Mediagazer: Subscription-based sports media site The Athletic has raised $20M Series C led by Evolution Media, plans to double staff from 120 to 200-350 employees in 2018 (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

2:30 PM ET, March 6, 2018

Top News:

Gwilym Mumford / The Guardian:

The 2018 Oscars experienced a 16% decline YoY in ratings, with 26.5M US viewers watching the four-hour broadcast; Trump mocked the figures on Twitter — Broadcast for 2018 Academy Awards attracted 26.5m viewers, a 16% drop on last year's ceremony … US president Donald Trump has mocked …

Discussion: @realdonaldtrump, New York Times, Forbes, The Wrap, Mediaite, Washington Post, Decider, Variety, The Daily Caller, NPR, Splinter, Fox News Insider, Breitbart, Fox News, Vanity Fair and Mother Jones

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Technology news aggregator Techmeme, sister site of Mediagazer, is launching a daily podcast called the Techmeme Ride Home — Because everyone has a podcast. (That's a good thing!) — Techmeme is an influential site that provides concise, headline-length summaries of the day's tech news.

Discussion: Wired, Fast Company and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

The Independent says BBC Media Editor Amol Rajan must have “misremembered” anecdote about traffic-boosting headline, mentioned during speech about press at uni — The Independent has said BBC media editor Amol Rajan “must have misremembered” an anecdote claiming he made a column …

Amol Rajan / BBC:

Transcript of BBC Media Editor Amol Rajan's lecture at the University of Kent in England, on the myths surrounding journalism — I had the privilege of delivering this year's Bob Friend Lecture at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Bob was part of the original Sky News line up …

Discussion: Press Gazette

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Subscription-based sports media site The Athletic has raised $20M Series C led by Evolution Media, plans to double staff from 120 to 200-350 employees in 2018 — The two-year-old startup plans to double staffing and expand across the U.S. and into international markets

Discussion: @rafat, @bill_shea19, @dcsportsbog, @chadgraff, @_brian_hamilton, @benmullin and Awful Announcing

New York Times:

Right-wing journalist Peter Schweizer plans to release a documentary on tech companies' role in filtering the news, casting them as censorious and oppressive — Conservatives are zeroing in on a new enemy in the political culture wars: Big Tech. — Arguing that Silicon Valley is stifling …

Discussion: New York Magazine, @jwherrman, East Bay Times, @profcarroll, Vanity Fair, @brendannyhan, @shiraovide, @owillis, @williamturton, @ceciliakang, @4horsemenapoca, @cwarzel, @slpng_giants and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, more at Techmeme »

Silvia Foster-Frau / MySanAntonio.com:

Co-founder of conspiracy theory website Side Thorn arrested with partner for harassing father of Sutherland Springs victim, told him shooting didn't happen — Two conspiracy theorists who have pushed the idea that the mass shooting at Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5 didn't happen were arrested Monday …

Discussion: @prehstrcforest, @erinscafe, @johnamato, @evenbev, @brianstelter and @lenpoz

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Funny Or Die is retiring its website and migrating over to Vox Media's platform; both are exploring potential collaborations on long-form entertainment — Funny Or Die is putting its aging web platform out to pasture. — Starting this summer, the digital comedy outfit will move FunnyOrDie.com …

Discussion: @mtmoe1, Tubefilter, @jackallisonlol, @zkahn, @reckless, @clockwerks, @bankoff, @melissabell and Splitsider

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

A look at the attempted revival of Rolling Stone under Jay Penske; sources say he approached Ryan Lizza about a job at the publication, after talks with staff — Jay Penske, the scion of an auto-racing empire, has a legitimate shot to turn the baby-boomer culture bible around—if he can make it safe for millennials.

Discussion: @pkafka, Politico, @joepompeo and @joepompeo

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Fox is aiming to reduce TV ad time to 2 minutes an hour by 2020, its ad sales chief Joe Marchese claimed at a private industry event in LA last week — Network announced the target at an event it hosted to discuss TV advertising's challenges — Fox Networks Group's ad sales chief …

Discussion: Business Insider and The Wrap

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Penske Media, owner of Variety and Deadline, has acquired SheKnows Media, including SheKnows.com, Stylecaster, and events business BlogHer — The deal for the network of female-focused sites and the BlogHer conference business is the latest acquisition for Penske Media …

Susan Heavey / Reuters:

Office of Special Counsel: Kellyanne Conway violated federal law in 2017 interviews with CNN and Fox News by using WH position to weigh in on a political race — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump's top advisers, violated federal law in two television interviews …

Discussion: Variety and Mediaite

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 2:30 PM ET, March 6, 2018.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
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Sydney Ember / New York Times:
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Alex Nichols / The Outline:
A look at the tweets of those making money from private accounts with Premo: John Schindler appears to earn $17K/month and Eric Garland $3K/month

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Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
MoviePass CEO says its app tracks user locations before and after movies, which is not information currently disclosed in privacy policy

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Earlier Picks:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Cox Media's conservative site Rare, which was heavily reliant on Facebook traffic with 2.3M fans, is closing at the end of this month after launching in 2013

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Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Facebook hires Matthew Henick, who was leading BuzzFeed's push into TV and films, to oversee global video content strategy and planning

Discussion: Tubefilter, Matthew Henick and @stevekovach

Kerry Flynn / Mashable:
Kickstarter, Foursquare, Etsy, Shutterstock, Expa, and Automattic sue FCC over net neutrality rule changes, following other actions from the tech industry

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Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Reddit on Russian propaganda: hundreds of accounts removed, few Russian ads were seen and are now disallowed, @TEN_GOP tweets amplified by “thousands” on Reddit

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Google is selling US restaurant review guide Zagat, which it bought for $151M in 2011, to restaurant review company The Infatuation for an undisclosed sum

Discussion: Forbes, grubstreet, Fast Company, @nytimesbusiness, Fortune, Eater, Search Engine Land, The Verge, @bmorrissey, @lainehiggins17, @besvinick, @schmooey, The Infatuation, TechCrunch, Eater and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / Recode:
ESPN names Jimmy Pitaro as new president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks; he's currently head of Disney consumer products and interactive

Discussion: Deadline, FierceCable, The Daily Caller, New York Times, ESPN MediaZone U.S., Ad Age, Adweek, Radio & Television …, TVNewser, Awful Announcing, Business Insider and Mediaite

From Techmeme:

OpenAI:
OpenAI says its board of directors is evaluating its corporate structure, including a plan to turn its for-profit arm into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation

Bloomberg:
Montenegro says Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will be extradited to the US, potentially ending a standoff over competing demands by the US and South Korea

Kyodo News+:
TSMC says it has started mass production at its first factory in Japan, located in Kumamoto, producing 12nm to 28nm chips for use in cars and image sensors

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