The Muck Rack Weekly newsletter includes some of the most talked about stories in the journalism and public relations communities over the past week, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of Muck Rack.

Media statistic of the week

Last week, Pew Research Center released the findings of the third report in a series on local news, this one focusing on Americans’ experiences with local crime news. 

Among the findings, Americans have no single go-to source for information about local crime, with 71% of U.S. adults often or sometimes getting news and information about local crime from friends, family and neighbors, 70% getting news and information from local news outlets, 53% getting it from social media and 41% getting it from local law enforcement. 

“Those who get crime news from local news outlets (79%), local law enforcement (77%) and friends, family and neighbors (72%) are more likely than those who get it from other sources to say the information is at least somewhat accurate.”

This past week in the media industry 

What a story

First up, Stuart Emmrich links to “A blockbuster cover story in Sunday Business: @JamesStewartNYT and @brooksbarnesNYT reveal the inside drama at Disney as Bob Iger spent nearly two years undermining his handpicked successor until snatching back the top job for himself.”

From James B. Stewart and Brooks Barnes of The New York Times, it’s the inside story of The Palace Coup at the Magic Kingdom and how Bob Iger undermined and outmaneuvered Bob Chapek.

As Kamaron Leach notes, it’s “the story often occurring but rarely uncovered at many of world’s top companies. a solid read in the nytimes this morning.”

Emily ˚Flitter calls it “The definitive story on Disney’s Shakespearean management drama, in which CEO Bob Iger is seen clinging to control while his doomed successor drowns in paranoia. This is a must-read.” Andrew Nusca sums it up: “what a story about Disney. an incredible mess.”

Meanwhile, Disney 'is playing hardball' with DirecTV over 'skinnier' bundles. Alexandra Canal of Yahoo Finance takes a look at what’s at stake.

Influence operations

Anna Merlan of Mother Jones reports Tenet Media has shuttered, one day after being accused by the DOJ of taking $10 million in covert Kremlin funding. 

Hadas Gold’s reporting for CNN reveals how some of the biggest right-wing media stars ended up as unwitting puppets of Russian propaganda. “It’s long been noticeable how similar their talking points are to the Kremlin’s,” says Jim Sciutto. 

Gold highlighted this point from a thread by Renee DiResta, author and former research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory: “This situation is essentially a front media operation - a fairly old approach, though now the most effective useful idiots may be influencers rather than journalists of yore.”

Just who are the influencers in this case? Mary Walrath-Holdridge of USA Today has a look at the 6 commentators linked to the Tenet indictment, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen and Lauren Southern. 

Here’s more on Tenet from Steven Lee Myers, Ken Bensinger and Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times, Russia Secretly Worms Its Way Into America's Conservative Media. 

And at Platformer, Casey Newton explores how Russians are changing up their election interference, expanding beyond the Macedonian teens and bot farms of 2016. “In a race this close,” Newton writes, “every bit of influence counts — and if the influencers are real, but secretly bought and paid for, it’s not clear what unwitting platforms can do about it. “

In other shadowy corners of the world of influencers, there’s this “Truly fascinating mystery, from @kadiagoba @ellievhall @daveweigel An influencer network paid for sexual smears of Democratic nominee. We have some receipts, but don't know who paid the bills,” says Ben Smith, who links to that story by Kadia Goba, Ellie Hall and David Weigel of Semafor, Mysterious influencer network pushed sexual smears of Harris.

‘A global sewer’

In the wake of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France last month, Richard Bradley suggests, “Anyone engaged with the free speech debate should read this.”

A newly published investigation by Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano and Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times reveals How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists.

Mozur shared, “When Pavel Durov was arrested, we were months into an investigation on Telegram. Today we published. We analyzed 3.2 mln messages from 16k channels. We found gun stores run from prison, extremists, criminals, and a platform committed to ignoring it all.”

The Times describes Telegram as “a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement.” 

Among other things, they found “1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost one million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000 followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries.” Additionally, “Hamas, ISIS and other terror groups have thrived on Telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels.”

Standing the test of time

Nick Catucci, GQ’s U.S. site director, highlighted some of the “Dudes rocking on GQ dot com,” including Grayson Haver Currin, who spent Four Days With Phish, America's Greatest Jam Band for 40 Years and Counting. After embedding himself with the band at Mondegreen, Haver Currin tells the story of how Phish managed to pull together their first festival in almost a decade. 

Michael Walsh declared, “This is, by far, one of the very best articles I've ever read about Phish.” And David Roberts notices, “Phish has outlived all their haters. You love to see it.”

Speaking of shows that must go on, Luis Andres Henao of The Associated Press headed down to Nashville for the long and winding story of the Ryman Auditorium: How a river captain converted to religion by an evangelist built the Motherhouse of Country Music.

More notable media stories

• For Techdirt, Mike Masnick takes a look at the impact of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s ruling affirming that the Internet Archive’s Open Library infringes on the copyright of publishers: Second Circuit Says Libraries Disincentivize Authors To Write Books By Lending Them For Free. “This ruling is a huge loss for public access to knowledge and for libraries,” Masnick concludes.
• Big tech is painting itself as journalism’s saviour. We should tread carefully, according to the findings of a new study entitled “The philanthrocapitalism of Google News Initiative in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.” In a piece for The Conversation, one of the study’s authors, Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos, writes, “Our findings suggest an emerging web of dependency between cash-strapped newsrooms and Silicon Valley’s deep pockets. That offers some important lessons, both for media organisations and the tech giants themselves.”
• “Word of the moment: ‘sanewashing,’” says Mike Elgan, who links to Parker Molloy’s essay for The New Republic, How the Media Sanitizes Trump’s Insanity: “The political press’s efforts to rationalize Trump’s incoherent statements are eroding our shared reality and threatening informed democracy.” 
• On “Sunday Morning,” CBS News contributor Ted Koppel spoke with journalist and author Steven Brill about Fake news, social media, and "The Death of Truth."
• Per Josh Dickey of The Wrap, Brian Stelter's 'Reliable Sources' Returns to CNN With Early A.M. Publish Schedule, Monday Through Friday: 'We're Morning People Now!'
• Jessica Testa of The New York Times profiled “Three Women” author Lisa Taddeo on the challenges of both the publishing industry and Hollywood, Ms. Taddeo Goes to Hollywood.

From the Muck Rack Team

⏳FINAL Chance to Enter Shorty Impact Awards: September 12th

Last call to share your purpose-driven work from the past year with the Shorty Impact Awards. Join top brands, agencies, nonprofits, media companies and creators this fall (save the date for the live show on November 20th!) to celebrate the work that moved us and changed the world for the better.

Don’t miss the final deadline on Thursday, Sep 12th to get your work and talent in front of over 270 creative leaders, marketers and strategists! Got questions? Schedule a call with an awards concierge today.