Mediagazer: Tim Cook Explains Why Apple Is Buying Beats (Q&A) (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

1:50 AM ET, May 29, 2014

Top News:

Apple to acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $2.6B in cash and $400M in stock to vest over time — Apple to Acquire Beats Music & Beats Electronics — Apple® today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music …

Discussion: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, New York Post, Re/code, MacRumors, Gigaom, The Verge, PandoDaily, 9to5Mac, @tim_cook, App Advice, Fortune, Ubergizmo, Business Insider, Mercury News, MacStories, AdAge, @barbariancap, @billboardbiz, NPR, ZDNet, The Verge, BBC, Forbes, Mashable, TIME, BGR and MacRumors

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Tim Cook Explains Why Apple Is Buying Beats (Q&A) — The Apple Beats deal has already generated lots of debate, and now that it's official, we will see even more. Here's Apple CEO Tim Cook's extended explanation, via an interview he conducted with Re/code this afternoon.

Discussion: 9to5Mac, Forbes, Guardian, AppleInsider, MacRumors, USA Today, Business Insider, TechCrunch, TIME, Fortune and MacStories

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Jimmy Iovine's four decades of experience and celebrity connections lend credibility to Apple's music plans — Jimmy Iovine, a Master of Beats, Lends Apple a Skilled Ear — CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's new music impresario, Jimmy Iovine, didn't start out writing code or studying computer engineering …

Discussion: @stevenbjohnson

Ed Christman / Billboard:

John Janick to Succeed Jimmy Iovine as Chairman, CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M — John Janick has been named chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, succeeding Jimmy Iovine, the most successful head of a major label for the last 25 years. — The announcement was made to coincide …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The FADER, @reckless, Variety and New York Magazine

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Cue and Iovine talk about Beats acquisition, competing streaming services, Apple TV, more — Apple Shows Off Its Newest Product, and Promises Much More to Come — Liveblog highlights — Apple offers three reasons for its $3 billion deal to acquire Beats: the talent, the headphones and the subscription music service.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @johnpaczkowski, @recode, MacRumors, The Next Web, CNET, @lanceulanoff, @parislemon, @stevecase, @nichcarlson, @larrymagid, @jonfortt, @inafried, @fmanjoo, Business Insider and AppleInsider

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Michael Kinsley Responds to Criticism of Greenwald Review — Mr. Kinsley has asked The Times for the opportunity to respond and I am providing it here:

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, @poniewozik, @davidfolkenflik, @ethancoxmtl, @jpodhoretz, @jonathanchait, @jamisonfoser, @zackbeauchamp, @dougjballoon and Pressing Issues

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The scariest chart in Mary Meeker's slide deck for newspapers has gotten a little scarier — It's an annual moment of print realism here at Nieman Lab: The posting of the attention slide from Mary Meeker's state-of-the-Internet slide deck. I guess I can cut and paste from last year's post:

Discussion: Re/code, @ylichterman and @ethanwsj

Nikki Usher / Washington Post:

It's not just Jill Abramson: Women everywhere are getting pushed out of journalism — Blame the techies. — Nikki Usher is the author of Making News at The New York Times and an assistant professor at George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.

Discussion: @rsm, @amandabee, @livvybolton, @tasneemraja, @tasneemraja, @derekwillis, @nikkiusher, @rsm, @nikkiusher, @yurivictor, @tasneemraja, @feministabulous, @sisiwei, @derekwillis, @derekwillis, @katdowns and @markcoddington

Mandy Jenkins / Zombie Journalism:

Technology is a solution, not a problem, for women in newsrooms — So maybe you've noticed - there's a lot of talk about women in journalism these days in the wake of Jill Abramson's unplanned exit from the New York Times. Aside from being a woman and a journalist, I haven't generally felt …

Discussion: @kate_day, @mjenkins, @mjenkins and @kissane

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

With 20 Million Units Sold, Eddy Cue Says Apple TV Will Continue To Evolve — Apple TV has been a pretty modest success when you compare it to some of Apple's other products, but with 20 million units sold, the product has clearly captured consumer attention.

