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 …
Discussion:
Capital New York, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Writers Guild of America East, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Poynter, FishbowlNY, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, PandoDaily, TechCrunch, @hamiltonnolan, bizjournals, @rustyk5, The Awl, @nicknotned, @samfbiddle, @mikeisaac, Washington Post, The New York Observer, @johngapper, Guardian, New York Magazine, Politico, International Business Times, New York Post, CNNMoney, BuzzFeed, Poynter, Variety, Mediaite, The Wrap, @jacobinmag, @zackseward, @jim_newell, Talking New Media, Mother Jones, USA Today, @jledbetter, @adamclarkestes, @justinjm1 and Wired
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Comcast Has Agreed To Acquire Ad Tech Firm Visible World — Cable giant Comcast Corp. has agreed to acquire the TV ad-targeting firm Visible World, according to a person familiar with the matter. — The deal, if completed, could put the cable giant into a stronger position …
Discussion:
Beet.TV, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety
Bloomberg Business:
Vodafone Said to Discuss Options Including a Merger With Liberty — Vodafone Group Plc and Liberty Global Plc are discussing a range of potential transactions, including an outright merger, amid consolidation in the telecommunications industry, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Discussion:
Telegraph and Wall Street Journal
Women's Media Center:
Study: men wrote 62% of print stories, 58% online, 62% of wire content, and 62.1% overall — WMC Divided 2015: The Media Gender Gap — Women's Role in U.S. Media: Still Dismal? Getting Stronger? The Women's Media Center - founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem …
Discussion:
Poynter and @talkingbiznews
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Reporters at the Washington Post Will Soon Be Able to Check Their Articles' Traffic — Deal between union and management will let journalists see how their stories do on the Web. — The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild and the Washington Post's management have reached a “tentative agreement” …
Discussion:
@nickwoltman
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Songkick And CrowdSurge Merge, Raise $16M To Combine Concert Discovery And Ticketing — Half of concert tickets go unsold because fans don't know the shows are happening. To fix that, 10 million user concert discovery app Songkick is merging with white-label artist-to-fan ticket seller CrowdSurge.
Discussion:
Songkick Blog, Re/code, @joshconstine, Billboard, @frantaclaus, Guardian, PR Newswire and hypebot
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Alabama Media Group's first artist-in-residence goes beyond text to explore the culture of the South — These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me, — If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,
Discussion:
@losowsky, @mlh_holmes, @getlowder and @ylichterman
Kristine Lu / Pew Research Center:
Facebook's deal with publishers a stark reminder of digital ad gulf — The past few weeks have seen major attempts by the news industry to find creative ways to survive in a digital age, particularly when it comes to advertising, which has been upended by the rise of technology giants like Facebook and Google.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Alibaba Invests $194M Into China Business News To Build A Financial Data Platform — Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, is currently focused on investing internationally to grow its business, but is also continuing to build out operations at home. In the latest move, it has invested $193.6 million …
Discussion:
Business Wire and Quartz
RELATED:
Patrick Frater / Variety:
China's Alibaba Pictures Raising $1.6 Billion in Share Sale
China's Alibaba Pictures Raising $1.6 Billion in Share Sale
Discussion:
Deadline, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Bloomberg Business
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Politico's VandeHei on aiming for influencers, cheapening content in search of scale, and keeping editorial and business separate — Politico's Jim VandeHei: Scale is a ‘deal with the devil’ — At a time when publishers are grappling to diversify their revenue beyond advertising, Politico has an enviable business model.
Discussion:
@gaberivera, @jasonclampet, @digiday and American Press Institute
Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Songs must be played five to seven times on Spotify's free service to generate the same royalties as one play on Premium — How the Cash Flows in Spotify Streams — Songs on the free version pay a lot less in royalties, and that's just one of the quirks
Discussion:
TIME
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:
@gjbarb and @lisahopeking
Ryan Lawler / Medium:
TechCrunch writer Ryan Lawler to join 500 Startups as venture partner — Breaking: TechCrunch Writer Becomes An Investor — Let's not bury the lede: I'm leaving TechCrunch next week and, after taking a bit of a vacation, I will be joining 500 Startups as its newest Venture Partner come August.
Discussion:
PandoDaily, @dmac1, @samfbiddle, @ashleymayer, @ryanlawler, @eringriffith and @thestalwart
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Virtual-Cable Startup Layer3 TV Lands $51 Million Funding, Plans 2015 Launch — Layer3 TV, the secretive startup that calls itself a “next-gen cable company,” announced that it has closed $51 million in second-round funding, led by previous investors Evolution Media Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Denver Post, Light Reading and New York Post