Mediagazer: How the nonprofit Carolina Public Press has shown slow, steady growth from its start in 2011 covering western North Carolina to statewide coverage now (Kristen Hare/Poynter)

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Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

ESPN says it has signed up more than 1M paying subscribers for ESPN+, its $4.99 a month streaming service launched in April — For $4.99 per month, ESPN+ offers a range of sports programming; doesn't offer live ESPN channels — ESPN said it has signed up more than one million paying subscribers …

Discussion: Recode, ESPN MediaZone U.S., SportsBusiness Daily, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, Fortune, @adviserdavid, /Film, FierceVideo, @davidamoyal, Multichannel News and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

Interview with Disney CEO Bob Iger about Disney's upcoming streaming service, ESPN's politics problem, and how #MeToo changed the company — The Disney CEO and most powerful person in entertainment opens up about his plan for a Netflix rival, ESPN's politics problem and how #MeToo has changed his company

Discussion: /Film, TVWeek.com, @thrmattbelloni, @joeovies, Gizmodo, @markwillard85, The Verge, BGR, Awful Announcing, @aaroncouch, CNNMoney, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, The Week, Polygon, The Playlist, Business Insider and Just Jared

CBC News:

Torstar Corp. announces it has agreed to acquire iPolitics Inc., a digital political website based in Ottawa, with the deal expected to close about October 1 — Newspaper publisher says plan is to expand Toronto Star coverage of Parliament Hill — Torstar Corp. announced Thursday …

Discussion: Canada NewsWire Group, @paulvieira, @susandelacourt and @mariekewalsh

Lauren Johnson / Business Insider:

Twitter tests Twitter Timeline Ads, which places ads into Timelines embedded in publisher sites; The Street, Advance Local, and others are testing the program — - Twitter is starting to place ads within tweets on publishers' websites, starting with a group of titles including The Street.

Discussion: Marketing Land, @openx, @laurenjohnson and @businessinsider

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:

Ian Buruma, who left the NYRB on Wednesday, says he stepped down due to social media hounding and pressure from academic advertisers — Publication remains silent over rift with Ian Buruma, who faced criticism over his editorial decisions on #MeToo movement

Discussion: Washington Post, @jiatolentino, @bobbrigham, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Observer

Cara Buckley / New York Times:
Ian Buruma, editor of NYRB, has left his position amid an uproar over publication of an essay by Jian Ghomeshi, a former broadcaster accused of sexual assault

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

How the nonprofit Carolina Public Press has shown slow, steady growth from its start in 2011 covering western North Carolina to statewide coverage now — Angie Newsome launched Carolina Public Press on a sunny spring day in 2011. She doesn't remember much about that first story she published …

Discussion: @johnnewsomnr, @jkristufek and @kristenhare

Noah Smith / Washington Post:

LA Times owner Soon-Shiong says his purchase of Daybreak Game Company is part of a wider strategy to combat fake news, help the Times reach more young people — LOS ANGELES — The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times has made a career, and multibillion dollar fortune …

Discussion: Variety, Los Angeles Business Journal, @kauweloa, Gamasutra, sandiegouniontribune.com, Digital Journal and VPEsports

Kevin Loker / American Press Institute:

Study: only 43% of people can easily sort news from opinion in online-only media, and just 55% can easily distinguish news from opinion in news media in general — People often don't know whether the content they see is news or opinion, according to our recent pair of Media Insight Project surveys.

Discussion: Nieman Lab

Amy Beth Hanson / Associated Press:

Lee Enterprises to fold Montana Magazine after nearly 50 years of publishing — HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Magazine is folding after nearly 50 years of publishing stories and stunning images of the state's people, geography, history and culture, owner Lee Enterprises announced.

Discussion: Montana Standard, KTVQ-TV, Folio and Montana Magazine

Charles Riley / CNNMoney:

The UK's takeover regulator says it will hold an auction for Sky on Saturday between Comcast and 21st Century Fox if there's no resolution by end of Friday — Sky's fate is likely to be decided in a one-day auction between Comcast and 21st Century Fox. — The UK Takeover Panel announced Thursday …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Wall Street Journal, @hadas_gold, FierceVideo and Broadcasting & Cable

Jem Aswad / Variety:

RIAA: revenues from streaming up 28% YoY to $3.4B in H1 2018, accounting for 75% of recorded music revenue; 75% of streaming revenue comes from subscriptions — The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a bullish mid-year report today: Total revenue from recorded music rose 10% …

Discussion: RIAA, Rolling Stone, Music Ally, VentureBeat, The Verge and Billboard, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

AT&T responds to the DOJ's appeal of the case allowing AT&T to buy Time Warner, saying DOJ has failed to show the merger is harmful to competitors or consumers — AT&T has filed its response to the government's appeal of its acquisition of Time Warner, a 58-page catalog of what the company …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, CNNMoney and MediaPost