Mediagazer: NPD BookScan: Jill Abramson's Merchants of Truth sold just over 2,800 print copies in its first week of publication, following plagiarism controversy (Hillel Italie/Associated Press)

3:00 PM ET, February 15, 2019

Top News:

Sources: Great Hill Partners is in exclusive talks with Univision to buy Gizmodo Media Group for an undisclosed sum — Deal would include websites such as Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker and Jezebel — Great Hill Partners is in exclusive talks with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @onionincunion and @jeremymbarr

Hollywood Reporter:
Univision reports Q4 revenue of $688.5M, down 8.9% YoY and a loss of $40.2M amid ongoing carriage dispute with Dish

Discussion: @jeremymbarr, @benmullin, Variety, Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Facebook says it is exploring ways to address anti-vaccine misinformation including reducing or removing it from recommendations and demotion in search results — Facebook Inc., under pressure to reduce harmful, misleading and fake content, said it is exploring removing anti-vaccine information …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Gizmodo, schiff.house.gov, CNN, The Week, @jayrosen_nyu, Engadget, Fortune, Fast Company, The Hill, Business Insider and The Verge

James Vincent / The Verge:

OpenAI says it won't release the dataset behind GPT-2, its new text generator algorithm that can write, translate, and summarize text, due to fears of misuse — OpenAI's researchers knew they were on to something when their language modeling program wrote a convincing essay on a topic they disagreed with.

Discussion: The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Gizmodo, OpenAI Blog, Business Insider, @enkiv2, @techreview, @jimwaterson and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Kim Lyons / Columbia Journalism Review:

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh files complaint with National Labor Review Board, claiming Post-Gazette's publisher threatened to fire staff for union activity — On Saturday night, February 9, John Robinson Block—publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, one of more than a dozen news outlets owned …

Discussion: New York Times, @cjr, CNN, @cjr, @michaelafuoco, @jsilverpg, @jamieson, @pgnewsguild and @byrosenberg

Adam Jacobson / Radio & Television Business Report:

Apollo Global Management acquires majority stake in Cox Media Group's TV arm; earlier report placed the value at $3B — DAYTON, OHIO — On January 26, RBR+TVBR overheard a conversation involving a Cox Media Group Ohio employee who noted “we should know in a couple of weeks” what their fate would be …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Bloomberg, CNBC, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, @adamrjacobson1 and @b_fung

Vindu Goel / New York Times:

Critics say India's proposed internet rules, which could let Indian officials compel companies to remove posts, violate constitutional free speech protections — NEW DELHI — India's government has proposed giving itself vast new powers to suppress internet content, igniting a heated battle …

Discussion: @sflcin and @histoftech

Nobel Women's Initiative:

The Nobel Women's Initiative launches InterviewHer, a global database to connect media to women experts on conflict, peace, and security — Ottawa—February 13, 2019. — The Nobel Women's Initiative today launched InterviewHer, a global database that helps connect media to a wide range …

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:

NPD BookScan: Jill Abramson's Merchants of Truth sold just over 2,800 print copies in its first week of publication, following plagiarism controversy — NEW YORK (AP) — Days of relentless publicity, much of it unwanted, did not lead to many sales for Jill Abramson's “Merchants of Truth.”

Discussion: @tomgara and @maxwelltani

Melynda Fuller / MediaPost:

Hearst Magazines names its first chief data officer, Mike Smith, in charge of ad products, digital ad operations, and data capabilities — In its latest move as a data-driven content company, Hearst Magazines has appointed Mike Smith its first Chief Data Officer. — Smith will report to Hearst Magazines President Troy Young.

Discussion: Folio

Garett Sloane / Ad Age:

Sources: Facebook is working with some media partners to test connecting third-party ad tech, like Google Ad Manager, to Watch — Media partners could use Google and other ad tech to control advertising on the video service — Facebook wants to be friendlier to TV networks …

Gwilym Mumford / The Guardian:

BBC says This Week, its late night politics show hosted by Andrew Neil, will conclude this summer after 16 years on the air — Lighthearted late-night politics show will conclude in the summer when its current series ends — The BBC's long-running late-night politics show This Week …

Discussion: The Times & The Sunday Times, BuzzFeed, @markdistef, @markdistef, @tomwhx, BBC, @afneil, @mattkmoore, @hackneyabbott, @iaindale, @mrharrycole and Guido Fawkes

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

CBS reports Q4 revenues of $4B, up 3% YoY, missing estimates, adjusted operating income of $837M, up 10% YoY, and says it has 8M direct-to-consumer subscribers — CBS Corp. reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street analysts' expectations, largely due to a dip …

Discussion: MediaPost, CNBC, Multichannel News, Variety, The Wrap, Bloomberg, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, @lucas_shaw, Broadcasting & Cable, Business Insider, Variety and CBS Corporation SEC Filings

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Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
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Alexander Russo / kappanonline.org:
Since Columbine, media coverage of school shootings has improved, but issues of accuracy, follow-up, and narrow focus on gun control advocacy remain

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Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
PCs that can run large AI models may drive an enterprise PC replacement cycle, but some CIOs say they'll wait for the category to mature and prices to come down

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