Mediagazer: John Bolton is the third TV commentator in eight days hired by the White House, continuing a trend of placing TV faces in positions of consequence (Michael M. Grynbaum/New York Times)

11:40 AM ET, March 23, 2018

Top News:

Jane Spencer / The Guardian:

Student journalists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas will guest edit the Guardian US for 48 hours starting today and oversee coverage of March for Our Lives — The Guardian has invited student journalists from the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead to direct our coverage of March for Our Lives …

Discussion: Fast Company, AOL, @lenoretaylor and WISH-TV

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

John Bolton is the third TV commentator in eight days hired by the White House, continuing a trend of placing TV faces in positions of consequence — Less than an hour after President Trump named John R. Bolton as his new national security adviser on Thursday, Mr. Bolton made an appearance …

Discussion: @mccormackjohn, CNNMoney, CNN and Mediaite

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

PBS formally names Judy Woodruff as anchor of NewsHour, its nightly newscast, and hires two correspondents: Amna Nawaz, also a fill-in anchor, and Nick Schifrin — PBS is naming Judy Woodruff the sole anchor of the “NewsHour,” its flagship nightly newscast.

Discussion: Fortune, Online NewsHour, Axios, TVNewser and Current

Lara O'Reilly / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google wants publishers that use its ad tech to get users' consent on its behalf to comply with EU's General Data Protection Regulation — Tech company also is offering a tool to serve nonpersonalized ads to users who opt out of ad targeting — Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL -3.73% Google …

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Inside AdWords, @jason_kint, @ashk4n, @jason_kint and @brettglass

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

ABC News will launch “Start Here”, a daily 20-minute podcast hosted by Brad Mielke on March 28; it will feature 4-6 stories and on-location reporting — ABC News is getting in on the parade of traditional media outlets launching daily news podcasts.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

New York Times:

Turkey's Dogan Media, the owner of Hurriyet, CNN Turk, and other outlets, has been sold to a pro-government company, likely further limiting media independence — One of Turkey's leading media groups, Dogan Media Company, was sold to a pro-government Turkish conglomerate on Wednesday …

Discussion: @kenroth, @mahirzeynalov, @reneehobbs, @aidanpwhite, Ahval, Committee to Protect …, Reporters Without Borders, Reuters and BloombergQuint

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

Producer and comedian Byron Allen's entertainment studio to acquire Weather Channel from Comcast, Blackstone, and Bain; source says deal valued around $300M — Comedian and producer Byron Allen acquired the Weather Channel TV network as he looks to expand his film and TV production company into a major media business.

Discussion: Fortune, Radio & Television …, TVWeek.com, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, TVNewser and Deadline

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

CNN's Jeff Zucker calls Fox News a “pure propaganda machine” with unquestioning coverage of the Trump administration: “Tass has nothing on them” — CNN chief Jeff Zucker didn't mince words Thursday in sizing up the state of Fox News, calling the rival all-news cabler …

Discussion: The Wrap, @tuckercarlson, Washington Post, TheBlaze, Hollywood Reporter, @mlcalderone, Deadline, The Daily Caller, The Hill and Axios

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

The Atlantic launches a family vertical, the first to have a Facebook group and newsletter, with coverage across its site, magazine, podcasts, videos, events — The Atlantic has launched a new family section, to which it's taking an expansive, multiplatform approach, reflecting the publisher's focus …

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

RIAA report: US retail revenue for music rose 17% in 2017 to $8.7B, with streaming accounting for two thirds of the revenue; paid subscriptions rose 63% to $4B+ — Domestic retail revenue jumped 17% in 2017 to $8.7 billion, according to an annual report from the Recording Industry Association of America

Discussion: Rolling Stone

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

New York Media, publisher of New York magazine, has acquired Splitsider from The Awl Network and will fold it into Vulture to boost Vulture's comedy coverage — The comedy site is one of the two remaining properties in the portfolio of The Awl Network — New York Media, the publisher …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Facebook Head of News Partnerships Campbell Brown says it was “not probably our wisest move” to threaten to sue The Guardian over Cambridge Analytica stories — Facebook was blindsided by the user-data scandal that has grabbed the headlines in the past week …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @harisarswat_, CNBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, @thelloydgrove, @campbell_brown, @jason_kint and Recode, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Hewlett Foundation report on social media, political polarization, and disinformation finds that while research into fake news is growing, much remains unknown — A big new report from the Hewlett Foundation pulls together existing research on social media, political polarization …

Discussion: @shansquared and @joseph_santoro