Top News:
Max Willens / Digiday:
Facebook to hire a small team of journalists to curate a Top News section in its upcoming news tab, which it will begin testing in the US by end of October — Facebook famously got rid of its “trending topics” editorial team back in 2018. Now, it's again hiring editors — just don't expect “trending 2.0.”
Discussion:
New York Times, Nieman Lab, Press Gazette, New York Times, @mcwm, Fortune, @hshaban, @mikeisaac, @mohammadfarooq_, @elanazak, Reclaim The Net, @mikeisaac, @pfpicardi, @moorehn, @rasmus_kleis, @justmadhu, Fast Company, @nxthompson, @ow, Business Insider, Variety, Adweek, CNBC, The Wrap, The Verge, Engadget and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »
Ethan / My heart's in Accra:
Ethan Zuckerman, director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, says he plans to leave the MIT Media Lab in May 2020 due to the lab's ties with Jeffrey Epstein — A week ago last Friday, I spoke to Joi Ito about the release of documents that implicate Media Lab co-founder Marvin Minsky in Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes.
Discussion:
BostonGlobe.com, VentureBeat, @newley, @jkbjournalist, @dylanmatt, @antonioregalado, @sdkstl, @mclneuro, @heerjeet, @amymaxmen, @annanowo, @cindygallop, @sdkstl, @hunterwalk, @jeffjarvis, New York Times and @jeffjarvis
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook releases first findings from a conservative bias audit, says initial findings influenced policy changes like creation of a content oversight board — Facebook will release the findings of a roughly year-long conservative bias audit Tuesday, along with changes to its advertising policies as a result, executives tell Axios.
Discussion:
@natijomartinez, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Facebook, @mmfa, Breitbart, @mikeisaac, @brianbeutler, TechCrunch, Mother Jones, @danpfeiffer, Multichannel News, @jaredlholt, The Verge, @natijomartinez, @benshapiro, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, @davidcicilline, @jayrosen_nyu, @melissaryan, @rashadrobinson, @brianbeutler, NB Blog, Adweek and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Brian Karem, Playboy's White House correspondent and a CNN contributor, files a lawsuit against the White House, seeking restoration of his press pass — Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the White House after his credentials were suspended for a month.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Wrap, Politico, @farhip, Mediaite, Washington Post, Fox News, @briankarem, CNN, @briankarem and @boutrousted
NBC News:
How The Epoch Times, driven by ties to Falun Gong, became a part of Trump's 2020 strategy by spending big on pro-Trump Facebook ads and peddling conspiracies — Started almost two decades ago with a stated mission to “provide information to Chinese communities to help immigrants assimilate …
Discussion:
@oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__, Business Insider, @danpfeiffer, @oneunderscore__, @paulwaldman1, @msnbc, @marklittlenews, @qjurecic, @simonwdc, @johnghendy, @hayesbrown, @c_stroop, @oneunderscore__, @brooklynmarie, @jaredlholt, @comparativist, @katestarbird, @willsommer, @oneunderscore__, @lpolgreen, @oneunderscore__, @stphnfwlr, @oneunderscore__, @notjackkemp, @markamesexiled, @alexckaufman, @oneunderscore__, @brandyzadrozny, @justinhendrix, @ashleyfeinberg and Mediaite
Pat Caldwell / Malheur Enterprise:
Malheur County officials in Oregon request a criminal investigation into The Malheur Enterprise reporters over after-hours phone calls and emails to officials — The calls come after investigative reports about county economic development projects — UPDATE: A comment from a sheriff's commander …
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
How companies like McDonald's and Facebook use podcasts, such as Gizmodo-produced The Sauce, as subtle brand-building efforts meant to entertain and persuade — With podcasts rising in popularity, it's no surprise that companies are producing their own. What's more surprising is that people are actually listening to them.
Discussion:
@yaffebellany, more at Techmeme »
Ira Boudway / Bloomberg:
Profile of The Athletic, which now has 400+ editorial staffers and expects to have ~1M subscribers by 2020; source: a funding in May valued it at about $500M — Alex Mather would like you to know that he loves newspapers. He's loved them since he was a kid growing up in Philadelphia.
Discussion:
@daveambrose, @bw, @robsondan, @craigcustance, @fichtenbaum and @eaamalyon
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple Music launches a new chart, the Shazam Discovery Top 50, powered by Shazam data and featuring songs trending in the US and 10+ other countries — Apple continues to make use of Shazam, the music recognition app it acquired for $400 million in 2018. Earlier this month …
Discussion:
Apple Music, @mcwm and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Jacob Granger / Journalism.co.uk:
Chris Duncan, managing director of The Times, on how the paper patiently grows digital subscriber numbers using free trials, samples, and key usage data — In a world of Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Prime, how does a publisher convince readers to pay £26 a month for a digital news subscription?
Molly Conger / The Guardian:
Freelance reporter Molly Conger on losing her column with a weekly paper in Charlottesville after a police association complained about her reporting — Naively, I assumed the publication I worked for was as committed to unashamed truth-telling as I was. I was wrong
Discussion:
@elizabethcatte, @coreypein, @emilygorcenski, @brittanydare, @coreypein, @brandyzadrozny, @nbj914, @emilygorcenski and @zunguzungu
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Sources: to satisfy regulators, YouTube officials are finalizing plans to end targeted advertisements on videos kids are likely to watch — - The solution could impact ad sales for the video giant — Groups that complained to regulators aren't satisfied by fix
Discussion:
@alistairmbarr, Variety, The Verge, @hshaban, @josheidelson and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
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