Top News:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The UK government approves bid from US media giant Comcast to take over Sky, indicates it will approve 21st Century Fox's rival bid if they sell Sky News — UK government conditionally clears Fox and Comcast offers, setting up bidding war — The UK government has approved a bid …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Press Gazette and Broadcasting & Cable
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
Sources: Rupert Murdoch meddled in Lachlan Murdoch's efforts to oust Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy; Fox News having trouble monetizing pro-Trump coverage — Rupert thwarted the revenge firing of an old Lachlan adversary—and it's not the new Fox News's only problem.
Discussion:
@slpng_giants, @kimmasters, @gabrielsherman, @iamshanemorris and Media Matters for America
Variety:
Harvey Weinstein appeared before a Manhattan court on Tuesday morning and pleaded not guilty to rape and other charges of sexual misconduct — Harvey Weinstein pled not guilty on Tuesday morning to charges of rape and other acts of sexual misconduct. — The charges involve two alleged victims.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Wrap and IndieWire
Stewart Clarke / Variety:
Vice strikes deal with UK broadcaster Channel 4 to add 900 hours of programming, including 200 hours of new content, to its on-demand service All4 — More than 900 hours of Vice programming will be available on Channel 4's All4 on-demand service after the youth brand struck a deal with the British broadcaster.
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Sports site The Athletic says it has more than 100K subscribers who are charged either $5 a month or $60 per year; skeptics say subscription model is risky — Premium salaries lure writers; skeptics caution business model is risky — Stephen Curry, the star point guard for the Golden State Warriors …
Discussion:
The Big Lead and Awful Announcing
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
The New York Times' crossword app has 400K standalone subscribers who either pay $6.95 per month or get a 50% discount with a Times subscription — In the past two years, The New York Times has doubled the number of subscribers to its crossword app, according to a press release from the Times.
Discussion:
Business Wire
Kali Hays / WWD:
The Wall Street Journal's desk editors have been told they need to reapply for their positions, amid the newsroom's continued restructure — The Wall Street Journal is still reorganizing its newsroom and editors are taking the brunt of it. Members of The Journal's deep bench of desk editors …
Discussion:
@bysamro
Sarah Jones / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalists discuss the hardships of entering the business with low-income backgrounds and the difficulty in placing stories on poverty and class — How journalism got so out of touch with the people it covers — To become a journalist, Rajaa Elidrissi knew she would need a strategy.
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:
How comment hosting service Disqus, which gets ~2B unique visitors/month and supports anonymous comments, is losing its battle against trolls and hate speech — The commenting giant Disqus has said repeatedly that it doesn't allow hate speech. But its platform is overrun with trolls, white nationalists, and neo-Nazis.
Discussion:
@buzzfeednews, @annehelen, @noahshachtman and @dangillmor, more at Techmeme »
Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:
Thomson Reuters named Brian Peccarelli and Neil Masterson as its co-chief operating officers on Monday as part of a reorg, which also sees four execs leaving — (Reuters) - Financial news and information company Thomson Reuters (TRI.N)(TRI.TO) named Brian Peccarelli and Neil Masterson …
Max Willens / Digiday:
Podcaster Wondery to fully adopt IAB's new measurement transition; transition sees double-digit percentage drop for downloads amid artificially inflated counts — A lack of measurement standards is keeping brand advertising dollars away from podcasting. But its move toward a measurement standard …
TMZ.com:
Sources: ABC executives are keen to do a spin-off show of “Roseanne”, with an announcement possibly imminent — ABC wants to move forward with a second reboot of “Roseanne” and we're told an announcement could be imminent. — Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Hollywood Reporter, Decider, The Daily Beast, Deadline and TV Tattle