Top News:
Gawker:
75% of Gawker Media editorial staff voted yes to unionize and be represented by Writers Guild of America, East — Gawker Media Votes To Unionize — Yesterday, more than 100 Gawker Media editorial employees voted on the question of whether to be represented by the Writers Guild of America …
J.K. Trotter / Gawker:
Twitter revokes API access for Sunlight Foundation's Politwhoops site, which showed politicians' deleted tweets, cites violation of developer agreement — Twitter Just Killed Politwoops — A Twitter spokesperson just provided the following statement to Gawker regarding the apparent suspension …
Discussion:
Mashable, MediaNama, Gawker, Business Insider, @politaoke, @steeph, @mcandrew, @mattcutts, The Next Web, @digiphile, @fmanjoo, @elaheizadi, @jeffyoung, @jktrotter, @pbump, VentureBeat and Sunlight Foundation Blog
Ryan Knutson / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Dish in early stage merger talks with T-Mobile US; combined company likely to have Charlie Ergen as chairman, John Legere as CEO — Dish Network in Merger Talks With T-Mobile US — Dish, T-Mobile Have Agreed Charlie Ergen Would Be Chairman, John Legere CEO
Discussion:
Re/code, Reuters, New York Times, Business Insider, Broadcasting & Cable, ZDNet and GeekWire
CNNMoney:
Leaked Arianna Huffington memo shows focus on continued global expansion, investment in video, acquisitions, and a global newsroom — Read Arianna Huffington's plan to ‘dominate the industry’ — CNNMoney has obtained a copy of the Huffington Post's strategy for growth …
Discussion:
@lisahopeking and @gjbarb
Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:
Snapchat hires Sean Mills, former president of NowThis and The Onion, as Head of Original Content — Snapchat has hired Sean Mills to be its Head of Original content based in New York City, Business Insider has learned. This is Mills' first week on the job. — The company confirmed the hire to Business Insider.
Discussion:
Reynolds Center, Business Pundit and The Wrap
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
SoundCloud signs licensing deal to pay independent labels for music streams — Partnership with licensing agency Merlin also covers the company's plans for a paid music subscription service later in 2015 — SoundCloud has struck a deal with licensing agency Merlin that it says will help …
Discussion:
New York Times, Music Ally and Consequence of Sound
Jacob Adelman / Philly.com:
The Jewish Exponent lays off Philadelphia-based editorial staff, transferring newsroom management to Baltimore — Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent lays off local editorial team — The Jewish Exponent, the nation's second-oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper …
AAP:
Australian government document showing no evidence Peter Greste has broken any laws could lead to his acquittal in Egypt — Australian government document could lead to acquittal — Journalist who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison hopes that because he has not committed a crime in Australia, all charges will finally be dropped
Discussion:
@nourhanmagdi, @melbpressclub, @sharifkouddous, @kristenmctighe, @sherinet, @sharifkouddous and NEWS.com.au
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
‘Transparent’ Season 1 Lands Audio Commentary Version on Amazon — Amazon unveiled an audio commentary version of critically acclaimed new series “Transparent” on Wednesday, with participation from creator Jill Soloway and cast members Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Landecker and Jay Duplass.
Discussion:
USA Today, Variety, The Next Web and Amazon.com
Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:
DailyMail.com Invests $3 Million in Web Content Marketing Firm Taboola — DailyMail.com is investing $3 million in the content recommendation firm Taboola as the companies plan to develop advertising products together, including several that are geared toward improving the performance of sponsor-produced content.
Emily Shackleton / Press Gazette:
Map of UK's local newspapers and websites reveals London news gap — London is one of the least covered region in the UK by local newspapers according to new research by Press Gazette. — Data detailing all the current active local newspapers in the UK reveals that London …
Joseph Lichterman / Nieman Lab:
Tablet magazine charges for access to its comments, which has moved conversation to its Facebook page, says comment quality has increased and traffic is steady — After deciding to charge for comments, Tablet's conversation moves...to Facebook — After its publication on May 19 …
Discussion:
@niemanlab
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
Sources: new Apple TV hardware will not be announced at WWDC — Apple to Unveil Tool Kit for Watch App Developers — SAN FRANCISCO — When Apple began selling the Apple Watch in April, Phillip Ryu did not rush to create an app for the gadget. Because the device has limited animation …
Discussion:
Forbes, Talking New Media, Fortune, The Verge, MacRumors, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Variety, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, ZDNet, VentureBeat, App Advice, Re/code, TIME, BGR, Engadget, MacStories and firewireblog.com
Estelle Shirbon / Reuters:
Trinity Mirror to appeal £1.2M phone hacking compensation damages — Trinity Mirror to appeal against phone-hacking ruling — Britain's Trinity Mirror newspaper group will appeal against a court ruling ordering it to pay a total of 1.2 million pounds in damages to eight phone-hacking victims …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Life Style Extra and Financial Times
Ben Fox / Associated Press:
US journalism courses in Cuba are seen as undermining official authority, which tightly controls media — US journalism courses rile Cuba amid effort to heal rift — 6 photos — HAVANA (AP) — About 30 Cubans sit in a conference room for several hours each week and learn the ABCs of journalism …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Why the Cloud Is Key to Charter's Big Deal for Time Warner Cable — Anyone looking to understand the reasons behind the $78.7 billion deal that Charter Communications struck with TW Cable last week need look no further than their own set-top box. — Cable boxes, and more broadly the platforms …
Discussion:
Forbes
Patrick Frater / Variety:
China's Alibaba Pictures Raising $1.6 Billion in Share Sale — Alibaba Pictures Group is to raise US$1.6 billion (HK$12.2 billion) in a share sale, the company announced. — The company, which is a separately traded unit of Alibaba the mainland Chinese e-commerce giant …
Discussion:
Reuters, Bloomberg Business and Hollywood Reporter
Amina Elahi / Chicago Tribune:
Rivet Radio raised $1.9M since last summer for total of $3.6M from Belo, AP, others to expand audio news on devices and in-car platforms — Rivet Radio using $1.9 million in recent funding on expansion
Discussion:
Built In Chicago, Chicago Business and VentureBeat
Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Letter calls on Angola's president to drop charges against investigative journalist Rafael Marques after he was given a six month suspended sentence last week — Letter calls on Angolan president to drop charges against investigative journalist — Journalists, actors, film-makers …
Discussion:
@fcancio
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Spotify's sorting of tunes by moods and activities instead of rigid genres expands discovery but produces one-hit wonders — Spotify Wants Listeners to Break Down Music Barriers — In the last few weeks, my two children, ages 4 and 2, have suddenly become obsessed with Simon and Garfunkel.