Mediagazer: Disney names Jennifer Lee to lead Walt Disney Animation Studios and veteran Pixar director Pete Docter to lead Pixar, filling John Lasseter's dual roles (Brooks Barnes/New York Times)

7:40 AM ET, June 20, 2018

Top News:

Daniel Holloway / Variety:

Modern Family's Steve Levitan revises statement about not re-upping with Fox, says he'll “take some time” to see where studio executives land after Fox sale — “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan reversed course Tuesday after initially saying he would leave Fox …

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, Deadline, Ad Age, TVLine, Consequence of Sound, Contemptor, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Adweek, Mashable, The Wrap, @gdanielholloway, Mediaite and The A.V. Club

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:

Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan says he will not be re-upping his contract with 20th Century Fox TV due to the studio's ties with Fox News — UPDATED with Levitan's statement: After Steve Levitan tweeted last night that he was “disgusted” to work for Fox following a controversial statement …

Discussion: @stevelevitan, C21Media, @stevelevitan, @paulfeig, EW.com, LAist, RAPPLER, HuffPost, @juddapatow, @davidfolkenflik and TV Tattle

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:

Days after criticizing Fox News' Tucker Carlson, Seth MacFarlane donates $2M to NPR and $500K to NPR member station KPCC in Los Angeles — EXCLUSIVE: Days after Seth MacFarlane's outrage over Fox News host Tucker Carlson's suggestion that viewers should discount any other media besides Fox News ignited …

Discussion: @stevelevitan, Los Angeles Times, @juddapatow, @jeffbercovici, @juddapatow, @elisewho, @radiofinn, @inajaffenpr, TVWeek.com, @dabeard, @jeffjarvis, @kairyssdal, @davidfolkenflik, The A.V. Club, Variety and TV Tattle

Alex Heath / Cheddar:

Sources: AT&T in talks to acquire AppNexus, which operates one of the largest independent ad exchanges; source says AppNexus won't sell for less than $2B — AT&T is in talks to acquire the advertising company AppNexus, Cheddar has learned. — Privately-held AppNexus operates …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, AdExchanger, @alexeheath, The Drum, @alexeheath and @aexm, more at Techmeme »

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:

Dissecting how the US family-separation policy for immigrants became big news after percolating for months as reporters probed and legislators asked questions — How the many-chambered heart of the internet turned the Trump administration's family-separation policy into a different kind of scandal.

Discussion: NPR, The Texas Tribune, Snopes.com, @marklittlenews, @evanchill, @healthcommphd, @charliebeckett, @urilf, @rojospinks, @adriennelaf, Media Matters for America, Vox and The Hill

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

When DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a sheriffs' association, “Don't believe the press”, she was following her boss's lead to discredit the media — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday abandoned precision in bashing media coverage of the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, @sulliview, @nora_kelly, @mediaite, CNNMoney and Media Matters for America

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook debuts game-show platform that lets creators add quizzes, polls, and more to live and on-demand video; Facebook tests ability to award prize money — Rather than build its own HQ trivia competitor, Facebook is launching a gameshow platform. Today the company announced a new set …

Discussion: Facebook Media, What's New in Publishing, RAPPLER, Gizmodo, Fortune, Mashable, Digiday, Tubefilter, Business Insider, The Verge, VentureBeat and Adweek, more at Techmeme »

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook launches Brand Collabs search engine to connect brands and creators for sponsoring and product placement deals; Facebook is not currently taking a cut — Facebook wants to help connect brands to creators so they can work out sponsored content and product placement deals, even if it won't be taking a cut.

Discussion: Facebook, more at Techmeme »

Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Facebook says it's opening Watch to more types of content, including non-episodic long-form, in bid to capture YouTube stars, and is adding polls, quizzes, more

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Sara Boboltz / HuffPost:

NYT agreed not to use audio recordings of an on-the-record interview with Trump advisor Stephen Miller for its podcast The Daily after the White House objected — As the immigration crisis rages on, a key adviser's voice has been hushed. — Bowing to pressure from the White House …

Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed:

Medium and GitHub scrub posts and database containing ICE employee LinkedIn data citing rules against doxxing; Twitter suspends bot tweeting info from database — Medium and GitHub say posting the LinkedIn data of a targeted group of employees constitutes doxing. The artist who made the database disagrees.

