Mediagazer: Jon Miller and TPG acquired majority control of Fandom last month at a valuation, sources say, of $200M (Peter Kafka/Recode)

4:05 PM ET, March 13, 2018

Top News:

A&E Networks Chief Executive Nancy Dubuc becomes CEO of VICE, while co-founder Shane Smith moves to executive chairman role — News comes a day after Dubuc made official her plans to leave a longtime role at A+E Networks. — Nancy Dubuc is officially taking the reins at Vice.

Discussion: Ad Age, Variety, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, @jeremymbarr, Adweek, TechCrunch, @darcyday, @andrewlavallee, @keachhagey, @jbflint, @natjarv, @snackfight, Mediawire, The Wrap, The Daily Caller and Variety

Press Gazette:

Following nerve agent attack on ex-Russian spy in England, UK MPs call for RT's broadcasting license to be reviewed and for the network to be banned — Kremlin-funded TV station RT (formerly Russia Today) has hit back at MPs' calls to ban it from broadcasting in the UK after the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Salisbury.

Discussion: The Guardian, CNNMoney, Politico, @hadas_gold and Editor & Publisher

RT:

Russia's Foreign Ministry says it will expel British media from Russia if the UK revokes RT's broadcasting license — Not a single British media outlet will be working in Russia if London decides to shut down RT broadcasting in the UK, Maria Zakharova, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said.

Catherine Neilan / City A.M.: UK broadcast regulator Ofcom says RT's broadcasting license may be revoked if UK finds Russia was behind attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: Facebook is aiming to launch a news section for its Watch platform this summer and is testing different video partnerships with roughly ten publishers — Facebook is getting ready to launch a news section for its Watch platform and it's testing different video partnerships with roughly 10 publishers, Axios has learned.

Discussion: @charliebeckett, @sarafischer, Android Police, @pkafka, MacRumors, @shiraovide, @jonathanex, Gizmodo, @raju, @digitalshields, Engadget, Fast Company and Seeking Alpha, more at Techmeme »

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti discusses the company's missed 2017 targets, struggles with advertisers, and potential for a partial paywall on the site — This article is a free preview of the new issue of Digiday magazine, our quarterly print publication that's distributed to Digiday+ members.

Discussion: @jarroddicker, @jayrosen_nyu, @benmullin, @markscott82, @tessatkinson, @justin_b_smith and Press Gazette

Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:

A look at Lynx Insights, a Reuters in-house automation tool that surfaces trends and anomalies in data, which reporters can then use to accelerate their work — With Lynx Insights, Reuters wants to marry the data-crunching skills of machines with the editorial judgment of human reporters.

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk, @jeluebering, @jonathanstray and @niemanlab

Debra Kamin / Variety:

CBS News President David Rhodes says Stormy Daniels interview has not been delayed because of legal action from Trump and dismissed talk of an injunction — JERUSALEM — CBS News boss David Rhodes hasn't seen Stormy Daniels' “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper, but he promises that it's coming soon.

Discussion: Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter, CNN and Fortune

Susan Goldberg / National Geographic:

National Geographic asked a historian to audit its archives, admits to “appalling stories” filled with racism in its past, vows to examine and confront racism — We asked a preeminent historian to investigate our coverage of people of color in the U.S. and abroad. Here's what he found.

Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo:

How conservative activists from Project Veritas use hoax job recruitment and seduction to catfish tech giants like Twitter; experts question legality — Mo Norai has worked in Silicon Valley for a decade. He's done stints at Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple, but only as a contract worker …

Discussion: @abrams, @binarybits, @ellenhuet, @kashhill, @aurich, @danbeucke and @nitashatiku, more at Techmeme »

Tom Miles / Reuters:

U.N. human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar say that Facebook has played a role in spreading hate speech in the country — GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar said on Monday that Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech there.

Discussion: Thomson Reuters, Motherboard, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, The Hill, Fast Company and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Some cable networks have again aired a live Trump campaign rally filled with insults and falsehoods, and it's still wrong — Even before the 2016 presidential election, CNN's top honcho admitted that his network had given Donald Trump too much free exposure in the Republican primary.

Discussion: @vtlen, Washington Post, Margaret Sullivan and @sulliview

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos and co-founder of SBNation, announces he is launching Civiqs, a public opinion research group — Nearly a million respondents are a deep new data source for Democrats. One early finding: Don't talk about impeachment. — BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief

Discussion: @billinportland, @buzzfeedben, @taniel, @markos, @markos and Daily Kos

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

Eddy Cue Q&A on the line between free speech and open platforms, plans to integrate Texture content into Apple News, why Apple likely won't buy Disney, Netflix — We're on the ground at SXSW 2018 in Austin, Texas where Apple's Eddy Cue is about to take the stage to discuss media curation with CNN's Dylan Byers.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Variety, Columbia Journalism Review, TheStreet, FierceCable, Apple, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, The New York Observer, CNNMoney, Fast Company, VentureBeat, AppAdvice.com, Gizmodo, @reneritchie, @shiraovide and @apollozac

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Apple acquires digital newsstand Texture, which gives its readers access to ~200 magazines for $10/month, as it doubles down on content “from trusted sources”

Discussion: The Verge, Business Insider, Washington Post, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, @joshelman, Quartz, PR Newswire, @richdemuro, Folio, Variety, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and Fortune

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:05 PM ET, March 13, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Jon Miller and TPG acquired majority control of Fandom last month at a valuation, sources say, of $200M

Blake Montgomery / BuzzFeed:
Brennan Gilmore, who filmed terror incident at Charlottesville, has sued Infowars, Alex Jones, Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft, and others for defamation

Discussion: Mediaite and The Hill

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:
In China, new proposals could see current regulatory body overseeing media abolished and replaced by a new organization under closer control of ruling party

Discussion: Variety and Variety

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
Following “blagging” allegations, Sunday Times reporters instructed not to delete emails relating to former UK PM Gordon Brown and Alastair Campbell

Discussion: @markdistef, @markdistef and @byline_media

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook is testing Facebook Camera AR experiences via tracking markers on posters of two films, will add tracker-based AR capabilities to AR Studio in April

Earlier Picks:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
MoviePass CEO backtracks on previous comments about tracking users before and after movies, says the app only tracks users' location when they use the app

Discussion: TechCrunch, MacRumors, BGR, Fast Company, 9to5Mac, [H]ardOCP News/Article Feed and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
YouTube TV is raising its price to $40/month starting Tuesday, plans to add more channels; current subscribers will keep $35/month pricing

Discussion: Neowin, The Verge, AppleInsider, Android Police, CNET and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
Analysis: federal government censored, withheld, or couldn't find records in 78% of requests in the past year; it spent $40.6M defending decisions in FOIA cases

Discussion: RTDNA Recent Articles

Andrew Marantz / New Yorker:
Inside Reddit as it rolled out the October 2017 policy update that resulted in the ban of numerous subreddits, including ones for Nazis and bestiality

Discussion: @daveleebbc, @daveleebbc, BGR and @ericrweinstein

From Techmeme:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta adds Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security adviser to Trump in his first term, and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison to its board

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Sources: Tim Cook approved a plan to double the AI chip budget for John Giannandrea's team in 2023, but CFO Luca Maestri cut the increase to less than half that

Ellen O'Regan / Politico:
Ireland's DPC opens an investigation into how personal data in public X posts was used to train xAI's Grok, which could stoke tensions between the EU and the US

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page