Top News:
Jason Rezaian / Washington Post:
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 …
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.
Jem Aswad / Variety:
US House unanimously passes Music Modernization Act to streamline licensing and ensure royalty protection for pre-1972 performances; bill now goes to Senate — As expected, the Music Modernization Act unanimously passed the House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable
Cale Guthrie Weissman / Fast Company:
Digg, formerly owned by Betaworks, has been sold to Boston-based ad-tech company BuySellAds; new CEO Todd Garland plans to streamline Digg and build up ad stack — This story has been updated. — Last month, Digg, an old beloved content aggregation destination, made the sad announcement …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Business Insider, @inafried, @caleweissman and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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:
NPR, @kasie, @chronicle, @danprimack, @barrettbrown_, UPROXX, @muckrakery, @bencasselman, @mollyhc, @zittrain, @edpolicyhabash, @ralphehanson, @trace_urdan, @dynarski and Talking Biz News
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 …
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, @contourcorsets, @seywarddarby, The Wrap, @emilynussbaum, Politico, @kennwhite, Committee to Protect …, @erinlea7, @afreedma and @ap
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
RELATED:
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Snap says it will begin testing six-second non-skippable ads in select Snapchat Shows beginning May 15 — Once reluctant to force ads on its users, still-unprofitable Snapchat is going to start testing nonskippable ads in its TV-like shows, according to three sources with direct knowledge …
Allison Graves / Poynter:
Lee Williams, a columnist and editor at GateHouse's Sarasota Herald-Tribune, advocates for the NRA while editing breaking news, raising ethical questions — A little more than a month after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Lee Williams sat down with Marion Hammer …
Discussion:
@indira_l, @davidmastio, @indira_l and @emily_lecoz
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:
@filloux, @groomb, @helenpidd, @shaunwalker7, @jeffjarvis, @keejayov2, @rupertmyers, @maxslaterrobins, @pilhofer and @dawnhfoster
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Jonathan Carson, who joined Mic as president in April 2017, is transitioning out of the company over next few months; CEO says Mic isn't hiring a replacement — Jonathan Carson, who joined Mic as its president in April 2017, is headed out. The millennial-focused publisher hasn't named a replacement.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T says it netted 312K new DirecTV Now customers in Q1 to reach 1.46M subscribers as it reports revenues of $38B, down 3.4% YoY, missing targets — AT&T added 312,000 DirecTV Now net new customers in the first three months of 2018 to reach 1.46 million subscribers — offsetting losses on the traditional pay-TV front.
Discussion:
The Wrap, TechCrunch, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, CNET and AT&T, more at Techmeme »
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