Mediagazer: Source: CNN wants a $300K commitment in advertising before a sponsor can purchase ads during Democratic debate telecasts; spots during debates start at ~$110K (Brian Steinberg/Variety)

9:40 AM ET, July 26, 2019

Top News:

Kyle Blaine / CNN:

CNN will hold a climate town hall for Democratic presidential candidates on September 4 in New York City — (CNN)CNN will host a Democratic presidential town hall in September focused on the climate crisis. — The event will take place on Wednesday, September 4, in New York City.

Discussion: GU Politics, Politico, @trishkahle, @_waleedshahid, @lcvoters, @sunrisemvmt, @david_turnbull, @tripgabriel and TVNewser

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

MSNBC, Georgetown, and Our Daily Planet plan to host a climate forum September 19-20, inviting all presidential candidates, which will stream on NBC News Now — A portion of the event will be televised on Chris Hayes' primetime MSNBC show. — The 2020 Democrats are set …

Discussion: @leahstokes, @gideonresnick, @gideonresnick, @jackmjenkins, @moelleithee, @nbchristinaginn and @sunrisemvmt

Reuters:

Australia's ACCC releases report on anti-competitive behavior and market power of tech giants, offers 23 recommendations including protections for news media — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said it would establish the world's first dedicated office to police Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Google …

Discussion: Associated Press, Australian Competition …, Fast Company, ABC, @reuters, @caronbw, MediaNama, NEWS.com.au and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Brent Cunningham / Pacific Standard:

A look at the relationship between the Charleston Gazette and WV's coal and natural gas industries, and whether its new owner will support its watchdog role — The Charleston Gazette-Mail, known for its dogged accountability journalism, survived a merger and bankruptcy.

Discussion: @throwin_shadows, @stevehinnefeld and @charlesornstein

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Source: CNN wants a $300K commitment in advertising before a sponsor can purchase ads during Democratic debate telecasts; spots during debates start at ~$110K — TV's latest emerging hit takes all the thrills of a traditional reality competition program and mixes in an awful lot of drama.

Discussion: @bristei and @owillis

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Sources: Long Island newspaper Newsday is offering its employees voluntary buyouts, which they can apply for until August 8 — PATRICK Dolan's Newsday took staffers by “surprise” Thursday when executives of the largest newspaper on Long Island said it is offering voluntary buyouts, Media Ink has learned.

Kali Hays / WWD:

MPA: Instagram follower growth was 6.3% for 100 magazines in Q2, while Facebook likes for content and Twitter followers for these magazines grew less than 1% — Even for politics and news magazines, Instagram is the only platform with significant follower growth so far this year.

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Twitter Q2 earnings beat estimates with revenues of $841M, up 18% YoY, and total ad revenue up 21% YoY to $727M — KEY POINTS — Twitter announced in Q4 of 2018 that it would soon replace the metric with “monetizable daily active users” (mDAUs), which it said better reflect its business …

Discussion: VentureBeat, Fast Company and @thedomino, more at Techmeme »

Jemele Hill / The Atlantic:

ESPN's naive rule against political commentary forces commentators to ignore the real world, an untenable approach for a journalistic operation and for staff — Late last week, the ESPN host Dan Le Batard veered outside the sports network's hard-line stance on avoiding politics on the air.

Discussion: American Press Institute, @carychow_, @alex_segura, @janesports, @adriennelaf, @jemelehill and @davidrqliu

The Daily Beast:

House Republicans' questions to Robert Mueller overlapped with 18 of those proposed by Sean Hannity on his show the previous night — Hannity used his Tuesday night show to suggest questions for Republicans to ask Mueller. More than a dozen GOP queries overlapped with the pro-Trump Fox News star's requests.

Discussion: @noahshachtman, Mediaite, Washington Post, Media Matters for America, CNN, The Guardian and Contemptor

Kevin Draper / New York Times:

Twitter signs an agreement with NBC for 2020 Olympics, to show limited live event coverage, highlights, and a daily 20-minute show — Twitter will show some live coverage, highlights and a daily studio show from the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. — If you cannot find a television …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Variety, @nytsports, @brianpoliakoff, @bohan, Engadget and The Big Lead, more at Techmeme »

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

NBCUniversal to launch its ad-supported streaming platform in April 2020 with the same infrastructure as Sky's, will develop originals tied to its content — Comcast units are double down on the content and streaming wars as NBCUniversal plans to launch its advertising-supported streaming platform …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch, @xpangler, @thr, @thr, @lucas_shaw, Gizmodo, Engadget, IndieWire, MediaPost, The A.V. Club, AdExchanger, CNET, Vanity Fair and The Streamable

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Comcast Q2 earnings beat estimates with Sky accounting for a 23.6% YoY revenue spike; NBCU revenue fell 0.8% to $8.2B, but earnings grew 8.1% YoY to $2.3B

Discussion: The Wrap, CNBC, Light Reading, VentureBeat, Billboard, AdExchanger, MediaPost, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, Reuters and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:

Facebook's ad library is so plagued by bugs and technical constraints that researchers say it is effectively useless to adequately track political advertising — The social network's new ad library is so flawed, researchers say, that it is effectively useless as a way to track political messaging.