Mediagazer: Google Play Books improves comic book reading by adding vertical scrolling mode, curated pages for discovery, on Android in coming days, iOS soon (Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch)

5:50 PM ET, November 12, 2015

Top News:

Ben Popper / The Verge:

YouTube Music standalone app launches on iOS and Android; YouTube Red subscribers get offline listening and no ads — YouTube Music is here, and it's a game changer — YouTube is first and foremost a video portal, the world's largest and most popular online collection of moving images.

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Snapchat Signs Up Another Publisher: The Wall Street Journal — The Wall Street Journal is going after a new audience. So, apparently, is Snapchat. — The Journal will soon be joining Snapchat's group of Discover publishers, according to multiple sources, the first major business publication …

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Hulu in early talks to sell stake to Time Warner in deal valuing Hulu at $5B-$6B; Time Warner would invest cash, commit to license content — Hulu in Talks to Sell Stake to Time Warner — Deal could help streaming-video service compete with Netflix, Amazon

Discussion: CNNMoney, The Wrap, Deadline, Business Insider, Variety, @brianstelter, The Next Web, Fortune, @shaliniwsj, @tcarmody, @shaliniwsj and The Verge

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Play Books improves comic book reading by adding vertical scrolling mode, curated pages for discovery, on Android in coming days, iOS soon — Google Improves Comic Book Reading Experience In Play Books For Android — Google today launched an upgrade to its Google Play Books store …

Discussion: Official Android Blog, GalleyCat, The Digital Reader, Batman News and Re/code

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Publishing approves buyouts for 7 percent of its employees … Tribune Publishing has approved buyouts for approximately 7 percent of its eligible 7,000 employees across its media portfolio, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Discussion: Fortune, Associated Press, Chicago Business, @allymarotti, @joepompeo and @romenesko

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

CNN's iReport to shift from users contributing photos and videos to directly sourcing them from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter users — Defeated by social media, CNN overhauls iReport — Big platforms' media dominance is forcing traditional publishers to change many parts of how they do business …

Discussion: Fortune

Madeline Welsh / Nieman Lab:

The New York Times hopes its first virtual reality film, The Displaced, plus mass distribution of Google Cardboard kick off greater VR adoption — The New York Times hopes its first virtual reality film, “The Displaced,” kicks off mass adoption of VR — “This is probably …

Discussion: TOWCenter, Fortune and Washington Post

Raphael Minder / New York Times:

El País cancels column by Miguel Ángel Aguilar after he criticizes growing debt and dependence of Spanish news media — El País Columnist Says Dismissal Tied to His Criticism of Media Independence — MADRID — A veteran journalist said on Wednesday that El País …

Discussion: The Spain Report and The Spain Report

Jack Marshall / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: publishers struggle to extract as much ad revenue from Facebook's Instant Articles as they do from their own sites; Facebook mulls changes to ad rules — Facebook Mulls Ad Changes for Instant Articles After Publisher Pushback — Publishers encountered challenges because of restrictions imposed by the social network

Discussion: SocialTimes, Wall Street Journal, Talking New Media, The Whip, @scottthurm, Engadget, Forbes, The Digital Reader, @martinsfp, @sims and @abrams

Spotify News:

Spotify launches personalized concert recommendations near you based on your listening history, rolling out today to iPhone and Android users — Never Miss Another Show with Personalized Concert Recommendations — Looking forward to seeing your favorite bands play live but don't know when they're in town?

Discussion: Tech Insider, Fast Company, SlashGear, Tech Times, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, hypebot, The Next Web, The Verge, routenote.com/blog, Variety and Business Insider

David Harris / Boston Business Journal:

Comcast launches Stream, its $15/month streaming service in Greater Boston; available only for Xfinity customers, and only within subscribers home — Comcast launches standalone streaming service in Boston area, but there's a catch — Comcast said Wednesday that its new $15-per-month …

Discussion: PR Newswire, The Next Web, The Verge, FierceCable, DSLreports, Multichannel News, BetaBoston and Multichannel News

Rami Musa / Associated Press:

Libyan Center for Freedom of Press says journalist Motaz Kraif kidnapped in Tripoli — Rights group says Libyan journalist kidnapped in Tripoli — BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan rights group says armed men have kidnapped a Tripoli-based journalist in front of his home.