Mediagazer: Leaked Skype chats and documents show Russia secretly funded group of seemingly independent news websites in Eastern Europe to publish Kremlin propaganda (BuzzFeed News)

10:15 AM ET, August 29, 2018

Top News:

Leaked Skype chats and documents show Russia secretly funded group of seemingly independent news websites in Eastern Europe to publish Kremlin propaganda — TALLINN, Estonia — The Russian government discreetly funded a group of seemingly independent news websites in Eastern Europe to pump …

Discussion: The Hill

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

Trump's economic adviser Kudlow says White House is “taking a look” at whether Google results should be regulated, amid concerns about alleged conservative bias — The Trump administration is “taking a look” at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government …

Discussion: Daily Wire, The Week, Slate, New York Times, Bloomberg, USA Today, HuffPost, Business Insider, Reuters, Mediaite, @rawstory, @cillizzacnn, Observer, Sputnik International, VICE News, The Verge, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Hit & Run, 9to5Google and USA Today

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”

Discussion: Wired, New York Post, Washington Post, Slate, The Hill, @ap, @evan_mcmullin, @realdonaldtrump, BuzzFeed News, @danbarrynyt, Fortune, The Daily Beast and @sethclewis

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Following Trump's tweets about alleged prejudice, Google releases statement saying it doesn't “bias our results toward any political ideology”

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, MediaPost, @danprimack, GeekWire, Mediaite and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Robert Mitchell / Variety:

Facebook announces the international rollout of Facebook Watch, which first launched in the US a year ago this month, to be available globally from Thursday — Facebook has announced the international rollout of Facebook Watch, its video destination for episodic content, which first launched in the U.S. a year ago this month.

Discussion: VentureBeat and AdExchanger, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Barnes & Noble's board says former CEO Demos Parneros was fired last month for sexual harassment and bullying, adding to earlier allegations of policy violation — When Barnes & Noble fired its chief executive, Demos Parneros last month, the bookseller was mysteriously quiet about why.

Discussion: CNBC and Fortune

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Progress News Network to launch a daily, 2.5 minute Facebook exclusive newscast aimed at 35+ year-olds on September 4; revenue focus to begin after the midterms — A group of media professionals is launching Progress News Network (PNN), a daily 2.5 minute newscast slated to reach 35-40+ year-olds …

Discussion: Tubefilter

The Information:

Sources: Amazon is planning to launch a free, ad-supported video service for its ~48M Fire TV streaming video device users that is being developed by IMDb — Amazon.com is planning to launch a free, advertising-supported video service for the estimated 48 million people who use …

Discussion: Axios, @skuranda, @mattnavarra, The Next Web, Fast Company, Fortune, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Fergus Bell / popupnews:

During the final days of the Swedish election, a pop-up newsroom with 100+ journalists will operate to track misinformation and design solutions — Over the last five days of Sweden's election more than a hundred journalists will come together to design and implement a newsroom that will track misinformation.

Discussion: @popup_eu, @mattcooke_uk and @charliebeckett

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Quartz launches a twice-weekly cryptocurrency newsletter Quartz Private Key at $15 per month or $150 annually — Newsletter will cost $15 per month, or $150 annually — Quartz is the latest media company attempting to cash in on the growing enthusiasm for cryptocurrency.

Discussion: Poynter, SludgeFeed, @joelight and @rafat

Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:

HBO quietly removed erotic movies and TV shows earlier this summer, says the decision to move away from adult content preceded its AT&T deal in June — HBO's popular drama series “The Deuce” is set in Times Square in the 1970s before the New York neighborhood was purged of its X-rated movie houses and adult book stores.

Discussion: The A.V. Club and TV Tattle

John Gentile / Punknews.org:

Former LA Weekly staff to launch The LAnd, a new print and digital publication covering race, gender, immigration, politics, culture, and more, by year's end — In the wake of the buyout of the La Weekly and mass firing of the its staff, former staffers, editors, and contributors to LA Weekly …

Discussion: @passionweiss and @dannyshap

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Twitter says it removed a further 486 accounts for engaging in “coordinated manipulation”, following the removal of 284 last week — Following last week's suspension of 284 accounts for “engaging in coordinated manipulation,” Twitter announced today that it's kicked …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Fortune and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Jessica Toonkel / The Information:

Sources: Amazon hires former ESPN executive Marie Donoghue to oversee sports for Prime Video — Amazon.com has hired Marie Donoghue, a former ESPN executive, to oversee sports for Prime Video, according to people familiar with the situation. The hire of Ms. Donoghue …

Discussion: Awful Announcing and @richarddeitsch

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Bing announces Bing Spotlight, an AI-powered news aggregator of developing news stories in search results, includes headlines, timelines, and social media posts — There's an avalanche of news these days, and Microsoft wants to help make sense of it all. It today announced Bing Spotlight …

Discussion: On MSFT, PCWorld, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Land, LJ infoDOCKET and Neowin

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Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
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David Beard / Poynter:
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Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
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Earlier Picks:

Beatrice Verhoeven / The Wrap:
Rotten Tomatoes adjusts critics criteria for its Tomatometer rating system in bid to boost diversity of voices, will include reviews from podcasts and more

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Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
14 organizations, including Amnesty International, EFF, and Committee to Protect Journalists, tell Google to cancel its censored Chinese search engine project

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Ben Collins / NBC News:
InfoWars, Gateway Pundit, Mike Cernovich, and Daily Caller reporter Ian Miles Cheong wrongly identified a Reddit user as the Jacksonville shooter

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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: HuffPost owner Oath has been pitching advertisers on a service that analyzes its 200M+ Yahoo Mail inboxes; source says practice began 10+ years ago

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Kristen Hare / Poynter:
18 newsrooms, including Scalawag Magazine and The Daily Tar Heel, receive $100K+ in grants from the Community Listening and Engagement Fund

Discussion: The Day and The Lenfest Institute …

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

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Chris Welch / The Verge:
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Wesley Yin-Poole / IGN:
Memo: Microsoft's Xbox division to shut down multiple Bethesda studios and consolidate teams to prioritize high-impact titles and invest in Bethesda's portfolio

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
UK and US authorities identify and charge the leader of the LockBit ransomware gang, a 31-year-old Russian national; the US also issued sanctions against him

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