Top News:
Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:
New York Times partners with Google on virtual reality project, will distribute over 1M cardboard VR viewers to subscribers, and will release new VR film — The Times Partners With Google on Virtual Reality Project — The New York Times announced on Tuesday a virtual reality project …
Discussion:
Business Wire, Nieman Lab, Politico, Fast Company, NetNewsCheck Latest, UploadVR, FishbowlNY, New York Times, @brendan_klink, Fortune, Engadget, @karenzraick, Gizmodo, @learmonth, @alexjamesfitz and VentureBeat
Jeanine Poggi / Ad Age:
CNN unveils Great Big Story, a video network aimed at millennials; will be anchored by homepage, with distribution across YouTube, other platforms — CNN Unveils Millennial-Targeted Video Site Great Big Story — GBS to Produce Branded Content for Advertisers
Discussion:
LostRemote, Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, @jaredbkeller, Variety, @digitalshields and @elanazak
RELATED:
Nathan McAlone / Business Insider:
CNN's new millennials site, Great Big Story, will not mark sponsored content as such — CNN just launched its own BuzzFeed killer — On Tuesday, CNN launched Great Big Story, its new millennial-focused competitor to BuzzFeed and Vice. — With Great Big Story, CNN wants to create video content …
Discussion:
Fast Company, @mcandrew, @coganuts and Media Life Magazine
Wall Street Journal:
Comcast is in talks with TV networks and audience measurement firms to share data harnessed from set-top boxes and apps — Comcast Seeks to Harness Trove of TV Data — Cable giant is in talks with TV networks and measurement firms to license viewing data from set-top boxes, apps
Discussion:
Multichannel News and FierceCable
Daisuke Wakabayashi / Wall Street Journal:
Tim Cook says Apple Music has 6.5M paying subscribers and 8.5M customers on three-month trials — Apple CEO Tim Cook: Apple Music Has 15 Million Users — Service has 6.5 million paying subscribers — LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—Apple Inc. said it has 15 million users on its streaming-music service …
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
City AM to begin trial Tuesday that blurs stories when Firefox users with adblockers visit cityam.com via desktop — City AM becomes first UK newspaper to ban ad blocker users — Financial freesheet launches trial that will blur out text of stories for desktop Firefox browsers who are detected using ad blocking software
Discussion:
The Drum, Ars Technica UK and Wired.co.uk
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
What it means to be a mobile editor, as told by mobile editors themselves — “Mobile editor” is a role that didn't even exist at most news organizations just a few years ago — at least not the multifaceted, multi-team, multi-platform, multi-everything roles that we sometimes see today.
Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify Pulls Independent Music Company's Releases Amid Royalties Dispute — Music-streaming service takes down thousands of songs by bands signed to Victory Records — Spotify AB removed thousands of songs by bands signed to independent record label Victory Records amid a standoff …
Washington Post:
Kevin Merida steps down as Washington Post Managing Editor, joins ESPN as senior vice president and editor-in-chief of The Undefeated — Kevin Merida to step down as managing editor of The Washington Post — Executive Editor Martin Baron sent the following announcement to staff:
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, The Huffington Post, @nycjim, @wesleylowery, @raju, NPR and The Wrap
Julia Greenberg / Wired:
Facebook announces Instant Articles are now available to all of its iPhone app users, new publishers signed up include Business Insider, USA Today — Facebook's ‘Instant Articles’ Arrives on All iPhones — Facebook wants to make reading on your phone fast and easy—or as Facebook puts it, “instant.”
Discussion:
Facebook Media, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Engadget and Poynter
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Huffington Post nabs Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner to present web docu-series which will be aired on all 15 global editions of the site — Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner signs up for Huffington Post web series — #PowerShift looks at power of social media in series commissioned …
Ruth Reader / VentureBeat:
Twitter hires Marcus Mabry, New York Times editor at large, to oversee Moments' editorial direction — Twitter hires New York Times editor at large for its Moments channel — One week after announcing major layoffs, Twitter is hiring New York Times editor at large Marcus Mabry …
Discussion:
@anthonyquintano, @marcusmabry, Poynter and @dangillmor