Top News:
Dylan Byers / Politico:
CNN political reporter Peter Hamby is joining Snapchat as Head of News — Peter Hamby leaving CNN for Snapchat — Peter Hamby, widely recognized by Beltway insiders as one of CNN's best political reporters, is leaving the network to join Snapchat as Head of News, the On Media blog has learned.
Discussion:
TVNewser, The Wrap, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, @kenvogel, @timodc, @kevinroose, @dangillmor, @ejpfauth, @mims, @poynter, @lukerussert, @elanazak, Mashable, @gfififi, @battenhall, @mikeisaac, @nowthised, @jaconi, @hamburger, @nycjim, @jaxalemany, @ewood02, @sinderbrand, @zekejmiller, @toddjolmstead, @alexburnsnyt, @tomgara, @mlcalderone and Engadget
Jane Martinson / Guardian:
Google and eight European publishers plan Digital News Initiative to develop news business models, with $163M Google innovation fund — Google admits mistakes with news outlets as it announces new partnership — The Digital News Initiative is likely to be seen as an attempt for Google …
Discussion:
mathewingram.com/work, Capital New York, @baekdal, Financial Times, Medium, @ulrikelanger and @mathewi
Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
Six writers withdraw as literary hosts of PEN gala after it gives freedom of expression award to Charlie Hebdo — Six PEN Members Decline Gala After Award for Charlie Hebdo — The decision by PEN American Center to give its annual Freedom of Expression Courage award to the French satirical …
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
New York Times airs its first virtual reality film at NewFront presentation to advertisers — Times pushes virtual reality, video series at its ‘NewFront’ — The New York Times is adding virtual reality to its growing roster of video content as it races to scale digital revenues.
Discussion:
AdAge, Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek and @joepompeo
Eric Blattberg / Digiday:
PopSugar unveiling daily show PopSugar Rush at NewFronts on April 30, will run on Facebook for 24 hours before hitting YouTube, PopSugar site — How PopSugar went from zero to 14 mil. Facebook video views a month — Six months ago, women's lifestyle publisher PopSugar had a simple video strategy …
Kathryn Bachman / Katy on the Hill:
ESPN files lawsuit against Verizon over skinny TV packages — ESPN filed suit against Verizon over its Custom TV packages, which allows FiOS customers to pick and choose between ESPN and ESPN2. The suit was filed Monday morning in the New York State Court.
Discussion:
Home Media Magazine, Multichannel News, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TechCrunch, Variety and @pkafka
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
Huffington Post to launch Highline, weekly installments of longform journalism, under ex-TNR editors Greg Veis and Rachel Morris — HuffPost readies to launch longform initiative — The Huffington Post will soon publish the first article of a new longform venture captained by two former editors …
Discussion:
@poynter and @ariannahuff, Thanks:@benmullin
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
BuzzFeed Pitches Advertisers On “Pound” Tech That Tracks A Story's Viral Spread — BuzzFeed is known as the king of viral content, and today it's sharing more details about a new technology showing how that content actually spreads. — By using what it calls Pound (short for Process …
Discussion:
AdAge and The Huffington Post
Wall Street Journal:
Katie Couric's show to play key role in Yahoo's push to grow video advertising and improve distribution of content through social media — Yahoo, Katie Couric Tweak the Recipe — It isn't about home-page traffic, they say, playing up the staying power of interviews thanks to social media
Discussion:
FishbowlNY and Business Insider
Sydney Ember / New York Times:
Packed Field Stokes Competition for Digital Ad Dollars — Over the next two weeks, some of the biggest Internet companies and publishers will showcase their original programming in an annual attempt to attract advertising dollars. The events, taking place in New York under the banner …
Martin Fackler / New York Times:
In Japan, right-wing Abe government tries to silence, intimidate press — Effort by Japan to Stifle News Media Is Working — TOKYO — It was an unexpected act of protest that shook Japan's carefully managed media world: Shigeaki Koga, a regular television commentator and fierce critic …
Discussion:
@huffpostmedia
Brian Flynn / The Sun:
The Sun launches SecureDrop on site to allow whistleblowers to leak stories anonymously, after police hacked Sun reporters phones to identify source — The Sun launches Whistleblowers' Charter — Our SecureDrop keeps anonymous sources secure THE Sun has launched a Whistleblowers' Charter …
Discussion:
@wikileaks, @wblau, BetaNews, VentureBeat, Press Gazette, @lukereuters, Guardian, @mjrharris, @profwoodward, @ianbrownoii and @bbw1984
Ayman al-Warfalli / Reuters:
Islamic State kills five journalists working for Libyan TV station-army official — (Reuters) - Islamic State militants have slit the throats of five journalists working for a Libyan TV station in the eastern part of the country, an army commander said on Monday.