Top News:
J.D. Durkin / Mediaite:
Fox News contributor Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity's former on-air debating partner, has died at age 66 — Longtime radio and cable news broadcaster Alan Colmes is dead at the age of 66 after reportedly battling a brief illness. — Fox News moments ago reported on Colmes' death with a segment narrated …
Discussion:
Fox News Insider, Crain's New York Business, Broadcasting & Cable, @megynkelly, @bretbaier, @brianstelter, alan.com, Radio & Television …, @tweetbrk, @mikeemanuelfox, Variety, @ewerickson, @ericbolling, Fortune, @lesliemarshall, The Hill, AOL, @dylanbyers, Newser, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, @govmikehuckabee, @geraldorivera, @lisamarieboothe, @liz_wheeler, @rorycooper, @prisonplanet, The Daily Caller, The Week, Washington Examiner, TheBlaze and FOX News Radio
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Interviews detail how Disney's $675M purchase of Maker Studios failed to thrive as prospects faded for YouTube multichannel networks — It wasn't one thing that transformed Maker Studios from a Disney princess to a pumpkin — there were a whole lot of many things.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Adweek and VatorNews
RELATED:
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Disney lays off 80 from digital media unit, including from Maker Studios, and plans to shrink Maker talent network, which once had 55K+ creators — Maker Studios' talent network, which at one time grew to 55,000 creators, also is being slimmed down. — Disney is laying off 80 employees across …
Hadas Gold / Politico:
James O'Keefe's 2009 undercover audio recordings of CNN employees have landed with little impact, though not all hours of tape have been made available — For a few days, Project Veritas founder and conservative activist James O'Keefe has been hyping the release of what he said were hundreds …
Hadas Gold / Politico:
The New York Times is using the Oscars to launch a multi-faceted ad campaign about “The Truth”, the paper's first TV ad push in a decade — The New York Times is taking the unusual and expensive step of advertising during the Academy Awards on Sunday, joining companies like McDonalds …
Discussion:
YouTube, Newser, Business Wire, Ad Age, AgencySpy, @alexweprin, @niemanlab, @dylanbyers, @alexweprin, @alexweprin, @kelseymsutton, @dylanbyers and @hadas_gold
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Google's Jigsaw unveils Perspective, an AI-powered tool for publishers to weed out abusive comments, available as an API for free — A research team tied to Google unveiled a new tool on Thursday that could have a profound effect on how we talk to each other online.
Discussion:
Jigsaw - Medium, Nieman Lab, Washington Post, Computerworld, Wired, New York Times, Reuters, Forbes, Consumerist, New York Magazine, Boing Boing, Softpedia News, Mashable, @jigsawteam, The Verge, @jigsawteam, VentureBeat, BetaNews, 9to5Google, @martinsfp, BBC, @dovseidman, Yahoo and The Drum
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook begins testing ad breaks in partner videos, sharing 55% of ad revenue; Live videos from Pages with 2K+ followers will get an ad break option — Many publishers have trouble making money off Facebook videos — this could change that. — Facebook is ready to make money from all the videos …
Discussion:
Facebook Media, Softpedia News, Engadget, Wallaroo Media, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Variety and Adweek
Joe Mayes / Bloomberg:
Sources: The Financial Times is eliminating 20 editorial jobs globally to cut costs as print revenue declines — The Financial Times, the salmon-colored newspaper bought by Japan's Nikkei Inc. in 2015, is eliminating 20 editorial jobs globally through attrition to cut costs as print revenue declines …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @business, @wan_medialex, @newslambert and @mskimberlychin
Oliver Darcy / Business Insider:
Interview with an anonymous co-founder of The Reagan Battalion, the conservative Twitter account that brought down Milo Yiannopoulos — One of the mysterious men behind Reagan Battalion, an anonymous conservative Twitter account, seemed floored recalling the events of the past 72 hours.
Discussion:
@oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @michellefields, @oliverdarcy and @businessinsider
Compete:
Univision's Fusion Media Group launches Compete, a site covering e-sports and competitive gaming, operating as a Kotaku subdomain — Welcome to Compete, a joint venture between Deadspin and Kotaku dedicated to covering the best, worst, dumbest, most thrilling, most interesting, and …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands its push into original content with three new podcast series on music and pop culture, with more originals to be announced later this year — Spotify is expanding its podcast selection today, with the announcement that it's adding three new original podcast series on its service …
Discussion:
news.spotify.com, Engadget, Variety, Fortune, The Verge, Tubefilter, @techcrunch, Billboard and hypebot
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Time Warner selling Atlanta's WPCH to Meredith for $70M, a move that might mean Time Warner-AT&T deal can avoid FCC review — Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) said on Thursday it plans to sell a broadcast station in Atlanta to Meredith Corp (MDP.N) for $70 million, which could help speed the company's planned merger with AT&T Inc (T.N).
Discussion:
Fortune, Deadline, Broadcasting & Cable, Radio & Television …, TVNewsCheck and Fierce Cable