Mediagazer: Reporters without Borders has released its annual press freedom report-card and the US is ranked 45th in the world; Philippines slid to #133 and Turkey to #157 (Jason Rezaian/Washington Post)

3:25 PM ET, April 25, 2018

Top News:

Reporters without Borders has released its annual press freedom report-card and the US is ranked 45th in the world; Philippines slid to #133 and Turkey to #157 — Last weekend, as Nicaragua's police brutally cracked down on protesters demonstrating against President Daniel Ortega …

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Reporters Without Borders, @whca, @kathleencarrll, The Daily Beast, @vinodjose, @nilanjanaroy, @astroehlein, @birgitmschwarz, Japan Times, @jrezaian, @askakorean, @joshrogin, @jason_kint, Al Jazeera English and Politico

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix orders one of its first shortform series, Follow This, a weekly docuseries following BuzzFeed News journalists as they work, premiering July 9 — The shortform series will follow the journalists at BuzzFeed News as they report a variety of stories.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, YouTube, Variety, The Wrap, Columbia Journalism Review, @buzzfeedben, Fast Company, @mathewi, @scaachi, @pranavdixit, @journalistslike, @believekarolina, @azeen, The Daily Caller and Slate

New York Times:

Danish inventor Peter Madsen convicted of murdering journalist Kim Wall; court heard how he invited her on to his submarine with the intention of killing her — COPENHAGEN — A Danish inventor who admitted to dismembering a journalist and discarding her body from the submarine he built …

Discussion: CNN, The Wrap, Politico, @afreedma, @kennwhite, @erinlea7, @emilynussbaum, @ap and Committee to Protect …

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

The Guardian halves its losses to £19M in the year to the end of March and is on track to break even in 2018 — Publisher reports smaller than expected loss of £19m as benefits of tabloid switch filter through — The publisher of the Guardian and Observer halved its losses …

Discussion: @helenpidd

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Viacom says it is working with Snap on multiyear original content and ad deal that would include Snapchat influencers in new and existing shows — Viacom and Snapchat are working together to create new shows that would star top Snapchat stars. — In a multiyear original content …

Discussion: @kerrymflynn

Reuters:
Viacom Q2 earnings: revenues fell 3.3% to $3.15B with domestic affiliate revenue falling 4% to $934M

Discussion: The Wrap and The Wrap

Justin Baragona / Contemptor:

Infosec expert for Joy Reid says significant evidence exists that her old blog was compromised and some recently circulated posts were not on site at any time — Earlier this week, Mediaite published a bombshell report on the discovery of a large number of homophobic posts that had been discovered …

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, @erikwemple, Fox News, @ggreenwald, @angryblacklady, @angryblacklady, @liamstack, Web Science …, @phonedude_mln, shoqvalue.com, @bernstein and Mediaite

Chris Butler / Internet Archive Blogs:
Wayback Machine says it declined to take down “fraudulent” blog posts after Joy Reid's lawyers contacted archive; robots.txt later excluded blog from archives

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, Mediaite, TVNewser, Reason, Variety, New York Magazine, Slate, The Wrap, CNNMoney, Contemptor, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, TV Tattle, New York Times, The Daily Caller, PFLAG, Fast Company, Splinter, BuzzFeed, @dangillmor, @kfile, New York Post, Boing Boing, The Intercept and @ggreenwald

Chronicle of Higher Education:

Drew Cloud, an “expert” on student loans quoted by WaPo, CNBC, and The Boston Globe, is a fictitious persona created by a student finance company — Drew Cloud is everywhere. The self-described journalist who specializes in student-loan debt has been quoted in major news outlets …

Discussion: UPROXX, @mollyhc, @zittrain, @edpolicyhabash, @ralphehanson, @muckrakery, @trace_urdan, @dynarski and Talking Biz News

Jonathan Randles / Wall Street Journal:

Filing: Peter Thiel agrees to withdraw bid for Gawker website and archives, will give eventual buyer legal release for archived articles — Billionaire venture capitalist will sit out sale of dormant blog to avoid potential legal claims against him — Billionaire investor Peter Thiel …

Discussion: Variety, MediaPost, The Wrap, Fast Company, Mediaite, @theseantcollins, @edmurrieta, Hollywood Reporter, @albertburneko, @smorgasboredom, @hamiltonnolan, @tomscocca, @freedomofpress, Editor & Publisher and Columbia Journalism Review, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Williams / Telegraph:

Comcast makes £22B bid for British broadcaster Sky, at £12.50 a share, sparking a bidding war with 21st Century Fox and Disney — The US cable behemoth Comcast has declared a bidding war with 21st Century Fox and Disney for control of Sky by making a formal bid for Britain's dominant pay-TV operator.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Business Insider

Washington Post:

The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, Associated Press, and CNN ask court to unseal records from Mueller's Russia investigation — A coalition of news organizations, including The Washington Post, asked a federal court on Tuesday to unseal materials used by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Judge lets discrimination suit against Fox News by Scottie Nell Hughes proceed but trims some claims; she alleged she was raped by host Charles Payne in 2013 — Scottie Hughes alleges being blacklisted after complaining of sexual assault by Fox Business host Charles Payne.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Bloomberg

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Memo: staff in The Wall Street Journal's editing operation have been asked to reapply for their jobs following reorganization — Jason Anders, chief news editor at The Wall Street Journal, and Steve Wisnefski, editor of professional news, sent out the following message to the staff on Tuesday:

Discussion: @michellemanafy, @dabeard and @moorehn

Jon Lafayette / Multichannel News:

Conviva report: viewing of OTT video grew by 114% YoY in Q1, with total viewing hours reaching nearly 5B across mobile, connected TV, and desktop — Total viewing hours reach nearly 5 billion — Viewing hours of over-the-top, internet-delivered video grew by 114% in the first quarter from a year ago …

Discussion: MediaPost, TechCrunch and FierceCable

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