Mediagazer: How Grand Theft Auto became a powerful tool for music discovery where gamers have listened to more than 75B minutes of music in the last five years (Brian Crecente/Rolling Stone)

8:40 AM ET, August 28, 2018

Top News:

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

BuzzFeed News is working with Google to test a membership model that will ask readers to contribute, similar to that used by The Guardian — BuzzFeed News is working with Google to pilot a membership model that will ask readers to contribute to the news outlet.

Discussion: Ad Age, Wall Street Journal, @kelseymsutton, @mattdpearce, @joshsternberg, @jbenton, Fast Company, @atd711, @rafat, Bloomberg, @kenli729 and @jeremymbarr

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed News:

CNN is facing backlash after it was revealed Lanny Davis was a source for its Trump Tower story on July 26, the substance of which he has since backtracked on — Attorney Lanny Davis says he was an anonymous source in a July CNN story that reported his client, Michael Cohen …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Mediaite, New York Post, Splinter and Washington Post

James Vincent / The Verge:

Trump accuses Google of rigging its search results to suppress positive news about him and says the situation “will be addressed” — The president said that Google had “rigged” its search results to suppress positive coverage — The perceived leftwing bias of big tech companies …

Discussion: @realdonaldtrump, Fast Company, Mediaite, @pedrodias, @reckless, @espiers and @lanceulanoff, more at Techmeme »

Tim Arango / New York Times:

Sonoma West, composed of four newspapers in Sonoma County, CA, launches a direct public offering, likely a first for a local paper, with a goal of raising $400K — A weekly newspaper publisher in Northern California is selling stock to its readers, who hope to save their paper and, some of them believe, democracy.

Discussion: Nieman Lab and The Rural Blog

David Beard / Poynter:
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark donates $1M to Mother Jones magazine to finance reporting around misinformation and fake news, more

Discussion: @poynter, @blowryontv, @monikabauerlein, @sulliview, @betheis, @michellemanafy, @flynnwaslike and @mathewi

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

CBS hit with a shareholder class action lawsuit that claims the company misled investors by failing to disclose sexual harassment allegations against Moonves — CBS was hit on Monday with a shareholder class action suit, arguing the company misled investors by failing to disclose sexual …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Multichannel News, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, TVWeek.com and TV Tattle

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

Sources: a Bloomberg News reporter was reassigned after Well Fargo CEO complained about the reporter following a story on the bank's relationship with the NRA — A Bloomberg News reporter who covered Wells Fargo was reassigned earlier this year after the bank's CEO called the news organization's editor …

Discussion: @senwarren, @danpfeiffer, @tomscocca, Splinter, Mediaite, @harrymccracken and @oneunderscore__

NBC News:

A secret message board created by a Big League Politics staffer fuels conspiracy theories and drives harassment campaigns of small businesses — The theorists are inspired in part by a far-right news website that has been used by prominent Republicans for fundraising efforts.

Discussion: @jbenton, @jason_a_w and The Daily Beast

Brian Crecente / Rolling Stone:

How Grand Theft Auto became a powerful tool for music discovery where gamers have listened to more than 75B minutes of music in the last five years — In the five years since launch, GTA V and GTA Online gamers have listened to more than 75 billion minutes of music, according to Rockstar Games

Discussion: Variety, more at Techmeme »

Steve Contorno / Tampa Bay Times:

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi co-hosted Fox's The Five for three days last week; state's ethics commission says it did not render an opinion — Bondi sought ethics commission approval before spending three days co-hosting “The Five,” a news talk show.

Discussion: TVNewser, @scontorno, @thesixler, @natemcdermott, Raw Story, Splinter, @demomcrat, @scott_maxwell, @hshaban, TV Tattle and Mediaite

Curt Adrano / Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

The editor of New Eden Report, a news site for the massive multiplayer online game Eve Online, on the stories they cover, impartiality, and cultivating sources — “We might lose a camera ship... or two” — Hello, I'm Curt, and I am the editor of a space newspaper.

