Mediagazer: Australian court blocks Voltage Pictures' efforts to access details of people it says illegally downloaded Dallas Buyers Club (Harry Tucker/Business Insider Australia)

3:45 AM ET, December 17, 2015

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.

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: @ralstonreports, The Huffington Post, @stephgrimes, @ralstonreports, @betsbarnes, @mollyesque, @nickriccardi, @tripgabriel, @edmundlee, @nealtmorton, @refriedbrean, @ravisomaiya, @tripgabriel, @carolscling and @jpodhoretz

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 …

Discussion: Las Vegas Review-Journal, @ralstonreports, @keachhagey, @weeddude, @ndhapple, Columbia Journalism Review, @ralstonreports, @danprimack, Mediaite, @davidfolkenflik, Poynter, @davidfolkenflik and New York Times

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: Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Re/code, Washington Post, RAIN News, New York Times, Variety, Tennessean.com and Tech Trader Daily

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: Gizmodo, @telegram, The Next Web, CNET, Re/code, Reuters, Jan Koum, @hayesbrown, @jakelaperruque, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and The Verge

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 …

Discussion: Slate, @erikwemple, @marciahofmann, Guardian, @erikwemple, Mother Jones, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, @getnickwright, @reporterfaith, @tchop_stl, @dangillmor and BuzzFeed

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, SlashGear, Mashable, SocialTimes, The Verge, Engadget, MobileSyrup.com, The Next Web, BuzzFeed and StreetInsider.com

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

Harry Tucker / Business Insider Australia:

Australian court blocks Voltage Pictures' efforts to access details of people it says illegally downloaded Dallas Buyers Club — Court throws out Dallas Buyers Club piracy case — A scene from the Oscar-winning film Dallas Buyers Club Photo Credit: Anne Marie Fox / Focus Features

Discussion: iTnews, CNET, Plagiarism Today, Crikey, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo Australia, Lifehacker Australia, NEWS.com.au, TorrentFreak and Guardian

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: @haidilun, @adamcathcart, @adamminter, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, China Digital Times, @camfreck, @aaronback and @jeremy_maxie

Lance Whitney / CNET:

Spotify adds curated party playlists and a “mood tuner”, available now for Android and iOS — Spotify can play DJ at your next party — A new feature called Spotify Party plays a lineup of professionally picked tunes and lets you choose your music based on the mood you're hoping to set.

Discussion: news.spotify.com, Mashable, Wired, Engadget, VentureBeat, The Verge and TechCrunch

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

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 …

Henry Mance / Financial Times:
Daily Mirror looks at launching cheaper tabloid newspaper

Discussion: Press Gazette

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:45 AM ET, December 17, 2015.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

South Reporter, GA/Remote — ProPublica

Private Capital Reporter, London — FT

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Articles Editor, CA — SF Standard

Pharma Reporter, Remote US — Endpoints

Metro Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Business Reporter, TX — Fort Worth Report

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

News Correspondent, MS — Magnolia Tribune

Accountability Reporter, NC — Charlotte Observer

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Political Reporter, TX — Courier Newsroom

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Staff Writer, MA/Remote — Tech Advisor

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

Reporter, NC — NC Newsline

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

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

Husain Sumra / MacRumors:
Rdio to Officially Shut Down on December 22, Will Allow Users to Download Collection Archive

Discussion: Refinery29, VentureBeat, The Verge, Consumerist, Digital Trends, 9to5Mac, Engadget, The Verge, Digital Trends, TrustedReviews, Techcircle.in, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, Motherboard, gigwise.com, Union Oracle, MediaNama, Engadget, Gizmodo and App Advice

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Part two of the Leveson Inquiry has been ‘quietly shelved’ by Government

Discussion: The Independent, @domponsford, @alexgspence and The Times

Earlier Picks:

Brady Dale / The New York Observer:
Wikipedia's AI tool, ORES, generates scores to help identify edits made in good faith or bad

Discussion: @webbmediagroup

Catalina Albeanu / Journalism.co.uk:
Eyewitness Media Hub study: 52% of journalists exposed to traumatic user-generated content several times a week, 12% daily

Mark Scott / New York Times:
EU agrees on EU-wide rules to overhaul data privacy laws, adding hefty fines, broadening right to be forgotten; EU countries will have two years to comply

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: the new iPad Pro may launch with an M4 chip, kicking off Apple's AI strategy that will be expanded at WWDC; the new Pencil will have haptic feedback

Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers, TikTok staff, and others detail how TikTok lost the war in Washington, including due to CEO Shou Zi Chew's failure to build support on Capitol Hill

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page