Mediagazer: Reddit CEO responds after calls from users to purge the site of COVID-19 disinformation, saying “dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy” (Matthew Gault/VICE)

11:45 AM ET, August 27, 2021

Top News:

CNBC:

Axel Springer agrees to acquire Politico, the remaining 50% share in Politico Europe, and Protocol; sources say the deal is worth around $1B — - German publisher Axel Springer plans to acquire digital media site Politico. — The deal is worth about $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, @erikwemple, Axel Springer SE, @pilhofer, @harrispolitico, Press Gazette, Wall Street Journal, Adweek, @sarafischer, @mathewi, @niemanlab, @dwnews, @pilhofer, @daveweigel, Financial Times, @gintautasd, @pilhofer, @green_footballs, @wblau, @daphnehk, @mattdpearce, @mattdpearce, @richsignorelli, Digiday, @wblau, @authorkimberley, @soychicka, Newser, @benmullin, @katie_roof, @cbudoffbrown, @cbudoffbrown, @kattykissem, @jessicalessin, @sarafischer, The Daily Caller, @erikwemple, @kerrymflynn, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @mattdpearce, @konsumensch, @mr_berman, @cbudoffbrown, @sherman4949, @danbarker, @jasonabbruzzese, @timothynoah1, @kniggem, @stevekovach, @sherman4949, @jamesvgrimaldi, @alex, @mcwm, @rafat, @morningbrew, @cjr, @benyt, @robinwigg, @tomgara, @anthony, @robinwigg, @mollyhc, Mediaite, @jyarow, @sherazadesemsar, @sbg1, @brianstelter, @oliverdarcy, @rasmus_kleis, Financial Times, Washington Post, New York Post, Talking Biz News, Washingtonian and Mediaite

Liena Zagare / Bklyner:

Liena Zagare, the editor and publisher of local news site Bklyner, announces the site will stop publishing on Sept. 10; archives will remain online — Friday, September 10, will be the last day of Bklyner. Or at least Bklyner as we know it. — For the last almost 10 years …

Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:

Vice has another round of layoffs, and sources say the cuts affect Vice Digital and Refinery29 employees in North America, with fewer than 20 let go — Vice Media saw another round of layoffs Thursday, just weeks after declaring a pivot to video content. According to one source with knowledge …

Discussion: @viceunion, @maxwelltani, @__gabbymiller, @saraqdavid, @caseyjohnston, @meredithbalkus, @maxwillens, HuffPost, @gordonshumway, Digiday, @kerrymflynn, @joshhterry, @kerrymflynn, @_arianaromero, Variety, @film_girl, @kerrymflynn, @meredithbalkus, @a_w_gordon, @moorehn, @kmiversen, @rynprry, @caseynewton, @parismartineau, @peterslattery3, @jesshopp, @thatwitchmia, @baddestmamajama, @ungarino, @nkulw, @sherman4949, @alex_abads, @ashleyalese, @lacymb, @byalexzaragoza, @garywhitta, @meredithbalkus, @jannwolfe, @alexeheath, @broderick, @doctoryasmin, @aaschapiro, @alex_norcia, @jordanchariton, @imgarysuarez, @clearing_fog, @andrewglazer, @jscros, @samitsarkar, @meredithbalkus, @maxwillens, @gordonshumway, @andrewglazer, @scottnover, @themaxburns, @janusrose, @onionincunion, @maxwillens, @maxwillens, @ryepastrami, @ohheyjenna, @conniewang, @maxwillens, @claireefallon, @a_w_gordon, @ljmontello, @brandyzadrozny, @garywhitta, @oliviamesser, @jorcru, What's New in Publishing, @the_rewm, @byalexzaragoza, @tatianatenreyro, @tvgrimreaper, @kevincollier, @panzer, @ckrewson, @thekimkavin, @parkermolloy, Mediaite, @film_girl, @film_girl, @maxberger, @aaschapiro, @jessicaschulb, @grimkim, @film_girl, @aaschapiro, @sdkstl, @benyt, @wagatwe, @thelincoln, @maggieofthetown, @mcwm, @presgang, @carolinemoss, @parismartineau, @lemonsand, @patbits, @mindyisser, @libbycwatson, @danawollman, @shanpalus, @blackamazon, @heyveronica, @grahamstarr, @hannahsmothers_, @youngvulgarian, @jeremypgordon, @vincemancini, @karlbode, @annamerlan, @robzacny, @amil, @noahpasaran, @kerrymflynn, @ashleyfeinberg, @ashleyfeinberg, New York Post and Gawker

Forbes:

Forbes is going public via SPAC at a valuation of $630M; the transaction is expected to close in late 2021 or early 2022 — ● Combination will enable Forbes to further capitalize on its successful digital transformation, pursue additional growth opportunities and fully recognize …

