Mediagazer: DOJ opposes Facebook's efforts to dismiss fair housing groups' lawsuit claiming discriminatory ad targeting, says Communications Decency Act does not apply here (Craig Timberg/Washington Post)

8:35 PM ET, August 17, 2018

Top News:

Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:

Plaintiffs in Sandy Hook defamation suits claim Alex Jones illegally deleted content considered evidence; staff deleted material after Twitter policy violation — WASHINGTON — Lawyers for the families of two Sandy Hook shooting victims are accusing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, The Wrap, The Hill, sandiegouniontribune.com, The Splice Newsroom Archive, Motherboard, New York Post and Blog Network

Bloomberg:

Source: Amazon is working on a DVR that will record live TV, wirelessly connect to Fire TV boxes, and stream the video to smartphones — - Box would record live TV and stream that video to smartphones — Device competes with offerings from TiVo, Dish's Slingbox

Discussion: Deadline, Variety, Fast Company, MediaPost, Fortune, GeekWire, Gizmodo, CNET, SlashGear, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Barca / Queens Chronicle:

Ocasio-Cortez campaign says she was “mobbed” by reporters at a Bronx community meeting, leading to a press ban for two listening tour stops — Media was barred after reporters ‘mobbed’ her at an earlier event — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday that stops on her …

Discussion: Washington Post, @ocasio2018, New York Post, The Hill, ABC News, Hit & Run, The Week, Heavy.com, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

The Guardian:

Malaysia has repealed its “fake news” law; deputy minister says police will be empowered to deal with the phenomenon — Critics say legislation was deployed during Najib Razak's time in office to silence criticism — Malaysia has repealed its “fake news” law, the first country in the world to roll back such legislation.

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Nikkei, Asian Correspondent, Marketing Interactive, Bloomberg, Business Insider Malaysia and Committee to Protect …

Ian Burrell / The Drum:

How The Sun climbed above the Mail Online's digital reach, registering 29.7M UK users in June vs. Mail Online's 28.3M, despite earlier paywall missteps — It is exactly five years since Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper stable made its audacious - and we can now say almost calamitous - move to put The Sun behind a digital paywall.

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Viacom lays off more than 30 Awesomeness employees following last month's acquisition; Awesomeness CEO Jordan Levin has left the company — As expected, Viacom has made a round of layoffs at Awesomeness, pink-slipping more than 30 employees of the digital-media company it acquired last month from NBCUniversal, Verizon and Hearst.

Discussion: The Wrap, VideoInk, Tubefilter and Hollywood Reporter

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

comScore: pure play streaming services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now reach 5% of US Wi-Fi households, up 58% since last year — The number of U.S. households watching streaming TV services - those that deliver cable TV-like programming over the internet - has grown a remarkable 58% over last year, according to new data from comScore.

Discussion: The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Rob Arcand / The Outline:

PEOPLE, a free to listeners, non-commercial audio publishing platform focused on musician collaboration and works-in-progress, to launch on August 18 — PEOPLE, their new streaming platform that prioritizes collaboration and de-emphasizes the algorithm, launches this weekend.

Discussion: Billboard, RAIN News and Music Business Worldwide

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Amazon plans an ad campaign in the US, UK, and Germany to boost its music streaming service — - Music has become one of the most popular requests for Alexa — Amazon is turning up the volume in the music business. — The world's largest online retailer will mount the first national TV campaign …

Discussion: VentureBeat and @lucas_shaw

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

DOJ opposes Facebook's efforts to dismiss fair housing groups' lawsuit claiming discriminatory ad targeting, says Communications Decency Act does not apply here — The Department of Justice on Friday formally opposed an effort by Facebook to dismiss a lawsuit by several housing groups …

Discussion: CNET, Politico, The Hill, HUD.gov and Pacific Standard, more at Techmeme »

Marya Hannun / Columbia Journalism Review:

A look at how the Afghan mujahideen documented the Soviet-Afghanistan war after Congress provided a $500,000 grant in 1985 — A mujahid with a videocamera. Photo: Manzoor Shah, 1988. Courtesy of the Afghan Media Resource Center. — The newsreel depicts Soviet tanks winding their way along the Kabul River.

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

Globe & Mail to launch C$999/year subscription newsletter on cannabis, hire at least five journalists for the beat, invest in major live events to demystify it — When life gives you nationwide legalization of recreational cannabis, you make high-priced subscription products covering the industry.

Discussion: Talking Biz News and @someday_deane

Jaclyn Reiss / The Boston Globe:

The US Senate passes a resolution by unanimous voice vote affirming the media “is not the enemy of the people” and condemning attacks on the free press — The US Senate on Thursday passed a resolution by unanimous consent affirming that the media “is not the enemy of the people.”

Discussion: European Federation …, CBS Los Angeles, Global Investigative …, CBS News, Poynter, TucsonSentinel.com and Fortune

Eileen Sullivan / New York Times:
Trump assails The Boston Globe for leading an effort to support a free press, says he wants “true freedom of the press” but “fake news” is trying to hurt people