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Senator Chuck Schumer, troubled by Alden Capital's history, writes a letter to its president demanding it explain its plans for Gannett if a deal goes through — A firm backed by Alden Global Capital, known for sharp newsroom cuts, would acquire more than 100 daily newspapers in the deal.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and @news_guild
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Digiday Research survey of 100 ad buyers: only 14% expect the YouTube crisis to have an impact on long-term spending; ~33% said cutbacks would be temporary — As a number of major brands, including Disney, Nestle, McDonald's, AT&T and Epic Games, are pulling their ads from YouTube due …
Discussion:
AdExchanger, @jackneff and @aexm
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AT&T says it is pulling all advertising from YouTube after reports of pedophiles openly using the platform; Nestle and Epic Games have also pulled ads
Discussion:
Fast Company, The Verge, The Wrap, @rachblevins, Beyond Search, B&TB&T, @cnbc, WIRED UK, @winnersusedrugs, Gizmodo, MediaPost, CNBC, Adweek, @danielmadison78, @mattbinder, @bmorrissey, Tubefilter, Engadget, Boing Boing, The Wrap, The Verge, The Verge, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, The Verge, Tubefilter, The Verge, Fortune, TechCrunch, Engadget and Variety, more at Techmeme »


McClatchy CEO says ~225 employees have accepted buyout offers across the country with sources saying the Miami Herald is losing at least 10 employees — McClatchy Company CEO Craig Forman announced Wednesday “a bit fewer” than 225 employees had accepted buyout offers and would leave newspapers across the country.


Twitter co-founder and former CEO Ev Williams is stepping down from the company's board — Twitter Co-founder and former CEO Ev Williams is stepping down from the company's board, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. — “It's been an incredible 13 years …
Discussion:
@ev, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Recode, Business Insider, Business Insider and The Verge, more at Techmeme »


An Arizona cop threatened to arrest 12-year-old journalist Hilde Lysiak while she was reporting; Lysiak uploaded the exchange on YouTube and her own website — When a small-town Arizona cop stopped a 12-year-old reporter who was chasing down a story tip on Monday, he probably had no idea what he was getting himself into.


As increased use of algorithms in journalism raises questions of responsibility for libel, some stress the importance of transparency in code — “I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted.” — This is how Xinhua News' artificial …
Discussion:
American Press Institute


Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing awarded $200K in a defamation case over a 2015 Sydney Morning Herald story connecting him to a bribery scandal — SYDNEY, Australia — A billionaire businessman won a defamation case on Friday against a media organization that he claimed had wrongly linked …


Sources: in editorial call, CNN head Zucker defends hiring former Trump admin official Sara Isgur, emphasizes she won't make decisions about political coverage — On an editorial call, Jeff Zucker endorses former Justice Department official Sarah Isgur, clarifying her role and title
Discussion:
@coreypein
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CNN hiring Sarah Isgur is puzzling given her reported loyalty pledge to Trump's anti-press agenda and numerous critical tweets of CNN, reporters, and Democrats
Discussion:
@atrupar, @jdawsey1, @neontaster, @jayrosen_nyu, @samstein, @espiers, @ericschultz, @parkermolloy, @becketadams, @juddlegum, @parkermolloy, @nytimes, @ewerickson, @simonmaloy, @matthewwolfff, @irin, @maxwelltani, @matthewwolfff, @erikwemple, @ericschultz, @blackamazon, @atrupar, @simonmaloy, Media Matters for America, @ericschultz, @mikiebarb, @kortizart and @dabeard


Pinterest has stopped returning results for searches on vaccinations, differentiating between freedom of speech and freedom of reach — Programming note: The Interface will be off Thursday as I finish up a project that I will share with you next week. — Since the reckoning …


Source: Barstool Sports made $15M+ in podcasting revenue in 2018; CEO says over half its ad revenue is from podcasts with average rate per spot up 30% YoY — Barstool Sports recorded more than $15 million in podcasting revenue in 2018, according to a source.
Discussion:
MediaPost


DJ Marshmello's concert on Fortnite drew a peak crowd of 10.7M and led to 100M rise in his YouTube views; the DJ was equipped with a body-motion suit to perform — Ten million virtual souls showed up for two epic DJ sets. It was a masterstroke in global music marketing


In France, ten media companies, which together reach ~80% of the population, are partnering and spending €5M to create a unified login system across their sites — Media companies eager to deepen relationships with their audiences are teaming up and turning to unified login systems …