Mediagazer: Sources: in Q3 2017, Spotify made €1B in revenue, putting it on track for €4B in full year revenue, up 40% YoY, and had an operating loss between €70M and €90M (Alfred Lee/The Information)

7:15 AM ET, February 7, 2018

Top News:

Sources: Tronc expected to announce, as early as Wednesday, sale of LA Times and San Diego Union-Tribune to shareholder Patrick Soon-Shiong for ~$500M in cash — Los Angeles biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is nearing a deal to buy the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune …

Christine Wang / CNBC:

Disney reports mixed Q1 results with revenue of $15.35B vs. $15.45B expected; media and networks, consumer and interactive, and studio units miss targets — The Walt Disney Company reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations on Tuesday, but revenue missed estimates.

Discussion: The Walt Disney Company, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, FierceCable, The Playlist, The New York Observer and @jyarow

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Streaming service ESPN Plus launching next month at $4.99/mo; sources say it won't have ESPN cable channels' content, which still requires ESPN subscription — How much would you pay for sports you weren't watching on TV? — Want to pay for a subscription to ESPN without paying for a subscription to other cable channels?

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, CNBC, CNNMoney, Ad Age, Engadget, Associated Press, The Verge, @spingriffey, 9to5Mac and Broadcasting & Cable, more at Techmeme »

Samantha Cole / Motherboard:

Pornhub says it's banning AI-generated fake porn videos because they're “nonconsensual”, yet such “deepfake” videos are still available via site search results — The giant porn site puts deepfakes in the same category as revenge porn.

Discussion: The Guardian, Fast Company, The Verge, The Next Web, Mashable, The Daily Dot and Trusted Reviews, more at Techmeme »

Financial Times:

Study of 48K Facebook pages and 14K Twitter accounts from Oct. 2017 to Jan.: Trump backers share more extremist and phony posts than all other groups combined — Ultra-rightwing conservatives shared more false stories on Facebook than all other political groups combined in the three months …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Daily Caller, @markfollman, @stepleton6, @samueloakford, @mattgarrahan, @john_hudson, @solange_lebourg, @niemanlab, Harold Capenter, Oxford Internet Institute, New York Magazine and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Robert Feder:

Three former editors of DNAinfo Chicago are starting a local news site with five reporters, funded by subscriptions with support from blockchain-based Civil — Three editors from the former DNAinfo Chicago are reuniting to start up a new neighborhood news website to be funded by reader subscriptions.

Discussion: @emily__olsen, @lillian_ruiz, @rachelholliday, @amandarivkin, @greenfieldjohn, @byalisonbowen, @amlwhere and Stephanie Graves

Alfred Lee / The Information:

Sources: in Q3 2017, Spotify made €1B in revenue, putting it on track for €4B in full year revenue, up 40% YoY, and had an operating loss between €70M and €90M — Spotify generated a billion euros ($1.2 billion) in revenue in the third quarter of 2017, according to two investors briefed on the numbers.

Discussion: hypebot, more at Techmeme »

April Simpson / Current:

NPR's Daniel Zwerdling, a veteran investigative journalist, has left the network; sources say allegations of sexual harassment were filed to HR in November — Daniel Zwerdling, a veteran investigative journalist at NPR, has left the network amid allegations of sexual harassment.

Discussion: NPR, TVWeek.com, NewsCut, thecut, @kryssypease, @aprilehrlich and @alyssaedes

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Snap's Q4 revenue, $285.7M vs. $252.8M est., topped analysts' estimates for first time since the firm's IPO, and average revenue per user rose 46% YoY to $1.53 — Company tops analysts' estimates for first time since 2017 IPO — In rare win, social-media underdog adds clients, runs more ads

Discussion: Snap Inc., Business Insider, Forbes, New York Times, TechCrunch, The Drum, ZDNet, @jank0, @bloombergtv, TechCrunch, Business Insider, @kantrowitz, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:

Russian trolls posed as black activists on Tumblr and generated hundreds of thousands of interactions with anti-Hillary Clinton, pro-Bernie Sanders content — Tumblrs run by Russian trolls generated hundreds of thousands of interactions with anti-Hillary Clinton, pro-Bernie Sanders content.

