Top News:
Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:
Publishers partnering with Google and Facebook should beware of tech companies' control over content — Google and Facebook are our frenemy. Beware. — Google, Facebook, Twitter and any other social platform you care to name would at one time have gone to the corporate stake to defend …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @cjr, @mathewi, @antderosa, @digiphile, @emilybell, @marklittlenews, @emilybell, @sulliview, @martingiesler, @larakiara and @charliebeckett
Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:
In earthquake-ravaged Nepal, the BBC is using messaging app Viber to share information and safety tips — In the aftermath of last week's earthquake that devastated Nepal, BBC News is today launching an account on the messaging app Viber to publish news, information, and tips for staying safe as the country continues to recover.
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk and @ptaillandier
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Hulu has 9M paid subscribers, up 50% since last year, with viewers streaming 30% more content on average — Hulu closes in on 9 million paid subscribers — The television-streaming site's members are up 50 percent since last year, CEO Mike Hopkins said, with each subscriber watching more video on average.
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Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:
New York Times Q1: $14M net loss, 47K new digital subscribers, total revenue down 1.6% to $384M — New York Times Co. Reports Loss as Print Ads Decline — The New York Times Company posted a $14 million net loss for the first quarter of 2015 as lucrative print advertising suffered a sharp drop-off.
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, USA Today, Bloomberg Business, Reuters, @raju, investors.nytco.com and @bydanielvictor
New York Times:
Twitter shares fall an additional 9% on disappointment with weak sales of direct response ads — Twitter Troubles Lie in Marketers' Reluctance to Buy New Kind of Ad — SAN FRANCISCO — As a company, Twitter is an adolescent — gangly, starry-eyed, growing like a weed and unpredictable.
Discussion:
Reuters, Adweek, Wall Street Journal, Boing Boing and Talking Biz News
Jenny Surane / Quartz:
I am editor-in-chief of my college newspaper and the job I trained for no longer exists — At age 21, I was handed control of a million-dollar company with more than 250 employees when I was named editor-in-chief of The Daily Tar Heel, the independent student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Discussion:
Media, disrupted, @kathyenglish, @antderosa and College Media Matters
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:
Book publishers to provide $250M in free ebooks to low-income students in initiatives tied to Obama's ConnectEd program — Obama pushes reading through e-book, library initiatives — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Thursday that major book publishers will provide …
Discussion:
GalleyCat, USA Today and Latest News & Headlines
Mohamed Sheikh Nor / Bloomberg Business:
Somalia Gunmen Kill Local Journalist in Central Town, Police Say — Suspected al-Shabaab gunmen raided the home of a Somali reporter in the central town of Baidoa, shooting him, his wife and another person dead, local police said. — Authorities are investigating the late Wednesday attack …
Discussion:
allAfrica.com, News24 and Somalicurrent.com
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Al Jazeera America Management in Turmoil Amid Pressure From Parent Company — On the heels of an explosive wrongful termination lawsuit, sources report that a major shakeup of operations and programming has been in the works for months at the Al Jazeera America cable news channel.
Discussion:
TVNewser, @shananaomi, International Business Times and TVNewser
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Vevo Names Erik Huggers CEO — Erik Huggers, who most recently led Intel's ill-fated attempt to launch an Internet TV service, has joined online music-video distributor Vevo as president and CEO. — Huggers' appointment is effective immediately. The 20-year digital media vet takes …
Discussion:
Bloomberg Business, Digital TV Europe and Re/code
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Nielsen to Measure Roku Connected-TV Video Ads — Nielsen and Roku are working together to measure video advertising delivered via Roku's 10 million players and smart-TV devices — a development the parties tout as the first connected-TV platform to offer audience guarantees that exist in traditional television.
Discussion:
PR Newswire
Justin Ellis / Nieman Lab:
Knight Foundation funds 20 new media and technology projects through its Prototype Fund — The Knight Foundation is awarding more than $700,000 to a new round of technology projects, with a focus on storytelling, data, and community building. Twenty projects will each receive $35,000 as part …