Mediagazer: Artist and journalist Alexandra Bell critiques racism in journalism by editing NYT stories and posting enlarged copies of the articles around New York City (Doreen St. Félix/New Yorker)

Committee to Protect Journalists expresses relief Arkady Babchenko is alive, calls on Ukrainian officials to say why they used extreme tactic of staging murder — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who had been reported shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital yesterday, has appeared alive at a televised news conference in Kiev.

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, Associated Press, The Guardian, The Seattle Times and Boing Boing

BBC:

Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, widely reported to have been assassinated in Kiev on Tuesday, appeared at a Ukrainian press conference on Wednesday — Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, widely reported to have been assassinated in Kiev on Tuesday, is alive and well.

Edmund Lee / Recode:

James Murdoch says ~50% of Hulu's 20M subscribers opt for the $11.99/month ad-free plan, instead of the $7.99/month plan with commercials — But does he think Facebook could one day offer an ads-free version? Maybe not. — Hulu has three principal owners at the moment, including 21st Century Fox …

Discussion: MediaPost, Ad Age, Fortune, FierceCable, Decider and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Recode:

Interview with James Murdoch at Code Conference on Disney agreement, Comcast bid, Hulu's subscribers, the future of advertising, and the future of Fox — “You look at all of this crazy stuff in the news industry, news and entertainment industry but I mean, it looks like nobody can keep their pants on."

Discussion: Business Insider, The Wrap, MacRumors, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable and @refsrc

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Martin Sorrell has purchased a 75% stake in Derriston Capital, to be renamed S4 Capital, with the aim of building a next-generation WPP — Former boss of world's biggest advertising group reveals he is already in takeover talks — Sir Martin Sorrell has revealed he is in takeover talks …

Discussion: Sky News, Wall Street Journal, Ad Age and Fortune

Terri Walter / Chartbeat Blog:

Direct mobile traffic to publisher sites surpasses referral traffic from Facebook, including desktop and mobile, for the first time — New data shows that for the first time, mobile direct-to-site traffic has surpassed Facebook. Could this mean that mobile does not equal social after all?

Discussion: @vivian, Digiday, @lpolgreen, @agolis, Beyond Search, @charliebeckett and Nieman Lab, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@steverubel

Brent Lang / Variety:

MoviePass parent company CEO says it has acquired the exclusive option to purchase production company Emmett Furla Oasis Films — Helios and Matheson Analytics, the parent company of MoviePass, has acquired the exclusive option to buy Emmett Furla Oasis Films, the producers of “Lone Survivor” and “End of Watch,” Variety has learned.

Discussion: TechCrunch, /Film and The Playlist

Ben Detrick / The Ringer:

Philadelphia 76ers exec Bryan Colangelo has been secretly using five Twitter accounts to criticize players, disclose sensitive info, and share team strategy — A collection of Twitter accounts that has criticized Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, disclosed sensitive information …

Discussion: Mashable, @dmorey, @joelembiid, @shawnking, Dallas Morning News, @fins0905, Deadspin, Fortune, USA Today, The Guardian, Miami New Times, @wojespn, @alexkennedynba, @natalieegenolf, @phlsixersnation, @mcuban, @mcuban, @lockedonsports and @hanc247

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

The Washington Post offers a $90/year “premium EU subscription” with no ads and no data tracking to EU visitors in the wake of GDPR; a basic sub costs $60/year — Some U.S. publishers have blocked visitors from the E.U. to their sites rather than comply with the wide-ranging …

Discussion: New York Times

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Oculus rolls out Oculus Venues, its platform for watching live sporting events, concerts, and other media in VR, with partners including Lionsgate and MLB — Oculus wants VR to bring its users into magical worlds dreamed up by game developers, but the company also needs people to see the headset …

Discussion: Variety, VentureBeat and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

James Cusick / openDemocracy:

Sources: London Evening Standard strikes a £3M deal with six companies including Uber and Google that erases divide between news and advertising — London's Evening Standard newspaper, edited by the former chancellor George Osborne, has agreed a £3 million deal …

Discussion: @adambienkov, @maryftz, @dtraynier, @markpaultimes, @feargusosull, @benjaminramm, @g_n_ramsay, @morganhphillips, @etansmallman, @ryanvailbrown and @raju

Robbie Gonzalez / Wired:

Facebook will give researchers encrypted laptops to access Facebook's data and publish findings without pre-approval, in push to prevent abuse during elections — FACEBOOK IS KEEPING a close eye on misinformation in the lead-up to 2018's elections. Which elections, exactly?

more at Techmeme »

Didit:

Gawker selects marketing and communications firm Didit as its stalking horse bidder, with a bid of $1,131,600 — Didit (www.didit.com), a fully integrated marketing and communications firm, headquartered in Mineola, New York, announced that it has been selected by the Gawker Media estate as the …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Bankruptcy judge accepts $1M opening bid for Gawker from ad agency Didit, which plans a “good gossip” site: “We'll cover celebrity babies and dating”, not DWIs

Discussion: @galenmoore, @pkafka, Wall Street Journal, @jimwaterson, @srabil, @benmullin and O'Dwyer's