Top News:
Maxwell Tani / Business Insider:
GMG CEO Raju Narisetti cites revenue growth and 53 new hires as evidence of Fusion merger success, but some staffers say Gawker spirit wanes as talent leaves — The man tasked with overseeing Gizmodo Media Group after the demise of Gawker.com says he never regularly read the site in the first place.
Discussion:
@susie_c, @katiedrumm, @oliverdarcy, @jeffjarvis, @katiedrumm and @ajs
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CNN drops the series Believer with Reza Aslan after Aslan, an Iranian-American religious scholar, called Trump a “piece of s**t” in a tweet after London attack — CNN no longer believes in “Believer,” the non-fiction series it launched earlier this year with Reza Aslan, the Iranian-American author and religious scholar.
Discussion:
@seanhannity, @rezaaslan, Washington Post, iMediaEthics, New York Times, Newser, @shakestweetz, CNNMoney, @kennycoble, @charlesjaco1, @reaganbattalion, @daveweigel, @brianstelter, @umairh, @imraansiddiqi, Infowars, Politico, Business Insider, IndieWire, Deadline, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, Multichannel News, Fast Company, @djrothkopf, @yashar, New York Magazine, Fox News, BuzzFeed, Hollywood Reporter, TVWeek.com and The Daily Beast
Paul Bass / New Haven Independent:
Hearst buys New Haven Register and other local news outlets, reportedly for under $50M, plans to hire ten new journalists — As print-daily newsrooms continue to shrink across the nation, the New Haven Register's new corporate boss said he plans to add reporters and increase local coverage.
Discussion:
Connecticut Post, New Haven Independent, WWD, MarketWatch, New Haven Register, Associated Press and Adweek
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Assassin masqueraded as a reporter for Le Monde in Ukraine for more than a year before attempting murder during an “interview” — KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainians have long struggled with fake news from Russia, but last week, they discovered something even more insidious: a fake journalist.
Discussion:
@clarajeffery, @maddow and @comradewong
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Apple will finally offer basic analytics for podcasts, enabling podcast creators and advertisers to get significant listener feedback for the first time — Basic analytics are (finally) coming to Apple's podcast app in an upcoming refresh. It's a big deal.
Discussion:
@anildash, @caseynewton and Axios, more at Techmeme »
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Jason Snell / Six Colors:
Apple's Podcasts app to report to podcasters how many people are listening and where listeners stop or skip, and will enable downloads of full seasons
Apple's Podcasts app to report to podcasters how many people are listening and where listeners stop or skip, and will enable downloads of full seasons
Discussion:
9to5Mac, Engadget, @nbashaw, @pkafka, MacRumors, @mlieber, @ericjackson, @nwquah, @matthew_bogart and @dkiesow, more at Techmeme »
Amy Qin / New York Times:
A large number of Chinese celebrity news blogs have shut down in recent days as media censors tighten online publishing regulations — BEIJING — Whether read openly and voraciously or behind closed doors, celebrity gossip plays an integral role in the entertainment world …
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Josh Horwitz / Quartz:
Tencent launches a new WeChat feature to collect and debunk online rumors, but government sources debunking political articles in the app may cause confusion — Today Chinese internet giant Tencent launched a new feature (link in Chinese) for its WeChat app designed to collect and debunk online rumors …
BuzzFeed:
NowThis News requires its staffers to sign a non-compete that bars them for two years from taking a job at places like CNN, Vice, BuzzFeed, and Vox — New hires at the social news outlet must sign a contract that forbids them from taking a job at places including CNN, Vice, BuzzFeed and Vox.
Discussion:
@maggiekb1, @tomgara, @dangillmor, @johnaugust, @danrivoli, @mathewi, @ali_gharib, @perlberg, @mikeisaac, @perlberg, @rachelfeltman, @mathewi, @legalinspire, @commagere, @sarahfrier, @mattyglesias, @tomnamako, @maxwellstrachan, @pkafka, @benmullin, @perlberg, @nkulw, @mccarthyryanj, @clarajeffery, @mekosoff, @willsommer, @mikeisaac and @mattzeitlin
RELATED:
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Comey hearing draws nearly 20M broadcast and cable TV viewers, according to Nielsen, while Twitter says 2.7M viewers tuned into its Bloomberg stream — A congressional hearing rarely attracts much attention, but Thursday's testimony by fired FBI Director James Comey brought major ratings …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Recode, The Outline, Los Angeles Times, Recode, Business Insider, Mediaite, Bloomberg Media, Newser, @sdkstl, New York Times, @grynbaum, @pbump, @librab103, @algiordano, @pkafka, @pkafka, @simonowens, Nielsen Newswire, Washington Post, @braddjaffy, @davidjoachim, @davidjoachim, @davidjoachim and Poynter
Washpostpr / Washington Post:
The Washington Post is experimenting with audio articles using Amazon Polly, a service that converts article text into lifelike speech — The Washington Post today announced it has started experimenting with audio articles using Amazon Polly, a service that converts article text into lifelike speech.
Discussion:
GeekWire
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Postmates acquihires Secret CEO David Byttow's startup Bold; Bold will shut down its enterprise blogging tool, plus the anonymous publishing space IO — The founder of one of Silicon Valley's most famous flameouts, anonymous social app Secret, is the new product lead for Postmates' app.
Discussion:
@joshconstine, more at Techmeme »
Ricardo Baca / Columbia Journalism Review:
High Times' recent sale to a Los Angeles-based investment firm may give the magazine a chance to reinvigorate its neglected editorial operation — A display of High Times magazine covers during the High Times Cannabis Cup at Denver Mart in Denver, Colorado on April 20, 2014.