Mediagazer: Daily News bidding down to its final three suitors (Keith J. Kelly/New York Post)

9:50 PM ET, May 15, 2015

Top News:

Clinton Foundation donors include dozens of media figures and outlets: James Murdoch, Newsmax, NBC Universal, News Corp, Carlos Slim, Thomson Reuters, and more — Clinton Foundation donors include dozens of media organizations, individuals — NBC Universal, News Corporation …

Discussion: Showbiz411, @dylanbyers, @dylanbyers, @dylanbyers and @trevortimm

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
A Weak Apology Won't End George Stephanopoulos' Clinton Problem

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Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Before Stephanopoulos recused himself from campaign debate, Republicans had already told ABC they didn't want him as moderator

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Richard Deitsch / SI.com:

Bill Simmons will not appear again on ESPN platforms, including Grantland — ESPN president John Skipper addresses Bill Simmons' departure … There will be no farewell columns, podcasts or television appearances for Bill Simmons on ESPN. — SI has learned that ESPN and Simmons have worked …

Discussion: New York Times, The Big Lead, Mediaite, UPROXX, Variety, Poynter, Business Insider, Bleacher Report and The Week

Michael Sebastian / AdAge:

Four of the first five US publishers to use Facebook's Instant Articles plan to sell their own ads and keep all of the revenue — Publishers Willing to Give Facebook Their Articles, but Not Their Ad Sales — Branded Content Could Find a Home in Instant Articles — 2015 Programming Roundup

Jack Marshall / Wall Street Journal:
For some publishers, delegating the sale of Instant Articles ads to Facebook could make sense

Discussion: New York Times, Poynter, @jackmarshall, @perlberg, TechCrunch and The Whip

Matthew Kassel / The New York Observer:

17 People Who Should Write the New York Times Media Column — It's impossible to replace David Carr, the New York Times media columnist who died in February. But according to a recent report in Variety, the paper is on the lookout for a new writer and has whittled its search …

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Scott Roxborough / Hollywood Reporter:

At Cannes, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos rebuffs claims that the company could undercut European film market — Netflix's Ted Sarandos Heckled at Cannes: “You Will Destroy the Film Ecosystem in Europe” — Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos came under fire …

Discussion: The Verge, Variety and Deadline

Bloomberg Business:
Netflix in talks with Jack Ma-backed Chinese media company Wasu, others, as it tries to enter the country's $5.9B online video market

Jacob Silverman / The Baffler:

Twitter's new features have all favored advertisers and made it more unsuitable for genuine user interaction — Tweet If You Love the Sweet Sound of Advertising — Almost all of Twitter's recent changes have favored advertisers. / Adobe — According to Wall Street, we haven't been clicking and tweeting nearly enough.

Discussion: @thebafflermag

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:

Sources: Al Jazeera America's Ehab Al Shihabi is gone despite saying last week he would remain as COO — News executive who refused to leave is gone — The ousted boss of Al Jazeera America who declared last week that he would remain at the company as chief operating officer has not been seen …

Discussion: TVNewser, Politico, Poynter and The Wrap

Carrie Waltemeyer / CJR:

Profile of NowThis, which claims 130M monthly total views in April across platforms — What's next for NowThis? — Since the story was first being reported, NowThis has seen total views in a single month across platforms go from 72 million to upwards of 130 million.

Kathryn Bachman / Katy on the Hill:

AT&T and DirecTV extend merger termination date — With just three days to go, AT&T and DirecTV extended the May 18 termination date of their merger agreement “for a short period of time to facilitate obtaining final regulatory approval required to close the merger.”

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Anonymously run music service using “Grooveshark” name is sued by record labels, loses domains, then moves to new domain — Record Labels Sue ‘New’ Grooveshark, Seize Domains — Earlier this month the long running lawsuit between the RIAA and Grooveshark came to an end.

Discussion: The Next Web

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Daily News bidding down to its final three suitors — The auction for the troubled Daily News is going down to the wire, with only three bidders remaining. — The deadline is May 18, although sources say it's a soft finish line that may be extended if two bidders are close or need a little …

Discussion: FishbowlNY