Mediagazer: Judge approves Relativity Media's bankruptcy reorganization plan but postpones final hearing to February (Jill Goldsmith/The Wrap)

11:45 AM ET, December 17, 2015

Top News:

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: CNNMoney, Media Nation, New York Times, Gawker, Reynolds Center, @ralstonreports, Financial Times, The Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Fortune, @russonpolitics, Talking New Media, Politico, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Fortune, Bloomberg.com news, The Daily Beast, Poynter, @brianstelter, KTNV, @ralstonreports, @ravisomaiya, Wall Street Journal, The New York Observer, Columbia Journalism Review, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, @stephgrimes, @betsbarnes, @nickriccardi, @mollyesque, @refriedbrean, @carolscling, @ralstonreports, @jpodhoretz, @tripgabriel, @tripgabriel, @edmundlee, @nealtmorton, @ralstonreports, @ralstonreports, Mother Jones, Las Vegas Review-Journal, @ralstonreports, @ralstonreports, Techdirt, @danprimack, Poynter, @davidfolkenflik, @thefree_lance, @cjr, @ralstonreports, @ralstonreports, @brianstelter, @mdudas and @glenn_cooknv

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

Adelson family confirms ownership of the Las Vegas Review-Journal — Putting an end to a week-long mystery, the family of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson confirmed Thursday morning that it has “purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal through a wholly-owned fund.”

Discussion: @brianstelter, Politico, New York Times, The Wrap, CNNMoney, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @weeddude, @ndhapple, @keachhagey and @davidfolkenflik

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 …

Katie Roof / TechCrunch:

Tastemade Raises $40 Million From Goldman Sachs To Make Food Videos — Tastemade, the maker of food and lifestyle videos, has raised a $40 million financing round led by Goldman Sachs. Participating investors in the Series D round include, Redpoint Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Liberty Media and Scripps Networks.

Discussion: Adweek, Ad Age, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Re/code, Fortune and Business Wire

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.

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: New York Times, Slate, @marciahofmann, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, Guardian, Re/code, The Verge, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, @getnickwright, @reporterfaith, @tchop_stl and @dangillmor

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Flipboard Overhauls Publisher Pages With Verified Badges, ‘End Card’ Links And Ad Tech — Flipboard, the mobile and web app with some 82 million monthly active users who use the app to read content from around the web in a magazine-style layout, is today taking the wraps off a new version …

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Next Web and Poynter

Associated Press:

Anti-IS group says 1 of its journalists killed in Syria — BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian media activist group that reports on Islamic State group activities says that one of its journalists has been assassinated in Syria. — The group, which calls itself Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, telesurtv.net and Guardian

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Ofcom report reveals dominance of BBC in local, national and online news markets — Ofcom's annual report on media consumption suggests that the BBC dominates UK local and national news markets. — Asked what specific outlets people use for news, BBC One was by far the most popular …

Discussion: Guardian

Chris Johnston / Guardian:

Popbitch asks readers to raise £20,000 after rise in legal threats — Celebrity gossip newsletter says it has faced cyber attacks and many more attempts by lawyers to kill stories in the past six months — Popbitch is seeking to raise £20,000 from its readers in the wake …

Guardian:

Phone-hacking victims ask CPS to review decision to take no further action — Prosecution service tells high court it has been contacted by campaign group Hacked Off announcing its intention to seek a review — Phone-hacking victims have asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review …

Ricardo Bilton / Digiday:

Wirecutter creating custom product guides for other sites to raise its profile and build its audience beyond tech — Why The Wirecutter lets other publishers run its product reviews — The Wirecutter has made a business out of obsessively reviewing the minutiae of gadgets.

Discussion: @alexcrabb and @rbilton

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More News:

Telegraph:
Police spied on Sun journalists to find confidential Plebgate source, tribunal finds

Discussion: Guardian and Press Gazette

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Trinity Mirror increases provision to deal with hacking damages claims to £41m after Court of Appeal challenge rejected

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
IPSO releases first-ever annual statements of all regulated publications on their compliance and editorial standards

Discussion: @ipsonews, HoldTheFrontPage and IPSO

Jill Goldsmith / The Wrap:
Judge approves Relativity Media's bankruptcy reorganization plan but postpones final hearing to February

Discussion: Law360, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Deadline and Variety

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

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

Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: @haidilun, @adamcathcart, @adamminter and Financial Times

Lance Whitney / CNET:
Spotify adds curated party playlists and a “mood tuner”, available now for Android and iOS

Discussion: Wired.co.uk, International Business Times, PCWorld, TechnoBuffalo, AndroidHeadlines.com, gigwise.com, Phandroid, Mixmag, Engadget, TrustedReviews, 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

Discussion: Newsweek and Washington Post

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

Discussion: FishbowlNY

Michael Reckhow / Facebook Media:
Instant Articles Launches to Everyone on Android, with More Than 350 Publications Globally

Discussion: Fortune, Business Insider, CBC News, Reuters, Mashable, Daily Mail, Phys.org, TechnoBuffalo, The Indian Express, ITBusiness.ca, Medium, SlashGear, Engadget, BuzzFeed, SocialTimes, The Verge and MobileSyrup.com

From Techmeme:

Eugen Rochko / Mastodon Blog:
Mastodon forms a new US non-profit, to receive tax-deductible US donations and in-kind support, with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and others on its board

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

William Brown / Firstyear's blog-a-log:
Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms and have made the UX of passkeys worse than that of password managers

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