Discussion: Re/code

Bill Carter / New York Times:

May Brings a Loss of Viewership for Cable News Channels — May is typically a slow month for television news channels — not much is happening and there is competition from season-ending series elsewhere. — But all the news channels have seen particularly troubling declines in viewership …

Discussion: @mlcalderone

Brendan Sasso / NationalJournal.com:

Six Strikes delivers 1.3M copyright violation notices in 10 months, to double in size in 2014 — Entertainment Companies Caught 1.3 Million Alleged Pirates — Under an initiative, movie studios and record labels don't need a court to go after copyright violations.

Discussion: Variety

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Comcast's Brian Roberts Defends His Time Warner Deal, and His Company — The New York Times thinks Comcast shouldn't be allowed to buy Time Warner Cable. Guess what Comcast CEO Brian Roberts thinks? — Okay, you don't have to guess. But Roberts made his case for the merger …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Re/code, @pkafka, CNET, Deadline.com, Gigaom, DSLreports, Free Press Blog and Variety

Jeff Baumgartner / Multichannel News:

Clearleap Heads Into Latin America — Taps Tom McCarthy To Head Up Sales In The Region — Following an expansion into Europe last August, multiscreen video specialist Clearleap is also setting its sights south of the border with a launch into Latin America.

Discussion: Streaming Media

Capital New York:

American Prospect likely to become quarterly ‘journal of ideas’ — The American Prospect's board of directors met this morning to consider a proposal to recreate the Prospect as a print quarterly with a smaller budget, a source with knowledge of the meeting told Capital.

Discussion: @gabrielarana and The Huffington Post

Didi Tang / Associated Press:

China detains journalist ahead of anniversary — BEIJING (AP) — Beijing police have detained a Chinese news assistant for a Japanese newspaper, her family said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of detentions ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

Discussion: New York Times and RFA

Hadley Malcolm / USA Today:

Target to offer e-books through partnership — Target wants to help host your book club — online. — As the retailer works to build a more competitive e-commerce experience, it's partnering with a startup e-book subscription service called Librify to give customers an online platform for buying …

Discussion: Consumerist and GalleyCat

Joshua Benton / Nieman Journalism Lab:

You can add audio and video players inside your tweets, just as WNYC did for a Maya Angelou interview — Interesting tweet an hour or so ago from New York public radio giant WNYC: … That's audio of an interview WNYC's Brian Lehrer did with Angelou in 2013 — playing right in the tweet.

Discussion: @radiodiaries and @niemanlab

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Comcast, Verizon and Co. Stop Mass Piracy Lawsuits on Appeal — Two years ago district court Judge Beryl Howell, a former RIAA lobbyist, granted adult movie company AF Holdings the right to obtain the personal details of more than 1,000 Internet users suspected of downloading their works using BitTorrent.

Discussion: Daily Dot, Consumerist, The 1709 Blog and DSLreports

WashPostPR / Washington Post:

The Washington Post partner program signs on nearly 100 newspapers — Digital First Media, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Columbus Dispatch among the latest to join pilot program — Nearly 100 newspapers will participate in The Washington Post partner program first announced earlier this year.

Discussion: FishbowlDC and @jbenton

Monica Anderson / Pew Research Center:

As the New York Times' first black executive editor, Dean Baquet is in a distinct minority — Just as the May 14 dismissal of New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson sparked a debate about gender roles in journalism, the ascension of Dean Baquet—the first African-American to run the paper's newsroom …

Discussion: Poynter, @pewjournalism, @brentinmock, @rubinafillion, The Huffington Post, FishbowlNY, @edmundlee, @mhugolopez, @monicaranders, @niemanlab and @jcstearns

Aditya Kalra / Reuters:

Twitter to take India election innovations global — (Reuters) - U.S. social networking company Twitter is planning to replicate parts of its India election strategy across countries that go to polls this year, after it emerged as a key tool for politicians and media companies during the world's largest democratic exercise.

Discussion: @elanazak and @sunny_hundal