Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Data shows hundreds of possible bot social media accounts promoted misinformation and content on race during recent Democratic presidential debates — Data shows suspicious social-media accounts targeted Kamala Harris, including with conspiracy theories, during both Democratic gatherings
Discussion:
@blackwomenviews, @reasonvsfear and @amandacarpenter
RELATED:
Hank Stuever / Washington Post:
CNN's overproduced, conflict-obsessed debates were full of cable-news alarmism and resembled prime-time game shows and reality TV, rather than democratic debate — Lately there's a strange caution in the air about the intellectual pitfalls of comparing American politics to the performing arts — or worse, to showbiz.
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
CNN's first debate, featuring divisive questions, frustratingly short response times, and outsize attention to fringe candidates, was a lost opportunity
Discussion:
@realdonaldtrump, Slate, @jcstearns, @jayrosen_nyu, The Week, Fox News, wgbh.org, Poynter, @lawrence, The Wrap, @rmc031, @jamesfallows, @lpolgreen, @deanluk, @cjr, @slate, @nymag, @fenitn, @mattgertz, @gadyepstein, @jon_allsop, New York Times, @jayrosen_nyu, Dan Kennedy, Axios, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, NBC News, Columbia Journalism Review, Mediaite, Slate, HuffPost, The Cut and Hollywood Reporter
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Pew: 27% of papers with Sunday circulations of ~50K+ faced layoffs in 2018 vs. 32% in 2017; 14% of digital media sites laid off staff in 2018 vs. 20% in 2017 — If you work at a U.S. newspaper and didn't have layoffs in the last two years, consider yourself lucky.
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, MediaPost, @moorehn, @pewresearch and @pewresearch
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Facebook details its first takedown of inauthentic accounts linked to the Saudi government, alongside a separate takedown of accounts linked to UAE and Egypt — Washington (CNN Business)Facebook said Thursday it had found evidence of something cyber security and national security experts …
Discussion:
Facebook, CNET, @jamesrbuk, The Daily Beast, @jackshafer, Adweek, Business Insider and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Four initiatives reimagine local news: journalism as service, focus on schools and education, news via text message, and philanthropy — What happens when the presses stop rolling? Who will tell the stories of touchdowns scored, heroes honored and neighbors lost?
The Guardian:
Mexico's El Monitor de Parral to temporarily halt print edition after bombing; digital edition will not publish crime stories or news with a “political slant” — El Monitor de Parral said it will continue its digital edition, but will not cover any crime stories or news with a ‘political slant’
Discussion:
Committee to Protect …, Breitbart and @verambergen
Ben Paynter / Fast Company:
How The Daily Show covered the first Democratic debate live on social media, making memes and jokes that helped it beat other late-night shows in engagement — At 7:30 p.m., roughly a dozen comedy writers and digital producers gathered around a large rectangular wooden table inside …
Discussion:
Fortune
Eric Eldon / TechCrunch:
Holloway, which publishes in-depth guides about running a startup, raises $4.6M in seed funding from The New York Times, NEA, Lightspeed, and others — Founders need to get smart quickly about the many nuanced aspects of building a company, from understanding weird language in a big term sheet to hiring a key software developer.
MIX / The Next Web:
Sensor Tower: YouTube remains world's top-grossing video app, generating $138M in user spending in Q2 2019, up 220% YoY; US users generated ~70% of this revenue — Google must be happy. YouTube is the world's top-grossing app in the photo and video software category for a second quarter in a row.
Discussion:
9to5Google and Sensor Tower Blog, more at Techmeme »
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
The LAT's disappointing digital subscriber numbers attest to the importance of subscriber retention, which the paper should invest in like the NYT has — When Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times out of its tronckian purgatory last year, it was an occasion to consider where it sat …
Discussion:
@raju, 89.3 KPCC, American Press Institute, @bensprecher, Poynter, @vivian, 24/7 Wall St., @raju, @mattdpearce, @balajis, @jayrosen_nyu, @davewiner, @xor, @samanthamatsu, @jbenton, @emilyweinstein, @juliaturner, The Wrap, @juliaturner, @jkristufek, @sewellchan, @shelbygrad, @jmckellogg, @jayrosen_nyu and @thebenbergman
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
YouTube has significantly changed its algorithm to boost what it deems “quality” children's videos following FTC probe into its use of personal data from minors — A software update that came in July, without explanation, was designed to promote “quality” children's videos
Discussion:
@mhbergen, @lucas_shaw, Business Insider, Tubefilter, The Verge and CNET, more at Techmeme »
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the biggest name in Fortnite and one of Twitch's most popular stars, says he will move to Microsoft's Mixer full-time — Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the biggest name in Fortnite and one of Twitch's most popular stars, is leaving the platform to stream exclusively on Mixer.