Mediagazer: The Boston Globe has parted with its vice president of advertising, Michael Bentley, for not “upholding” its standards but did not elaborate further (Mark Arsenault/BostonGlobe.com)

8:00 AM ET, January 14, 2019

Top News:

Sources: Alden Capital's Digital First Media plans to bid for Gannett after quietly acquiring a 7.5% stake, will offer a 23% premium over Friday's closing price — A hedge-fund-backed media group known for buying up struggling local papers and cutting costs is planning to make an offer …

Mark Armstrong / WordPress:

WordPress has launched Newspack, a publishing platform aimed at small and medium-sized news outlets and backed by Google, ConsenSys, Lenfest, Knight, and others — Over the past 15 years, WordPress has grown to become the world's most popular publishing platform for the open web — and it's especially true for news organizations.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, VentureBeat, PR Newswire and The Keyword

Ellen Cranley / INSIDER:

A lack of black reporters in an announcement about CBS journalists covering the 2020 election sparked debate on Twitter from writers, politicians, and others — - “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among Twitter users who criticized CBS for seemingly …

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Survey of 200 digital leaders from 29 nations: 52% say subscription and membership will be their main revenue focus; 87% say Google is a very important platform — Every December, Nieman Lab asks media folks to predict what they think will happen in the new year — resulting …

Mark Arsenault / BostonGlobe.com:

The Boston Globe has parted with its vice president of advertising, Michael Bentley, for not “upholding” its standards but did not elaborate further — The Boston Globe has cut ties with its vice president for advertising, Michael Bentley, an executive whose name was removed this week from the paper's masthead.

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

How Neue Westfälische and Lokalportal are trying to build a hybrid between a local newspaper and a local social network in a German area with about 2M residents — One user: “I do not want to stay in touch with avoidable contacts in Dubai or London. I want to know who lives …

HBR.org:

How unions increased the number of unionized workers in internet publishing 20X since 2010 using old-style organizing tactics and modern social media platforms — Union membership as a share of the workforce in the United States has fallen to its lowest point in 80 years …

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Viacom is in talks to sell a majority share in its channel brands, such as MTV and Nickelodeon, in China — Media company is among other multinational corporations facing hurdles in the country — Media giant Viacom Inc. VIAB .38% is in talks to sell a majority stake …

Discussion: @missiwhite4 and Bloomberg

Manish Singh / VentureBeat:

Wikimedia announces the integration of Google Translate into Wikipedia's content translation tool used by editors, which now supports 121 total languages — For years, Wikipedia has been working on making its eponymous encyclopedia support more languages. But the nonprofit's effort has been slow …

Sinclair Target / Motherboard:

A look back at the evolution of RSS and why it lost out to centralized information silos on the web controlled by corporations, despite being an open format — Before the internet was consolidated into centralized information silos, RSS imagined a better way to let users control their online personas.

Discussion: @leanderwattig, @pkedrosky, @drvox, @jeremiahtolbert, @andrewbatson, @baekdal and @dangillmor

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Barstool Sports says it has 10K+ subscribers to its new membership service since its launch on January 8, with 81% signing up for the $100 annual subscription — Barstool Sports says it already has more than 10,000 paid subscribers to its new membership service, Barstool Gold …

Discussion: @stoolpresidente, @brianfitz_14, @ironhead334 and @digiday

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify outlines its strategy for podcasts that includes bringing talent in-house or exclusively licensing content and selling ads within its podcasts — Having established itself as a top streaming service with now over 200 million users, Spotify this year is preparing to focus more of its attention on podcasts.

Discussion: @niemanlab