Mediagazer: DreamWorks Animation, Disney & Sony Slapped With Class Action Over Wage Suppression Deals (Dominic Patten/Deadline)

6:05 PM ET, September 8, 2014

Top News:

Jason Deans / Guardian:

Victims of press intrusion brand new regulator Ipso a sham — Parents of Milly Dowler and Madeleine McCann among signatories of letter attacking publishers for rejecting Leveson — Madeleine McCann's parents Kate and Gerry were among 30 victims of press intrusion who signed the letter.

James Doleman / The Drum:
Questions remain over new press regulator IPSO as it launches

Discussion: Guardian, BBC, Harborough Mail, iMediaEthics, Herald Scotland, Border Telegraph, Press Association, HoldTheFrontPage and The Independent

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

Bloomberg News Stands Out With Editorial Policy to Not Report on Itself — On the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, Michael R. Bloomberg appears at No. 15, with a net worth of $33.6 billion. But on his own company's ranking, the Bloomberg Billionaires index, he appears nowhere.

Discussion: @markscott82, @pierrebri, FishbowlNY, @hblodget, @edmundlee, Talking Biz News and New York Magazine

Re/code:

Reddit raising over $50M for less than 10% of the company, at a valuation upwards of $500M — Reddit Raising a Big Round, and Some Y Combinator Players Are in the Mix — Reddit, the social news site with a big Web footprint, is raising a big funding round — with help from some of the people …

Discussion: The Awl, New York Times, The Verge, Gawker, CNET, @chrisyeh, @danprimack, Valleywag, Mashable, Forbes, PandoDaily, VentureBeat, Silicon Republic, Business Insider, Guardian and TechCrunch

Jonathan Peters / Columbia Journalism Review:

Why California's smartphone ‘kill switch’ law should concern journalists — An antitheft measure creates the risk that the government could interfere with newsgathering — Imagine this. — You're a journalist covering a street protest, and the local police chief doesn't like the photos you're tweeting from your iPhone.

Discussion: @jonathanwpeters

Catalina Albeanu / Journalism.co.uk:

Future offers free digital editions with print in September — Future makes use of its own in-house publishing software to offer free digital access to its print readers at no extra cost — Credit: C. Regina on Flickr. Some rights reserved. — Future plc announced a group-wide offer …

Brendan Sasso / National Journal:

Netflix to Join ‘Internet Slowdown’ Protest Over Net Neutrality — Your videos won't load slower, but the protest could add more pressure on the FCC to enact tough rules. — If you see a spinning loading icon when you try to watch Netflix videos Wednesday, there isn't a problem with your Internet connection.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Variety, Reuters and @nationaljournal

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

DreamWorks Animation, Disney & Sony Slapped With Class Action Over Wage Suppression Deals — A former DreamWorks Animation effects artist is taking on the 'toon studios with a class action lawsuit over the anti-poaching agreements they allegedly had. DWA, Disney, Pixar, Sony Pictures Animation …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, Bloomberg and Los Angeles Times

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

American Reader to drop its web content and focus on print — One of the consequences of the print industry's downward slide over the past several years has been the trend of newspapers and magazines going “digital-only”—ditching costly paper products, with their diminished circulation …

Discussion: American Press Institute

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Twitter Announces Its First Commerce Product — A “Buy” Button On Mobile — After months of reports and rumors, Twitter is announcing its first commerce product. — The company first signaled its interest in this area last year, when it hired former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard to lead its commerce team.

Discussion: The Twitter Blog, New York Times, Forbes, Re/code, Business Insider, AdAge, Gigaom, Billboard, Deadline, Variety, Guardian, Digital Spy, BetaNews, BBC, VentureBeat, Wired, USA Today, Adweek, CNET, The Verge and Associated Press

Emily Steel / New York Times:

Nielsen Finds Older Adults Are Embracing Digital Video — Digital video may be most popular with children and young adults, but it increasingly is being embraced by viewers of an older set. — People 50 to 64 years old watched an average of 19 minutes a day of digital video during …

Discussion: MarketingVox News & Trends

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:

The Information announces two hires, including WSJ media reporter Martin Peers as columnist — Welcome Martin Peers and Stephen Nellis! — I am delighted to announce that Martin Peers, a longtime Wall Street Journal media reporter and editor, is joining The Information as a columnist.

Discussion: New York Times, The New York Observer, @mvpeers and Talking Biz News

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Flipboard Buys Photo and Video App Ultravisual, as It Preps for New Fall Products — Flipboard has purchased Ultravisual, a small Brooklyn-based app maker that offers elegant photo and video creation and collaboration software for Apple's iPhone iOS. — Terms of the deal for the seven-person company …

Discussion: TechCrunch, @mmccue, @neilvoss, Ultravisual, @gabiekur and @ultravisualapp

Bill Carter / New York Times:

James Corden to Replace Craig Ferguson as Host of ‘The Late, Late Show’ on CBS — In choosing James Corden on Monday to replace Craig Ferguson as the host of “The Late, Late Show,” CBS seems to be making a statement. — The statement: Nothing mattered more than finding a standout talent …

Discussion: The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Guardian, Reuters, ITV, Washington Post, Digital Spy, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, BBC, TIME, Daily Mail, The Verge, @jkcorden, @craigyferg, Vulture, Entertain This!, The Wire, Deadline and Business Insider

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Wall Street Journal launches perks program for subscribers — The Wall Street Journal is buttering up its paying customers with a complimentary membership program that tacks on special perks to their print and digital subscriptions. — Members of WSJ+, an opt-in program …