Discussion: @d1gi and @profcarroll, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

Megan Greenwell becomes the first female chief editor at Gizmodo Media Group's sports site Deadspin, replacing Tim Marchman who was promoted — Greenwell becomes the site's first female chief editor and replaces the promoted Tim Marchman. — Megan Greenwell was announced on Tuesday …

Discussion: @megreenwell, @raju, @page88, @aliciakennedy, @max_read, @emmaroller, @senari, The Wrap, @michellelegro, @jamilsmith, @amandahess, @djheller, @erikmal, @attackerman, @albertburneko, @minakimes, @stevekandell and @byjoelanderson

Corey Ford / A Matter-Driven Narrative:

Matter announces local news bootcamps for for-profit news outlets, working with colleges in MO, NY, CA, and GA, plus Google News Lab and News Media Alliance — Today, we launch Open Matter: Local News Bootcamps with Google News Lab, News Media Alliance, and 4 Top J. schools.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, The Keyword, @morepete, AndroidHeadlines.com, @ptalamantes, @coreyford, @newsalliance, @kenromano, @googlenewslab, @mckeanml, @grove and Editor & Publisher

David Uberti / Splinter:

Memo: Nancy Cooper, IBT's Managing Ed, named acting editor of Newsweek; Jonathan Davis to return as chief content officer pending investigation into current CCO — After a handful of top reporters and editors were fired in a purge of the Newsweek masthead on Monday, about 40 …

Discussion: New York Post, @itsdavidford, Talking Biz News, Paste, The Wrap, @daviduberti, The Outline, Mediaite and @moorehn

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Investigative reporter David Sirota has resigned from Newsweek-owned International Business Times, after Newsweek EIC and others were fired

Discussion: @kelseymsutton and @craigsilverman

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More News:

Stewart Clarke / Variety:
European Commission conditionally approves Discovery Communications $14.6B takeover deal for Scripps Networks Interactive

Discussion: Engadget and Broadcasting & Cable

Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Viacom is to announce another round of layoffs this week affecting dozens of staff, mostly in its sales and marketing divisions

Discussion: @rwmead and Variety

Jessica Elgot / The Guardian:
UK's Theresa May launches a review that will examine the health of online ad-driven media and whether state intervention is needed to preserve the press

Discussion: @oldmansaid

Nadia Khomami / The Guardian:
UK judge rules that the warrant for Julian Assange's arrest should stand, despite Swedish case being dropped, because he breached UK bail conditions

Discussion: Law & Crime, HuffPost UK, @skynewsbreak, @horsehousing, @blogdiva, @angryblacklady and @psawers

Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Fact-checkers from news orgs including Libération, Snopes, and Factcheck.org will meet with Facebook today to discuss their efforts to tackle fake news

Discussion: @intergentic, @niemanlab, @mantzarlis, @dpfunke and @rasmus_kleis

Earlier Picks:

Ted Johnson / Variety:
Recent FCC filings suggest Sinclair Broadcast Group will seek waivers so it can own more than one top-four station in a market alongside Tribune acquisition

Boris Kachka / The Cut:
Inside a decade of sexual harassment allegations and bullying at WNYC, amidst CEO Laura Walker's attempt to turn the organization around

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @jayrosen_nyu, @glennf, @siddhmi, @mitrakalita, @ericuman, @glennf, @ilyamarritz and @maryjaneweedman

VICE:
Two far-right nationalists barged into Vice's Romania offices and filmed the encounter, the latest in a string of similar incidents by white supremacists

Discussion: @caitlin__kelly

Jim Rutenberg / The Wilson Quarterly:
How attacks by candidate and President Trump gave the NYT a renewed excitement to show the worth of traditional journalism based in fact and without aggression

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google releases a free Gemini app for iOS, letting users ask questions, chat via text, voice, or their camera, and use the conversational mode Gemini Live

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2

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