Discussion: CNBC, TechCrunch, @mike_federle, @jyarow, @rafat, @djohnson_cpa, @themediaisdying, @pkafka, @iblametom, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, MediaPost, Insider, New York Post, Reuters, The Wrap and Talking Biz News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Apple launches News Partner Program, which lowers commissions on in-app purchases to 15% for news publishers who participate in Apple News — Apple today is launching a new program that will allow subscription news organizations that participate in the Apple News app and meet certain requirements …

Discussion: Associated Press, Talking Biz News, Business Wire, MacRumors, The Verge, CNBC, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Analysts say Disney is underinvesting in Hulu-only original programming, as NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and Fox prepare to pull their content from the streamer — For years, its core brand identity in a nutshell has been: Watch the TV you know and love, streamed over the internet.

Discussion: Too Much TV Newsletter

Daniel Garcia / AAJA Voices:

Of 73 EICs at award-winning college newsrooms in spring 2021, less than 6% were Black, ~10% were Latinx, much less than the share of the colleges' population — Of the 73 editors-in-chief at award-winning college newsrooms in the Spring 2021 semester, less than 6 percent were Black …

Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:

Media figures have privileged the victims of American withdrawal from Afghanistan over those of American intervention even in straight news coverage — America's withdrawal from Afghanistan has yet to cost our nation a single casualty. Evacuations of U.S. citizens and allies from Kabul's airport …

Discussion: @attackerman, The Hill, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, @herr_naphta, Fox News, @lizzieblove, @equoamicus, @binajv, @fawfulfan, New York Post, @dangillmor, @lawrence, @edglavin, @joyannreid and @danpfeiffer

Esha Sarai / Voice of America:
US lawmakers sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday urging help for about 550 USAGM employees and their relatives who are still trying to leave Afghanistan

Discussion: Chills, @benyt, @wolfe321 and New York Times

Amanda Meade / The Guardian:

News Corp outlets published 45 articles in 2 days blasting Australia's ABC after the public broadcaster aired a critical program on Fox News and Trump coverage — Fox sent letter threatening possible legal action to Australian broadcaster before two-part program on the relationship with former US president aired

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, @tamepunk, @kimmasters, @peterbale, @brucerguthrie, @mrkrudd, @chriscarmody4, The Desk and ABC

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Twitter starts rolling out Ticketed Spaces for some iOS users; hosts can charge between $1 and $999 for their ticketed rooms and set a room size cap — The beginning of paid live audio rooms — Twitter is beginning its rollout of Ticketed Spaces, or paid live audio rooms.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Benzinga, Tubefilter, @alex and Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Canopy Atlanta, a nonprofit community news project, trains local fellows and pairs them with seasoned journalists to tell stories reflecting local concerns — In the last year in the city of Atlanta, the story about “water boys” — teenagers who sell water at intersections — has become a hot-button issue.

Discussion: @ylichterman, @madbair and @niemanlab

Matthew Gault / VICE:

Reddit CEO responds after calls from users to purge the site of COVID-19 disinformation, saying “dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy” — The CEO of Reddit has responded to calls from users to purge the site of disinformation, saying “dissent is a part of Reddit and the foundation of democracy.”

Discussion: @motherboard, @vivekgramaswamy, @carnage4life, Reclaim The Net and Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Weeks / The Block:

DJ 3LAU launches Royal, which lets users trade shares of song royalty rights as crypto tokens, with $16M in seed funding led by Founders Fund and Paradigm — Royal, a non-fungible token (NFT) investment platform focused on music, has announced a $16 million seed-stage fundraise.

Discussion: Billboard, CoinDesk, Forbes, @shaughnessy119, The Grapevine, musically.com, @benkesslermusic, Cointelegraph and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

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Ian Burrell / inews.co.uk:
UK newspaper groups are adding local news sites and reaching places historically served by their rivals in order to attract national advertising

Discussion: @iburrell, @davidhiggerson and @markdesthompson

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
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Matthew Keys / The Desk:
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The Wire:
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Will Oremus / Washington Post:
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New York Times:
Sources: Facebook has approached experts about forming an advisory body for how it handles global election matters, including political ads and misinformation

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Todd Spangler / Variety:
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Discussion: MediaPost

Sinéad Baker / Insider:
In an abrupt reversal, OnlyFans suspends its October 1 policy change banning porn after securing “assurances” and aims to provide “a home for all creators”

Discussion: @onlyfans, The Verge, Contemporary Idiot, Vox and @wperiyasamy

Ben Smith / New York Times:
How Mexico helped the NYT get Afghans who worked for the paper out of Afghanistan; Mexico says it is looking to extend similar protections to other journalists

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From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

David Pierce / The Verge:
Hands-on with the Rabbit R1: a fun and funky AI device that feels pretty nice and does a solid job with basic AI questions, but the Rabbithole app is unfinished

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