Top News:

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, @moorehn, @pewresearch, @pewresearch and MediaPost

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:

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, The Week, @jcstearns, Fox News, @jayrosen_nyu, wgbh.org, Poynter, @lawrence, @rmc031, @jamesfallows, @lpolgreen, @deanluk, @cjr, @slate, @nymag, @fenitn, @mattgertz, @gadyepstein, @jon_allsop, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Times, Dan Kennedy, The Wrap, Axios, NBC News, Hollywood Reporter, Media Matters for America and Bloomberg

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, Reuters, MediaNama, @jamesrbuk, The Daily Beast, @jackshafer, CNET, Mashable and Adweek, more at Techmeme »

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?

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 …
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 »

Print generated $25B+ in revenue in 2018; its steady cash flow attracts investors who realize that lowering overhead reduces costs at a faster rate than revenue — Hedge funds have found that they are able to wring profits out of an ailing product: the print newspaper. But for how long?

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 …, @verambergen and Breitbart

Hearst is building Hearst Audience Select, a self-serve ad platform for small brands to advertise across Hearst properties, to launch in time for Q4 — Hearst is building a self-serve ad platform so advertisers can overlay their audience data against Hearst's to reach readers across sites like Cosmopolitan …

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.

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:
Digiday, @mhbergen, @lucas_shaw, Tubefilter, Business Insider, The Verge and CNET, more at Techmeme »