For the Record

"In The Public Record":

U.S. District Judge John F. Walker ordered the Los Angeles Times to "remove information from an article that described a plea agreement between prosecutors and a Glendale police detective accused of working with a Mexican crime organization. The sealed agreement was "mistakenly made available" in the federal PACER database. Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine defended the decision to publish the agreement as "proper and appropriate."

"Seed Of Fear":

A Department of Homeland Security tweet that categorized photography and videography of "personnel, facilities, security features, or infrastructure in an unusual or covert manner" as a potential sign of "terrorism-related suspicious activity" renewed fears of First Amendment infringement among photojournalists. "It basically leaves squirrels as the only thing that’s safe to photograph," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. 

Bargain:

Bleacher Report and Bustle founder Bryan Goldberg purchased "the last vestiges of Gawker.com," including the publication's archive and social media accounts, for "less than $1.5 million" in a bankruptcy auction. Forty-five percent of the proceeds will go to former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who received a $31 million settlement from the company in Bollea v. Gawker. Goldberg "[has] no immediate plans to re-launch Gawker" but will "share [...] the possibilities for the future" in the months ahead.

"Enough Evidence":

In an order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama "suggest[ed] that immigration officials violated the First Amendment rights of Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez-Soto and his son, Oscar." After initially seeking asylum in the United States a decade ago, both men have been detained in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in El Paso since December 2017. The elder Gutiérrez-Soto has been offered a Knight Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan pending his release.

War on Trolls:

Although Twitter "has been suspending 1 million fake or suspicious accounts per day in recent months" and "dropped its laissez-faire approach years ago," the campaign may prove to be untenable as a result of the platform's "fundamental structure."

"Opportunities to Grow":

Following "weeks of layoffs and buyouts," Univision has announced plans to sell Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion. The company intends to "to focus on [its] core assets and further strengthen [its] position as the No. 1 media company serving U.S. Hispanics." Gizmodo Media Group was created to house digital publications divested by Gawker Media following its 2016 bankruptcy.

A New Information Panel:

In addition to its main anti-fake news initiative, "a new information panel" will appear at the top of YouTube search results as major news stories develop. YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan cautioned that "it's very easy to quickly produce and upload low-quality videos spreading misinformation around a developing news event," necessitating the change.

"A Year Of Fake News":

YouTube announced "new measures to stem the spread of conspiracy theory videos and fake news on its platform" on Monday in conjunction with the Google News Initative. These include the insertion of "context from trustworthy sources into search results about hot topics" and a "working group of news organizations and media experts that will advise" the platform on new issues.

Secrets:

Myanmar district judge Ye Lwin charged Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo "with obtaining secret state documents" related to the Rohingya massacre on Monday in what the news organization characterized as a "landmark press freedom case."

"A Badge Of Honor":

Media, technology and finance executives will convene this week in Idaho for Allen & Company's annual Sun Valley Conference. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Rupert Murdoch are slated to attend the secretive event.