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

Inside True Pundit, a pro-Trump misinformation site run by Michael D. Moore, who has a journalism background and a history of illegal business practices — Days after former FBI lawyer Lisa Page testified in a closed-door meeting with the House Oversight and Government Reform and House Judiciary committees …

Discussion: The Verge, Sputnik International, @margarita, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman and True Pundit

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Scottish craft beer company BrewDog to launch a streaming video service for $4.99 a month featuring licensed and original content focused on drinking culture — BrewDog, a Scottish beer company, is launching a subscription video service for $4.99 a month — A craft-beer company hopes …

Discussion: The Wrap, MediaPost, @ewolffmann, @eringriffith, Columbus Business Journal, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety and Deadline

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 8:40 AM ET, August 28, 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

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, 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:

Ian Parker / New Yorker:
Profile of Glenn Greenwald as he cuts the Twitter use, still thinks media oversells Russian election interference effects, and his audience expands to the right

Discussion: @hannahgais, @ggreenwald, @jason_a_w, @mattbors, The Week and Deadspin

Reuters:
FCC inspector general's report found no evidence of impropriety in failed Sinclair-Tribune Media merger after two House Democrats accused Ajit Pai of bias

Discussion: Deadline, Gizmodo, New York Times, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, CNET, The Hill and The A.V. Club

Shannon Liao / The Verge:
Tumblr changes community guidelines to more explicitly ban hate speech, speech glorifying violence, and revenge porn; the new rules go into effect on Sept. 10

Discussion: Engadget, Polygon, Neowin and Tumblr Staff, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Raab / Los Angeles Times:
One of the LA Weekly's owners, David Welch, files suit against the others, claiming mismanagement and seeks to dissolve the company

Discussion: LA Observed, The Wrap, @elinashatkin, @busblog, @passionweiss, @katherinespiers and @velocciraptor

Tony Silber / Forbes:
An interview with Marvin Shanken, publisher of niche magazines like Wine Spectator, on lucky purchases, circulation, events as revenue source, and more

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube adds “Time watched” stats to its “digital wellbeing” tools in its mobile apps

Discussion: Variety, Mashable, Marketing Land, Neowin, Fortune and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Kevin Rudd / Sydney Morning Herald:
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd calls Rupert Murdoch “the greatest cancer on the Australian democracy” due to his near monopoly over Australian print media

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, The New Daily, Daily Mail, Raw Story, @mrkrudd and The Guardian

Pete Vernon / Columbia Journalism Review:
Throughout his political career, John McCain had been respectful of the media's role and in the Trump era, he became its defender

Joe Concha / The Hill:
As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reduces its print production schedule from seven to five days, Pittsburgh becomes largest US city without a daily newspaper

Discussion: @will_bunch, @bymoriah and @politicsreid

Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Sources: Facebook is testing a tool with five publishers, including BuzzFeed, to help them improve reach on the platform by comparing variations of their posts

Discussion: @jarroddicker and @mattnavarra

Kimberly Nordyke / Hollywood Reporter:
Final episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's “Who Is America?"' did not include Sarah Palin interview but credits listed her as “Special Publicity Consultant”

Discussion: TV Tattle

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:
Speaking on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd accused Roger Ailes and the “conservative echo chamber” of creating the environment which led to falling trust in press

Discussion: The Hill and Media Matters for America

From Techmeme:

Kylie Robison / The Verge:
LMArena says it is updating its leaderboard policies after a Llama 4 Maverick version, which Meta said in fine print is not public, secured the number two spot

Matthew Gault / 404 Media:
Framework pauses sales of its six lowest-priced laptops in the US, saying the models would sell at a loss due to the 10% tariff that went into effect on April 5

Reuters:
Sources: US officials say DOGE is using AI to surveil at least one federal agency's communications for anti-Trump talk; a source says DOGE is also using Signal

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