Mediagazer: Disney tried to buy Buzzfeed but talks broke down over price; Buzzfeed sought more than $1B (Fortune)

11:45 AM ET, April 29, 2014

Top News:

Disney tried to buy Buzzfeed but talks broke down over price; Buzzfeed sought more than $1B — Disney tried to buy BuzzFeed — The merger conversations happened several months ago, but fell apart over price. — FORTUNE - The Walt Disney Co. was in talks to acquire online content …

Discussion: New York Times, Mashable, Gawker, Wall Street Journal, Capital New York, @thestalwart, @cnbcnow, @ourielohayon, AfterDawn.com, TIME, @ischafer, Business Insider Australia, The Wrap, MediaWire Daily, @sunny_hundal, @notoriousjld, @pkafka and @sarahfrier

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

Media startup PolicyMic raises $10M in funding, Netscape co-founder Jim Clark invests — A $10 million boost for millennial media startup PolicyMic — PolicyMic, one member of a pack of BuzzFeed-like online startups, is taking on $10 million in funding from a number of investors, including Jim Clark, the co-founder of Netscape.

Discussion: The New York Observer, @andysherry, @alexmleo, @brianstelter and @bthewirz

Bloomberg:

Vevo Owners Said Close to Hiring Goldman to Explore Sale — Vevo LLC's four owners are close to hiring Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore sale options for the music video-hosting service, according to three people familiar with the matter. — The sale of a majority stake is being considered among …

Discussion: VentureBeat, @pkafka and hypebot

Andrew Beaujon / Poynter:

NYU will honor Matthew Power with literary reporting award — The spirit of Matthew Power's writing isn't easy to define, but his friend and editor Roger Hodge took a stab at it anyway: “strong, character-driven narratives with detailed scene writing, beautiful lyrical description,” …

Discussion: FishbowlNY, @joshuahersh and @poynter

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Vice journalist Tim Pool launches Taggly app on iOS for journalists to watermark images, video — Vice journalist launches Taggly app to watermark images and video — Tim Pool, renowned for his use of mobile technology in reporting, has launched the app for reporters and citizen journalists on iOS

Discussion: The Next Web, @mickcote and @sarahmarshall

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Yahoo Unveils Two Half-Hour Series to Compete for TV Ad Dollars — Yahoo wants TV ad dollars, whether they be spent on original programming or augmenting TV spots. — During its Digital Content NewFronts presentation on Monday night, Yahoo presented its plans to siphon some of the $68 billion advertisers …

Discussion: TVNewser, Lost Remote, The Wrap, Variety, CNET, Softpedia News, Marketing Land, Pocket-lint, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and comScore, Inc.

Andrew Hampp / Billboard:
Live Nation, Yahoo Announce Daily Live Stream Concert Partnership

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Music Ally, Canadianreviewer.com, AllAccess.com and VentureBeat

Kif Leswing / Gigaom:

Sprint will offer discount Spotify subscriptions for subscribers — Sprint plans to offer Spotify trials for customers, with the ability to pay for the service through carrier billing, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said at an event in New York on Tuesday. The program, called Sprint Sound Sessions …

Discussion: TechCrunch, AdAge, VentureBeat, Business Insider and Re/code

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Survey: 62 percent can't recall anything from native ads — Native advertising is growing in popularity, but it remains controversial. Editorial purists fret that ads that mimic editorial content will confuse readers, undermining the integrity of the journalism surrounding it.

Discussion: @digiday

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Netflix researching “large-scale peer-to-peer technology” for streaming — Job ad says Netflix wants to “integrate P2P as an additional delivery mechanism.” — When we wrote about the possibility of Netflix using a peer-to-peer architecture for streaming earlier today …

Discussion: SlashGear, @koenrh, Coolest Gadget Reviews, TorrentFreak, BGR and Techdirt

Caysey Welton / Folio:

Digital newsstand app Zinio buys mobile publishing company Audience Media for undisclosed sum — Zinio Acquires Audience Media — Zinio gains new publishing tech that promotes mobile-first products. — Today, Zinio announced that it has acquired mobile publishing app company Audience Media for an undisclosed amount.

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

Fears grow that the BBC News Channel could become online only — Fears are growing among BBC journalists that the 24-hour BBC News Channel could follow the youth-orientated BBC3 in becoming an online-only service. — The issue was discussed today at an internal meeting at the Radio Theatre inside …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

National Journal's chief correspondent Michael Hirsh to become Politico mag's national editor — National Journal's Michael Hirsh Joins Politico Magazine — National Journal chief correspondent Michael Hirsh is leaving the publication to become national editor for Politico Magazine …

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Ethiopia jails nine journalists, renews press crackdown — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Ethiopian government's arrests of nine journalists in one of the worst crackdowns against free expression in the country. — “With the latest arrests, Ethiopian authorities …

Discussion: Reuters, Poynter, allAfrica.com, @jilliancyork, @ethanz, @ethanz and @joelcpj

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Craig Ferguson to Leave ‘Late Late Show’ in December — Craig Ferguson will step down as host of CBS' “ The Late Late Show” in December when his contract with the network expires after nearly a decade as David Letterman's companion in the 12:35 a.m. slot. — Ferguson's decision comes less …

Discussion: New York Times, CBS Press Express, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, Hollywood Life, Politico, The Wire, Mediaite and The Wrap

Cindy Royal / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Are journalism schools teaching their students the right skills? — If you are a journalism educator or media professional, I have news for you: We work in tech. — I know: That's not exactly what you signed up for when you entered the profession 20, 10, or even five years ago. But things have changed.

Discussion: @sulliview and @betheleri

Associated Press:

AP Veteran David Scott Named Political Editor — WASHINGTON (AP) — David Scott, who leads news coverage in 14 states for The Associated Press as a regional editor, was named Tuesday as political editor to direct the news agency's national political reporting.

Discussion: Politico and @ap_corpcomm

Society of Editors:

Sir Alan Moses appointed as first chair of Independent Press Standards Organisation — The Rt Hon Sir Alan Moses has been appointed as the first Chair of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). He is the unanimous choice of the independent Selection Panel chaired by Sir Hayden Phillips.

Discussion: @paulscaddy, @joshuarozenberg and Guardian

Rosie Baker / AdNews:

News Corp introduces cross-title membership and reward scheme — News Corp is introducing a membership and reward scheme across its portfolio of newspaper titles to offer readers access to content from its online papers through a personalised hub. — The publisher claims …

Discussion: mUmBRELLA, B&T and News Corp Australia

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

BBC iPlayer recorded its best ever month in March, with 320 million programme requests — The BBC today released the March edition of its iPlayer performance report, revealing new record highs for its Internet-based TV and radio service over the four-week period.

Will Leitch / Sports on Earth:

The sports bubble inflated by cable TV will burst soon with tech and viewership changes — WHEN THE BUBBLE BURSTS — I've talked about this before, but it is worth remembering, one more time, that a lot fewer people care about sports than you and I — the type of people who read …

Discussion: @pmarca, @stevemaxboxing, @alexsimon99, @suzisteffen, @williamfleitch, @swmckewonowh and New York Times

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:

Barrett Brown's lawyer says government chilled free speech with broad charges, later dropped — Barrett Brown lawyer: US tried to ‘kill a fly with a sledgehammer’ — Ahmed Ghappour speaks out after gag order was lifted and says effect of prosecutorial overreach is ‘chilling to free speech’

Discussion: @casparbowden, @edpilkington and WhoWhatWhy