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, The Huffington Post, Writers Guild of America East, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, FishbowlNY, Washington Post, @hamiltonnolan, Columbia Journalism Review, @rustyk5, @nicknotned, @samfbiddle, @johngapper, Guardian, The Awl, Talking Points Memo, TechCrunch, The New York Observer, bizjournals, New York Magazine, International Business Times, New York Post, CNNMoney, BuzzFeed, Poynter, PandoDaily, Politico, Variety, The Wrap, Mediaite, @jacobinmag, @zackseward, Talking New Media, @jim_newell, Mother Jones, USA Today, @jledbetter, @adamclarkestes and @justinjm1
RELATED:
Joel Johnson / Gawker:
Former Gawker editorial director discusses details of business model, explains Kinja's failure, and says several sites have been shopped around — Congratulations, Edit! — Congratulations, Edit! I think unionizing was a smart, brave decision, and one that gives you a chance at security in a turbulent environment.
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, Variety and Broadcasting & Cable
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
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
Globe and Mail:
Canadians who use VPNs to watch US Netflix content are stealing, says new Bell Media president — Bell Media president urges behavioural shift to prevent ‘stealing’ — The head of one of Canada's largest media companies has taken a bold stance on piracy, equating the use of workarounds …
Discussion:
CBC News, AlphaBeatic, Winnipeg Free Press, Canada Business, Mashable and TorrentFreak
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.
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
Bruce Houghton / hypebot:
Rhapsody, BandPage Partner For More Personalized Streaming, Direct To Fan Commerce — From its humble start as a Facebook enhancement app, BandPage has promoted itself as an artist marketing and monetization tool. Over the last year, thanks to a much evolved offering and key partnerships …
Discussion:
Billboard and Business Wire
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, @joshconstine, Billboard, @frantaclaus, Guardian, PR Newswire, hypebot and Re/code
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, Associated Press and @talkingbiznews
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