Top News:


Ev Williams announces that all Medium paywalled stories will be free for readers that come to the site from Twitter — If you're not the paying sort, Medium has a mile-wide new hole in its paywall that might interest you. (But really, you should be the paying sort.)
Discussion:
@ev, @bmccandless, @ev, @sdkstl, @sdkstl and @chronotope


Jonah Goldberg to leave the National Review and partner with ex-Weekly Standard EIC Steve Hayes to launch conservative media company, starting with newsletters — Jonah Goldberg is leaving National Review in the coming months to start a new conservative media company with Steve Hayes …
Discussion:
@dankennedy_nu, @jpodhoretz and @mattyglesias


Media advocacy group Free Press has proposed a tax on targeted advertising to fund noncommercial journalism and support new news distribution models — Facebook and Google aren't going to stop targeting ads to Internet users, and advertisers aren't likely to stop loving the data …
Discussion:
Free Press, @joeycoleman, @niemanlab, @freepress, @utknightcenter, @rispolimike, @vincecathomas, @steve_katz and @niemanlab


Source: Disney is in talks with AT&T to acquire WarnerMedia's 10% stake in Hulu to add to its existing 30% stake and the 30% Disney gains from 20th Century Fox — Disney wants to get even more control over Hulu: The company is in active discussions with AT&T to acquire the 10% stake …
Discussion:
Engadget, Tubefilter, The Verge, /Film, Fortune and Multichannel News
RELATED:

Arbitrator awards the team behind TV series Bones $179M after ruling that 21st Century Fox execs fraudulently hid profit info from stars and executive producer
Discussion:
The Big Lead, @jbflint, @eriqgardner, @pareene, @jbflint, The Hill, @billsimmons, @thrmattbelloni, Deadline, New York Times, Fortune, TechCrunch, Observer and Wall Street Journal


Brazil's antitrust regulators have approved Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox assets on condition it sells the Fox Sports channel and related sports rights — Disney took a big step closer to completing its $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox with Brazil's conditional approval of the deal Wednesday.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, Fantha Tracks, Comic Book, Reuters, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Times, ScreenRant and Deadline


UK charities declare the Momo challenge a hoax after the media publishes hundreds of articles on it, causing a moral panic despite absence of evidence — Groups say no evidence yet of self-harm from craze, but resulting hysteria poses a risk — It is the most talked about viral scare story …
Discussion:
One Man & His Blog, The Guardian, BBC, @jimwaterson, @mtrc, @vickiturk, The Independent, Metro.co.uk and Snopes.com


FTC settles with Musical.ly, now TikTok, for $5.7M, over the app's violation of US child privacy laws; TikTok's app updates with a new UX for users under 13 — A significant FTC ruling issued today will see video app TikTok fined $5.7 million for violating U.S. children's privacy laws …
Discussion:
Federal Trade Commission, TikTok Newsroom, @profcarroll, Music Ally, Washington Post, MediaNama, Sensor Tower Blog, @pimpmasteryoda1, @tiktok_us, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @shiraovide, @cheddar, @kerrymflynn, @jwherrman, Tubefilter, BBC, Ad Age, The Daily Caller, Fast Company, Boing Boing, Engadget, CNET, The Verge, Variety and Tubefilter, more at Techmeme »


SB Nation Editor-in-Chief Elena Bergeron is stepping down on March 15 with Executive Producer Ryan Nanni filling in in the interim — After almost two years as SB Nation editor-in-chief, Elena Bergeron is stepping down from the role, according to a company-wide email sent out on Wednesday by Vox Media publisher Melissa Bell.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing


The NBA's G League boasted an average Twitch stream of 8,300+ concurrent viewers in first two weekends of its 2019 season, beating streams of NBA's videogames — For years, NBA's G League, the minor leagues of basketball, was lost in the shuffle of NBA's massive television deals.


Police arrest a dozen journalists at an Algiers rally, attended by ~100 journalists, against alleged censorship of protests against fifth term for president — Algerian police arrested a dozen journalists participating in a rally Thursday against alleged censorship of coverage of protests …

Reuters expands its video and photo sports offerings through partnerships with the Players' Tribune, AFLO, Panoramic, Sporting Images, and MB Media — Reuters, the world's largest international multimedia news provider, announced today that it is further expanding its sports content offering …


iHeartMedia, via its subsidiary RCS, has acquired Greece-based Radiojar, which offers tools to transition broadcast radio into digital stations and podcasts — iHeartMedia, through its subsidiary RCS, has purchased Athens, Greece-based online audio technology company, Radiojar Information Technology S.A. (Radiojar).
Discussion:
Engadget, Billboard and VitalThrills.com