Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: in 2018, BuzzFeed generated $100M+ from business lines that didn't exist in 2017; Facebook video platform revenue grew from $500K in Q1 to $3M in Q4 2018 — - BuzzFeed CEO Says Company Is Generating Over $200 Million Annually From Businesses That Didn't Exist Two Years Ago
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Business Insider, Digiday, Adweek, BuzzFeed, @lucas_shaw, MediaPost, @xpangler and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Sources: Amazon teams up with the NY Yankees, Sinclair Broadcasting, and others in a bid to buy the YES sports network from majority owner 21st Century Fox — Amazon is coming to New York — to grab a piece of the Yankees sports network. — Jeff Bezos' tech giant has teamed …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Fox Business, Associated Press, @darrenrovell, Bleacher Report, Broadcasting & Cable, Awful Announcing and New York Post
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Alex Sherman / CNBC:
An overview of Amazon's media strategies, which include partnering with channels, expanding sports rights, and connecting content to products it sells — - Jeff Bezos gives the Amazon Studios team a massive budget to win “Lord of the Rings” and even sends Echo speakers to the Tolkien estate.
The Conversation:
Australian court case puts media outlets on notice that they could face large compensation claims, after The Age was found liable for a reporter's PTSD — A landmark ruling by an Australian court is expected to have international consequences for newsrooms, with media companies on notice …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @lindsaycohen, @seanrobinson1e4, @jbenton and NEWS.com.au
New York Times:
White House Communications Director Bill Shine has resigned to serve as senior adviser on Trump's re-election campaign — Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive who joined the White House staff last summer to manage President Trump's communications operation, has resigned and will move …
Discussion:
TVNewser, Bloomberg, @clarajeffery, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, @gabrielsherman, New York Magazine, @tripgabriel, Ad Age, @maggienyt, The Daily Beast, KNSD-TV, @poniewozik, CNBC, @timobrien, Boing Boing, CNN, @timobrien, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, @karenyourish, @acosta, The Week, Fortune, Splinter, Newsy and Washington Post
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Facebook's shift to more private sharing will make misinformation harder to track and raises questions about the company's liability for its diffusion — On Wednesday, in what seemed like a major shift, Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he wants to reorient Facebook around private, encrypted …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @zeynep, New York Times, American Press Institute, New York Times, The Guardian, New York Times, MIT Technology Review, @alexstamos, The Verge, @jayrosen_nyu, @evanselinger, @jason_kint, Parse.ly, @sivavaid, @sivavaid, Stratechery, Techdirt, @jessefelder, @willoremus, @_maditla, The Verge, Memex 1.1, @jayrosen_nyu, Wired, Wired, ClickZ, WIRED UK, Business Insider and The Week, more at Techmeme »
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Serial Box, a digital publisher of serialized fiction that publishes stories in text and audio formats, raises $4.5M in seed funding, led by Boat Rocker Media — Serial Box, a startup bringing back the tradition of serialized fiction, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding.
Joe Berkowitz / Fast Company:
Q&A with Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini on Miel Brudow's fight with the site after it posted Brudow's video without credit: “we really botched” the response — On Monday, writer and performer Miel Bredouw took to Twitter to disclose publicly how her content had been misappropriated …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Deadspin, Deadspin, @onlxn, @rezac1 and The Daily Beast
Max Willens / Digiday:
NBC News and MSNBC plan to expand their podcasts team; one goal is a podcast focused on the 2020 election, starting out weekly and expanding into a daily show — NBC News and MSNBC are spending more to make podcasts. — On Monday, NBC News is announcing the first of several hires this year …
Harry A. Jessell / TVNewsCheck:
FCC docs: Apollo Global Management's Terrier Media will pay $3.1B for Cox TV/radio stations, combining them with others and owning 77%; Cox keeps minority share — According to FCC filings, Terrier Media, a new company created by an Apollo private equity fund, will pay $3.1 billion …
Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Former DOJ lead spokesperson Sarah Isgur, who CNN said would be hired as a political editor, says on Twitter that she will be a CNN political analyst instead — Sarah Isgur, hired last month as a CNN political editor, will instead serve in a more analytical role.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, @whignewtons, The Wrap, Bloomberg, @benmullin, NBC News and @amescg
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says streaming service Disney+ will include the entire Disney film library soon after launch this year, essentially ending Disney's “vault” — Exclusivity and availability is a tremendous advantage — Disney+, the company's upcoming streaming service …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Vulture, MTV, CNBC, Jezebel, Polygon, MacRumors, Engadget, @heyjonanderson, @kimscorcher, @drewmcweeny, @ceilidhann, @loudmouthjulia, @tasharobinson, @scalzi, @jank0, Fast Company, Ars Technica, 9to5Mac and Cord Cutters News