Top News:
Dave McNary / Variety:
Casey Affleck, accused of sexually abusive conduct in 2010, withdraws from customary role of prior year's best actor presenting best actress award at Oscars — Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the best actress award at the March 4 Academy Award ceremonies.
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
CNN is closing Beme and Casey Neistat is leaving following 2016 buyout, which sources say valued it at $20M+; CNN will continue to develop some of its products — CNN acquired Beme in late 2016 with hopes that it would become a major piece of its digital business. Now Neistat's leaving the company.
Discussion:
YouTube, TechCrunch, Ad Age, Forbes, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Variety, @srabil, Tubefilter, @alyssabereznak, @niemanlab, The Verge, @rrhoover, Mashable, Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Engadget and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
How Axios used Mike Allen and distilled news to become influential quickly, with 260K+ newsletter subscribers and more; source says Axios AM fetches ~$75K/week — Every morning, Washington wakes up to Axios AM — Mike Allen's top 10 stories of the day, filled with short bits of breaking news …
Discussion:
@iansams, @mathewi, @erica_pandey, @mzinshteyn, @katieglueck, @katherinemiller, @edmundlee, @katherinemiller, @mattmittenthal, @tomgara, @mr_berman, @rosiegray and @wajahatali
Reuters:
Sources: Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and CBS CEO Leslie Moonves held “exploratory” discussion on merging companies; boards expected to discuss merger in coming weeks — (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) Chief Executive Bob Bakish and CBS Corp (CBS.N) CEO Leslie Moonves …
RELATED:
Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
Analysis of behind-the-scenes maneuvers to merge Viacom and CBS and the futures of CEOs Bob Bakish and Leslie Moonves, as Shari Redstone pushes for scale — The mogul faces a delicate negotiation with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who wants to be at the helm of the united company.
Ryan Glasspiegel / The Big Lead:
Source: ESPN is exploring options for FiveThirtyEight, including a potential sale to an outlet like The Atlantic or moving the site under ABC News — By the time mid-term election season really heats up, Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight will in all likelihood have a different platform than ESPN.
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, @bmorrissey, @danwolken and @mylesudland
Selina Wang / Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitter is working on a Snapchat-style tool to more easily share videos and photos on the network, but its design and launch aren't yet finalized — Social network is experimenting with new products to woo users — Company seeks to streamline process of posting photos, videos
Discussion:
Mashable, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, New York Magazine, Fast Company, 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Reports: Kimi Yoshino, business editor at the LA Times and an editor on the Pulitzer-winning Bell corruption scandal stories, was suspended for two days — Kimi Yoshino, the business editor of the Los Angeles Times, has been suspended for two days, according to multiple reports.
Discussion:
@davidfolkenflik, LA Observed, @mattdpearce, @charlesornstein, @bymattstevens and @mattdpearce
Colin Deppen / The Incline:
Unionized Pittsburgh Press-Gazette employees, who haven't received raises for 12 years, begin byline strike amid contract negotiations with the paper's owners — Newsroom employees at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are withholding their names from the articles they write and the news products …
Discussion:
The NewsGuild - CWA, @lexibelc, @swernerpg and Pittsburgh City Paper
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a redesigned Books reading app that includes a Reading Now section, dedicated tab for audio books, and redesigned store — Company working on new digital book reader for iPhones, iPads — iPhone maker hires former Amazon, Barnes & Noble exec for unit
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
NPD analysis: US print book sales rose by 1.9% in 2017, less than the 3% growth in 2013-2016, with few blockbusters to drive interest — In what amounts to faint praise for the strength of the physical book NPD reported that print book sales rose 1.9 percent in 2017, less than the 3 percent growth posted in 2013-2016.
Discussion:
NPD Group and Publishers Weekly
Dan Monk / WCPO:
E.W. Scripps continues restructuring initiative as it looks to sell its 34 radio stations and reduce annual operating expenses by $30M — Cincinnati-based media chain trims $30M in costs — CINCINNATI — The E.W. Scripps Co. is looking to sell its 34 radio stations while tripling the size …
Discussion:
@erikbilstadwtmj and @talkingnewmedia
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