Top News:
Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:
CNN ex-president Jon Klein talks about TAPP, the new online network he's starting with Jeff Gaspin — Jon Klein on His New Online Venture: 'We've Created the Company That I Feared Would Come Along' — Former CNN President Jon Klein and former NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Gaspin announced …
Discussion:
Bloomberg
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Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
CNN, NBCU Alums Jon Klein, Jeff Gaspin Team Up for Online Video Venture — Sarah Palin reportedly target by firm for channel akin to Glenn Beck's TheBlaze — Two of the biggest names sitting on the sidelines in the media business are teaming up for a new online video venture.
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Disney TV Shakeup: Anne Sweeney Leaving to Pursue Directing Career — Disney's longtime TV chief Anne Sweeney will leave her post in January 2015 to pursue a career as a television director. — “The past 18 years at Disney have been the highlight of my executive career.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, TVNewser, Mediaite, AdAge, Capital New York, Fortune, Reuters, @kerrywashington, @peterlauria3 and TVSpy
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Jethro Nededog / The Wrap:
Anne Sweeney Exiting Disney-ABC to Become TV Director
Anne Sweeney Exiting Disney-ABC to Become TV Director
Discussion:
Variety
Wall Street Journal:
Amazon hopes to boost MP3 sales with limited music streaming service for Prime members — Amazon Working on Music-Streaming Service — To Spur Song Purchases, Limits Would Be Placed on Listening — Amazon.com Inc. is hoping to offer an on-demand music-streaming service to customers …
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Lance Whitney / CNET:
iTunes Radio now third most popular streaming music service
iTunes Radio now third most popular streaming music service
Discussion:
Fortune, App Advice and AppleInsider
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Disney Ponders the Biggest Big Media YouTube Bet Yet: Buying Maker Studios — Disney has been talking to Maker Studios about an acquisition that would value the YouTube network at $500 million or more, according to people familiar with the negotiations. — A deal isn't guaranteed.
Discussion:
Deadline.com, The Wrap, Business Insider, Variety, @insidethemagic and Tubefilter
Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:
Upworthy partners with ProPublica and advocacy media groups on original content — When Upworthy raised an additional $8 million in September of last year, they wrote a blog post thanking their readers and making them a promise. The new funds, they wrote, will “help us branch out into new editorial areas.
Discussion:
Guardian, Upworthy Insider, @lheron, @gabrielarana and @niemanlab
Bloomberg:
Beats Music raises $60M-$100M to fund new music and features in challenge to Spotify — Jimmy Iovine's Beats Music Is Said to Raise Up to $100 Million — Beats Music LLC, the subscription streaming service from rapper Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine, raised a second round …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Billboard, hypebot and Mashable
Erik Wemple:
John Cook bolts Gawker for the Intercept — John Cook had fun as editor in chief of Gawker. For instance: When he wanted to commandeer a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack, he fired up a “Crackstarter” campaign that raised $200,000 for the cause. Publicity followed.
Discussion:
New York Times, Business Wire, Poynter, @ggreenwald, @natashavc, @sluggahjells, @neetzan, Politico, The Intercept, @paulcarr, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, Mediaite, @jaredbkeller, New York Magazine, @goldsbie, @antderosa, @thestalwart, @mattbuchanan, @snpsnpsnp, @joemfbrown, @susie_c, @socarolinesays and @jwherrman
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Matthew Shaer / New York Magazine:
Raging Against Hacks With Muckraker Turned Magazine-Maker Matt Taibbi
Raging Against Hacks With Muckraker Turned Magazine-Maker Matt Taibbi
Discussion:
@nymag, The Corsair, @kierafeldman, @sarahljaffe and The Raw Story
Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:
Obama bypasses traditional media again in interview with Zach Galifianakis, showing how to take advantage of fractured landscape — Obama will sit down with celebrities but not The Washington Post — President Obama's interview with Zach Galifianakis, a plug for Healthcare.gov …
Discussion:
Latest News & Headlines, Erik Wemple, The Fix, VatorNews, ABC News, NPR, CNN and TechCrunch
Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:
With High Hopes and Deep Pockets, The Times Gambles on NYT Now — It could hardly be more clear that The Times has high hopes for its new NYT Now mobile app. — Jill Abramson, the executive editor, unveiled it publicly with considerable fanfare a few days ago at South By Southwest Interactive …
Discussion:
@jbenton and @sulliview
Michael Sebastian / AdAge:
Gawker's Nick Denton Says BuzzFeed is ‘Pointless.’ Also a ‘Perfect Competitor.’ — Convenes a Company Meeting on Kinja Platform — Gawker Media founder Nick Denton used his company's own commenting platform to field a virtual company meeting on Tuesday, taking questions on the company's competition …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and FishbowlNY
John McDermott / Digiday:
Twitter testing ‘click-to-call’ button which allows mobile users to call advertisers directly — Twitter's direct response pitch: a new ‘click-to-call’ button — As part of its continued effort to evolve and broaden its advertising capabilities, Twitter is now touting itself …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Marketing Pilgrim, @digiday, Street Fight, SocialTimes and The Verge
Tony Haile / TIME:
Chartbeat CEO: “We confuse what people have clicked on for what they've read.” — What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong — If you're an average reader, I've got your attention for 15 seconds, so here goes: We are getting a lot wrong about the web these days.
Discussion:
Kirk LaPointe's …, @emilysteel, @hiddenbrain, @adamostrow, @magnus_, BuzzMachine, @clarkgilbert, @moore, @neilvoss and @ryanchittum
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Peter Kafka / Re/code:
No One's Looking at Your Native Ads, Either
No One's Looking at Your Native Ads, Either
Discussion:
@themediaisdying and @lererventures
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Gawker Demands Dismissal of Quentin Tarantino Lawsuit — The news site says that reading a screenplay is not a copyright infringing act. — Gawker is asking a California federal judge to reject a lawsuit filed by Quentin Tarantino over a leak of the director's unproduced script Hateful Eight.
Discussion:
Plagiarism Today, Variety, Guardian, FishbowlNY, Home on Entertainment, Deadline.com and The Wrap