Mediagazer: Sacha Baron Cohen's show “Who Is America?” attracted just 327K viewers when it premiered on Sunday, despite mass hype (Rick Porter/Hollywood Reporter)

12:45 PM ET, July 17, 2018

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Snapchat is partnering with four news discovery platforms to help journalists better mine the billions of public videos and photos shared on the app — Snapchat is launching a news partnership initiative with the goal of helping journalists and news organizations better mine the billions …

Discussion: Fortune, @sarafischer and @joshconstine, more at Techmeme »

Sean Burch / The Wrap:

In internal email, Tribune Media Chief Exec Peter Kern expresses disappointment at decision by FCC's Pai, says it creates “more uncertainty” about merger — Tribune Media chief executive Peter Kern said he is “disappointed” the FCC is looking into stopping its $3.9 billion merger …

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Wall Street Journal:

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Anna Marie de la Fuente / Variety:

Univision's Chief Content Officer Isaac Lee is leaving the company to set up his own TV production business — In another shakeup at Univision, Isaac Lee, chief content officer of the Spanish-language giant and its longtime programming supplier and shareholder, Televisa, is leaving the company as of today.

Discussion: @hadas_gold and @enrique_acevedo

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Vox Media is licensing Chorus, the CMS it uses to operate its sites, to other news outlets; CEO Bankoff says talks are ongoing with 20 companies — After cutting partnership deals with The Ringer and Funny or Die, Vox Media hopes to sell publishing technology to publishers of all sizes

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Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:

Sacha Baron Cohen's show “Who Is America?” attracted just 327K viewers when it premiered on Sunday, despite mass hype — Sacha Baron Cohen's Showtime series has been a controversy magnet, but the audience for Sunday's debut is pretty small. — Who Is America? …

Discussion: @jamessurowiecki and @poniewozik

Maria Curi / Politico:

16 Congressional lawmakers will testify against hikes in newsprint tariffs in front of the International Trade Commission on Tuesday — Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are increasingly working on finding relief for the newspaper industry, which has been hit hard by tariffs imposed …

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Roku unveils Roku TV Wireless Speakers that use company's Roku Connect platform to link-up with Roku-powered smart TVs over WiFi, coming in October for ~$200 — The first speakers to use the new Roku Connect platform are also Roku's first foray into the speaker market

Sarah Jeong / The Verge:

Inside the world of self-published romance on Amazon Kindle Unlimited, where authors collaborate and compete to game Amazon's algorithm — To cash in on Kindle Unlimited, a cabal of authors gamed Amazon's algorithm — On June 4th, a group of lawyers shuffled into a federal court in Manhattan …

more at Techmeme »

Tom Rachman / The Atlantic:

The Daily Mail's incoming pro-Europe editor Geordie Greig, who replaces Paul Dacre, faces challenges grappling with the Mail's Brexiteer past and readership — The Daily Mail tabloid encouraged a vote for Brexit. Will a new, pro-Europe editor make readers change their minds—or unsubscribe?

Columbia Journalism Review:

Ecuador's new president encourages investigative journalism and pledges to reform the country's repressive Communications Law, but reporters still work in fear — Lenín Moreno, now the president of Ecuador, as a candidate in 2016. Photo: Agencia de Noticias ANDES/Micaela Ayala V/flickr.

Charles Preston / Committee to Protect Journalists:

Profile of Zachary Stoner, an independent music journalist and YouTuber in Chicago who covered the city's neglected black communities before being killed in May — I weighed the possibility of being killed for writing this. Seriously. I know that shedding light on or speaking …

Discussion: @aaschapiro and @jessicajerreat

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