion: @aaschapiro and @jessicajerreat

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

With “Who Is America?”, Sacha Baron Cohen pits bad faith against bad faith political actors of the Trump era that traditional outlets have struggled to cover — Cohen — a consummate troll himself — is a perfect foil to the current political climate of grift and trolling.

Liz Moyer / CNBC:

Sources: Comcast unlikely to make another bid for 21st Century Fox's movie and TV assets, focusing instead on a bid for UK's Sky TV — - Comcast was in a bidding war with Disney over movie and television assets owned by Twenty-First Century Fox. — Sources tell CNBC's David Faber …

Discussion: New York Post, Politico, Reuters and CNET

Christine Emba / Washington Post:

The removal of Daniella Greenbaum's article from Business Insider doesn't mean mobs are threatening free speech; cultural sensitivity is just common courtesy — Which beleaguered free-speech champion is being silenced today? — As it happens, it's writer Daniella Greenbaum, a former columnist for the website Business Insider.

Discussion: @eriksherman and @hiattf

Daniella Greenbaum / Washington Post:
As the policing of speech, largely by mobs on social media, becomes normalized, the would-be targets of censorship must reject the notion of “acceptable” views

Discussion: New York Post, @rjcc and @hollybell8

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 6:50 PM ET, July 16, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Jennifer Kang / Splinter:
Sam Husseini, Institute for Public Accuracy communications director and journalist for The Nation, forcibly removed from Trump-Putin press conference

Discussion: The Wrap, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Heavy.com, CNBC, @erikwemple and Yahoo

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
CNBC announces expansion of its Middle East operations with a new studio set to open in October at Nasdaq Dubai

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom said tweets and questions read out on ex-Scottish FM Alex Salmond's show on RT were from people connected to the program

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Sources: HBO employees were not alarmed by AT&T CEO John Stankey's comments, with many agreeing that the network needs to scale

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
Investment firm KKR buys RBmedia, a major producer of audiobooks and spoken content; deal expected to close by early fall, terms not disclosed

Earlier Picks:

Marlee Baldridge / Nieman Lab:
How a small Alabama paper grew its digital ad revenue in 2017 from $56k to $104k with mobile video reporting and by filming sports on Facebook Live

Discussion: @liziarbogast

Pew Research Center:
Retransmission revenues for US local TV stations grew to $9B in 2017 from $8B in 2016, but the audience for local TV news dropped 15% YoY

Discussion: Pew Research Center

Sahil Patel / Digiday:
USA Today Network's feel-good video series HumanKind, AnimalKind, MilitaryKind on Facebook Watch have 9M+ followers and generated 140M views in May and June

Discussion: MediaPost and Variety

Cindy Chang / Los Angeles Times:
Judge orders LA Times to remove details from a story about a sealed plea agreement made public by mistake on PACER; LAT does so but plans to contest order

Discussion: New York Times, CNNMoney, The Hill, Reporters Without Borders, Observer, @shelbygrad, @petersterne, Splinter, @freedomofpress, Law & Crime, @rcfp, @boutrousted, HuffPost, @markolambert, @bh_jbalan, @jamilsmith, @dangillmor and @vdbaranetsky

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration exempts smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs

Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple produced $22B worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months ended March 2025, up nearly 60% YoY, and now makes 20% of its iPhones in the country

Martine Paris / Forbes:
Sam Altman says ChatGPT users had doubled in the past few weeks and that “10% of the world uses our systems”, which would peg the number closer to 800M users

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page