Discussion: @ceodonovan, @corporacallosa, @beschizza, @joftius, Gizmodo, @rienzokennedy, @a_man_in_black, @mmasnick, @ceodonovan, @joemacare, @generativist, @ceodonovan, @joftius, The Verge and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Disney names Jennifer Lee to lead Walt Disney Animation Studios and veteran Pixar director Pete Docter to lead Pixar, filling John Lasseter's dual roles — LOS ANGELES — Pete Docter is a 6-foot-5 Minnesotan who comes across like Tom Hanks in “Big” and lives in a literal tree house.

Discussion: Ad Age, Hollywood Reporter, CNNMoney, Scroll.in, EW.com, IndieWire, Deadline and io9

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Sources: Endemol Shine, the TV producer of Black Mirror that is co-owned by 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management, has hired bankers to pursue a sale — - Fox previously passed up the chance to acquire all of Endemol and instead agreed to sell its stake to Disney in December.

Discussion: Deadline

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:40 AM ET, June 20, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Commissioning Editor - Practical Law — Reuters

Energy Markets Reporter, London — WSJ

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Jack Shafer / Politico:
Ali Watkins deserves a reprimand if she slept with a source, and a second chance, given that male reporters have escaped punishment over the years

Discussion: @hollyvhays, @kantrowitz, @erikwemple, @byrontau, @blowryontv, BuzzFeed and Wall Street Journal

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Starz rolls out 14 channels on YouTube TV as a $9 add-on to the $40/month basic package

Discussion: Variety, FierceCable, Broadcasting & Cable, PR Newswire and The Verge

Pew Research Center:
Study: US adults who are politically aware, digitally savvy, and trust reporting are more likely to identify factual statements in media

Discussion: @gottfriedjeff, NPR, The Hill, @jboren4507, @greta, @michaelbarthel, @pewjournalism, @kubremner, @kabir_here, @brendannyhan, @pewresearch, Trust, Media and Democracy and The Next Web

Will Robinson / Jacksonville Business Journal:
Newsroom organizers at the Florida Times-Union, bought by GateHouse in 2017, announce their intent to unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA

Discussion: Poynter, your community and @tessaduvall

Jessica Davies / Digiday:
Speaking at Cannes, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson praised Google for listening to the paper's concerns but said Facebook was “difficult”

Discussion: @bmorrissey

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
IAB study: 65% of viewers said they intend to watch the World Cup via livestream, versus just 71% who said they would view it on television

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
BBC's Director of Education and Radio James Purnell says the corporation faces an existential threat from Netflix and Spotify, must reach younger listeners

Earlier Picks:

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
UK has indicated it's ready to approve 21st Century Fox's purchase of Sky, after Disney promised to commit $2B to Sky's annual budget over 15 years

Discussion: The Wrap and Press Gazette

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Vox Media is folding Racked, the retail and fashion site it acquired in 2013, into a vertical within the Vox website called The Goods

Discussion: Mediawire, @notorioustib, @chavielieber, @chaykak, @voxmediainc, @manymanywords and @racked

Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix signs first European overall deal with creators of breakout hit “Dark”, Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, similar to deals with Rhimes and Murphy

Discussion: Decider

Nieman Lab:
An open letter to the international journalism community, after the head of Portuguese press association forcibly kissed a woman onstage at WAN-IFRA congress

Discussion: RAPPLER, Chicas Poderosas, WikiTribune, @laurahazardowen, @niemanlab, @jayrosen_nyu, @niemanlab, @worldeditors, @kapur_ritu, @dawnbvaughan and @naomijayharris

Associated Press:
Pulitzer prize-winning author Junot Diaz will return to his teaching post at MIT after an internal investigation cleared him of allegations of sexual misconduct

Discussion: The Bookseller and @dpanjana

Michael R. Blood / Associated Press:
Former Mexico President Vicente Fox joins the board of cannabis publication High Times

Discussion: The Wrap

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Antitrust experts argue several major acquisitions have given Facebook and Google dominance over the ad market, with the DoJ failing to regulate them

Discussion: @baekdal

From Techmeme:

Michael Kan / PCMag:
OpenAI makes the ChatGPT desktop app for Windows available to all users, following an October release limited to paying ChatGPT subscribers

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

Decrypt:
Eighteen US states, led by Kentucky, sue the SEC and its commissioners, including Chairman Gary Gensler, over its crackdown on the crypto industry

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page