Top News:
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Sources: casino operator Sheldon Adelson is mystery buyer of The Las Vegas Review-Journal — Yes, Sheldon Adelson Bought The Las Vegas Review-Journal — For nearly a week, the media and political worlds have been wondering who paid $140 million to purchase Nevada's largest daily newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Discussion:
Poynter, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Los Angeles Times, @ralstonreports, Washington Post, Gawker, Mother Jones, @ralstonreports, @thefree_lance, USA Today, @cjr, @brianstelter, @sshackford, @ralstonreports, @glenn_cooknv, The New York Observer, @radiochio, @davidfolkenflik, @mdudas, @chrisgeidner, Talking Points Memo, @ralstonreports, @ralstonreports, Techdirt, SPJ News, The Huffington Post, Sun-Times National, New York Times, New Republic, KUNR, CalvinAyre.com, @_jrobison, @ralstonreports, @jayrosen_nyu, CBS News and Las Vegas Review-Journal
RELATED:
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Sources: Adelson's son-in-law Patrick Dumont arranged $140M purchase of Las Vegas Review-Journal on Adelson's behalf — Adelson son-in-law orchestrated family's purchase of Las Vegas Review-Journal — The son-in-law of billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson arranged the $140 million purchase …
Discussion:
@nealtmorton and @edmundlee
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Adelson responded Tuesday to speculation he bought LVRJ with a not-quite-definitive “I have no personal interest” — Sheldon Adelson responds to speculation he bought Las Vegas paper — “I have no personal interest” in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson …
Hayes Brown / BuzzFeed:
Brazil imposes 48-hour block on WhatsApp for failing to cooperate in criminal investigation; rival app Telegram says it gained 1.5M+ users there in a day — Brazil Just Blocked WhatsApp Despite Almost Everyone In Brazil Using It — A court has blocked the app that 93% of Brazil's internet users depend …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Re/code, The Verge, @hayesbrown, @telegram, Jan Koum and Reuters
Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:
Pandora to pay royalty of 17 cents per 100 songs, up from 14 cents, after copyright board decision, with rates rising with inflation through 2020 — Copyright tribunal slaps Pandora with 20 percent rate increase — A little-known panel of judges determines what Internet radio must pay.
Discussion:
The Wrap, RAIN News, Washington Post, Re/code, New York Times, Forbes, Variety, Business Insider, Tennessean.com and Tech Trader Daily
Michael Reckhow / Facebook Media:
Instant Articles Launches to Everyone on Android, with More Than 350 Publications Globally — We're excited to announce that everyone who uses the Facebook for Android app can now read thousands of Instant Articles every day in News Feed from publishers worldwide.
Discussion:
Fortune, Mashable, Marketing Land, 9to5Google, The Verge, SlashGear, SocialTimes, MobileSyrup.com, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, StreetInsider.com and Engadget
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
FBI Director James Comey calls media reports that San Bernardino shooters posted publicly on social media about jihad a “garble” — The FBI just blasted reporting on the San Bernardino killings — A whoa moment here: FBI Director James B. Comey today told the media …
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Atavist cuts half its staff and searches for a sustainable path as funding dries up — The past couple of years have not been kind to publishing-related startups. Byliner publicly fell apart before being acquired. Social reading platform Readmill was acquired by Dropbox and shut down.
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, @justinnxt, @marklotto, @sarahw, @laurahazardowen and @rafat
Husain Sumra / MacRumors:
Rdio to Officially Shut Down on December 22, Will Allow Users to Download Collection Archive — Last month Pandora announced that it acquired “key assets” and employees from Rdio for $75 million. Tonight, Rdio began emailing its users to let them know that it would officially shut down on December 22, 2015 at 5 p.m. PST.
Discussion:
Engadget, 9to5Mac, VentureBeat, The Verge, Refinery29, Tech Times, Geeky Gadgets, The Verge, Techcircle.in, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, gigwise.com, Union Oracle, Digital Trends, TrustedReviews, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, Motherboard, MediaNama, MyBroadband, Engadget, Gizmodo, Tech Times and App Advice
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Evgeny Lebedev sounds out interest in cut-price national the i — Market rumours suggest News UK and Trinity Mirror could be potential buyers of the successful title launched in 2010 — The publisher of the i is understood to have sounded out media groups about a potential sale …
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Henry Mance / Financial Times:
Daily Mirror looks at launching cheaper tabloid newspaper
Daily Mirror looks at launching cheaper tabloid newspaper
Discussion:
Prolific North and Press Gazette
Jeremy Barr / Ad Age:
Vice Magazine pauses publication in January for a two-month redesign, restarts in March with more cultural coverage, content from Vice's digital writers — Vice Magazine, ‘The Heart of Vice,’ Will Re-Launch in March — Best Places To Work Have Happy Employees
Discussion:
VICE
Lori Hinnant / Associated Press:
Charlie Hebdo to give the $4M in donations it has received to victims of January attack — Charlie Hebdo giving all $4 million in donations to victims — 1 photo — PARIS (AP) — Charlie Hebdo, the satirical newspaper whose staff was decimated by Islamic extremist gunmen and then beset …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Adam Minter / Bloomberg View:
If Alibaba's Jack Ma is serious about improving perceptions of China, he should give The South China Morning Post the freedom to report on good and bad aspects — Propaganda Won't Pay for Alibaba — Late Friday night, Alibaba's Jack Ma joined Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the latest tech billionaire …
Discussion:
China Digital Times