Top News:
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
CNN's first debate, featuring divisive questions, frustratingly short response times, and outsize attention to fringe candidates, was a lost opportunity — About 40 minutes after the start of Tuesday night's Democratic primary debate, I got an email from a Washington Post reader with this subject line: “I don't care for this.”
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, @jayrosen_nyu, Slate, @nymag, @realdonaldtrump, @jcstearns, The Cut, @fenitn, @mattgertz, @gadyepstein, @jon_allsop, @jayrosen_nyu and Hollywood Reporter
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Deadspin, owned by G/O Media, is planning a story on company CEO Jim Spanfeller; Spanfeller reacts publicly with plans for an outside editor to review the story — A friendly piece of advice for whomever ends up buying the former Gawker Media sites: Don't try to tell them what to write.
Discussion:
New York Post, @benmullin, @benmullin, @pblest, @megreenwell, @albertburneko, @nbj914, @ourand_sbj, @joannelipman, @libbycwatson, @erikwemple, @erikwemple and @erikwemple
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Bustle Digital Group, which had planned to relaunch Gawker in September, has laid off Gawker's staff and postponed the relaunch — A planned relaunch of snarky news and gossip web site Gawker is on hold indefinitely, The Post has learned. — Bustle Digital Group, which owns Gawker …
Discussion:
@timmarchman, @lyzl, @libbycwatson, @rafat, @jon_christian, @kevinmdraper, Variety and The Wrap
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
After six months fact-checking for Facebook, Full Fact makes 10 recommendations, including expanding the program to Instagram, enlisting help on public health — In December 2016, Facebook enlisted a handful of U.S.-based news organizations (ABC News, Snopes, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org …
Jon Marcus / Nieman Reports:
A look at the debate behind the journalistic practice of strategic silence when it comes to naming shooters, addressing lies, and covering extremist ideologies — Journalists often withhold details of mass shooters and suicides to discourage copycats. Should that “strategic silence” …
Discussion:
@mathewi and @niemanreports
Variety:
How WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, a long-time AT&T executive and no-nonsense manager, is remaking WarnerMedia, trying to bridge the culture gap with Time Warner — Months after AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner, senior leaders from HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner flew out to the telecom giant's headquarters …
Discussion:
Observer
Tom Jones / Poynter:
Internal memo says LA Times is nowhere close to meeting its goal of doubling digital subs from 150K in 2018 to 300K in 2019, having only netted 13K this year — Troubling news at one of the nation's top newspapers. — Digital subscriptions at the Los Angeles Times are way below expectations …
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Sources: Nielsen open to selling itself in pieces after failing to find a buyer for the whole firm; Blackstone and Goldman Sachs dropped out earlier this year — An auction to sell Nielsen Holdings appears to be a bust — but the ratings giant has not given up and is now looking to sell itself in pieces, The Post has learned.
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks beats Q2 earnings expectations with $129M profit on $772M in revenue, up 1.4% YoY; US ad revenue fell 11.1% YoY — The cable networks company, led by CEO Josh Sapan, beat Wall Street earnings expectations, but fell short of revenue estimates. — AMC Networks, the cable networks company …
Natalie Jarvey / Billboard:
Apple's services business, a division that includes revenue from subscriptions like Apple Music, iTunes, Apple Pay and iCloud, brought in sales of $11.46B in Q3 — Han Haidan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images — The division that includes revenue from subscriptions like Apple Music …
Discussion:
Ad Age, AdExchanger, Fortune and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Napier Lopez / The Next Web:
Chrome's version 76 update makes it easier to bypass paywalls by closing a loophole that let publishers detect browsers in incognito mode — A few weeks ago, we reported Chrome 76 would make it harder to run Flash - because Flash just won't die - as well as potentially make it much easier to bypass article paywalls.
Discussion:
Google Developers, The Verge, BetaNews, CNET, BleepingComputer, Memeburn, Medium, Google Chrome Releases, VentureBeat, Engadget, Gizmodo and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »
The Daily Beast:
Twitter suspended an account peddling QAnon memes and other conspiracies after Trump retweeted it; source says the account was banned for platform manipulation — Before Trump's RT, ‘Lynn Thomas’ pushed conspiracy theories about Democrats harvesting kids' pineal glands.
Discussion:
The Wrap, @kylegriffin1, @viacristiano, The Hill and The Verge