Mediagazer: Minute Media, which bought Mental Floss in 2018, buys sports and pop culture site The Big Lead from Gannett; The Big Lead co-founder Jason McIntyre will leave (Mark J. Burns/Morning Consult)

2:45 AM ET, March 15, 2019

Top News:

Minute Media, which bought Mental Floss in 2018, buys sports and pop culture site The Big Lead from Gannett; The Big Lead co-founder Jason McIntyre will leave — Minute Media said Thursday that it has purchased sports, media and pop culture website The Big Lead from USA Today parent company Gannett Co. …

Discussion: New York Post, Adweek, Awful Announcing, @markjburns88 and Deadspin

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:

A look at Media Matters, which monitors conservative media, and its researcher Madeline Peltz, who dug up Tucker Carlson's chats on Bubba the Love Sponge's show — Madeline Peltz works the night shift at the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America.

Discussion: CNN, @aaschapiro, Contemptor, @libbycwatson, @hshaban, @barthsnotes, @msmacb, @saysdana, The Daily Caller, @owillis, @mattdpearce, @emrosenberg, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Media Matters for America, Business Insider and Variety

Apple:

Apple responds to Spotify's complaint, says Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store “without making any contributions to that marketplace” — We believe that technology achieves its true potential when we infuse it with human creativity and ingenuity.

Discussion: MacRumors

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Spotify files an anti-trust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming App Store rules limit choice and stifle competition

Discussion: Variety, WIRED UK, MacRumors, Business Insider, Recode, Spotify, Wired, @pkafka, @caitlin__kelly, @issielapowsky, @guardiannews, @viticci, @neilcybart, @jamesliamcook, @m4tt, @spotifynews, Hollywood Reporter and Variety

Ashley Feinberg / HuffPost:

Axios and NBC confirm they have hired an editor to suggest changes to their Wikipedia entries; the editor has also worked for a Facebook PR firm and Nextdoor — Executives at the news company Axios were outwardly unperturbed when Jonathan Swan, one of the Politico-for-kids site's star reporters …

Discussion: @donie, @ashleyfeinberg, @craigsilverman, @jwitmer, @marinafang, @katienotopoulos, @mmasnick, @jcstearns, @saramorrison, @alexckaufman, @gregotto, @claireefallon, @b52malmet, @krmaher and @zachdcarter

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

With $150K in funding, the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, a partnership among nine media orgs in NC, will cover the housing crisis in its first year — In its first official local expansion, the Solutions Journalism Network is partnering with the Knight Foundation to launch …

Discussion: Poynter, Center for Cooperative Media, @centercoopmedia and Editor & Publisher

Lynette Rice / EW.com:

People magazine's editor in chief, Jess Cagle, is stepping down after five years at its helm and 32 years at Time Inc. — “I've decided it's time to do some other things while I'm still young — or at least alive," he wrote in a staff memo. “It's also time for me to live in Los Angeles full …

Discussion: Poynter, WWD, @markharrisnyc and Adweek

Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:
People magazine names Dan Wakeford, currently a deputy editor, as its new editor in chief starting April 1

Discussion: Adweek, @media_ink, MediaPost and CNN

Paresh Rajwat / Facebook:

Facebook is rolling out Watch Party support for live TV, testing first in Groups with live sports events, adds music features including in India and Thailand — Today at SXSW, we're sharing updates on how we're bringing people together around video and music on Facebook …

Discussion: Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, RAIN News, Engadget and 9to5Mac

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google says it removed 2.3B bad ads in 2018, down 28% from 2017 and terminated ~1M bad advertiser accounts, including ~734K publishers and app developers — Around this time of year, Google shares how many “bad ads” it killed the year before. And every year, the number grows. But not this time.

Discussion: The Keyword, Adweek, support.google.com, TechCrunch and @epro, more at Techmeme »

Lynn Elber / Associated Press:

The Hallmark Channel cuts ties with star Lori Loughlin after her arrest in a college admissions scam — LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Hallmark Channel cut ties Thursday with favored star Lori Loughlin, a day after her arrest in a college admissions scam put the family-friendly network …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, TMZ.com, ABC13, Vanity Fair, Tubefilter, BuzzFeed News, Fortune, Fast Company, The Daily Caller, TVWeek.com and Jezebel

Julia Thomas / Nieman Lab:

A look at how outlets like 263Chat, Kukurigo, and Magamba are distributing news via WhatsApp, which accounts for almost half of all internet usage in Zimbabwe — A look at how outlets like 263Chat, Kukurigo, Center for Innovation and Technology, and Magamba Network are distributing news via the app.

Discussion: @juliathomas317, @ramanewdelhi and @niemanlab

Luke DeCock / Raleigh News & Observer:

Charlotte's Raycom Sports is ending its 37-year run as ACC basketball broadcaster, to be replaced by ESPN as it launches its ACC Network in August — The pilot still sails, quietly, behind the scenes. — Before the first game of the ACC tournament in Charlotte, the Raycom television crew will listen …

Discussion: Richmond Times-Dispatch and Awful Announcing

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

YouTube star Lilly Singh takes over Carson Daly's NBC's 1:30am timeslot, making her the only woman to host a late-night talk show on a broadcast network — The broadcast network announced in February that ‘Last Call With Carson Daly’ would end after 17 years. — NBC has found its next late-night host.

Discussion: CNET

New York Times:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's ties to the film industry fall under scrutiny as the US pushes China for more favorable treatment of Hollywood films — WASHINGTON — “Wonder Woman,” the 2017 film that Steven Mnuchin helped produce before becoming Treasury secretary, hauled in about $90 million at the box office in China.

Discussion: @mbaram, @noahbookbinder, @arappeport, @robertmaguire_ and @lisabirnbach

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More News:

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The public will suffer and dodgy politicians will thrive as the number of reporters from regional outlets covering Congress and federal issues dwindles in DC

Discussion: @sambrodey, @ericschultz, @tatecurtis, @janebsinger, @katzonearth, @sambrodey and MinnPost

Orla McCaffrey / Ad Age:
Report: US esports ad revenue to reach $178M in 2019, up 25%, and $213M in 2020; 30.3M people in US will watch esports at least once a month in 2019, up 18% YoY

Reuters:
Slovakia charges Marian K., identified as businessman Marian Kocner by Slovak newspapers, with ordering the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Rakuten TV, with 7M users, expands to 30 new countries in Europe, and signs deal with Samsung, LG, and others to add Rakuten TV button to their remotes

more at Techmeme »

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Gary Barber and Lantern Entertainment have formed new studio Spyglass Media Group, which will own and oversee Weinstein Company assets bought by Lantern in 2018

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, Deadline and The Wrap

Earlier Picks:

Nikhil Inamdar / Quartz:
How Narendra Modi, who did not address a single press conference in his first term, turned many of India's media outlets into nationalist propaganda

Discussion: @benazir_shah

Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Email: Amazon to cut royalty rates in the US for Prime Video Direct creators from 6-15 cents/hour viewed to 4-10 cents/hour viewed, beginning April

Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories VR film studio, part of Google's ATAP group, according to an email from the studio's executive producer

Discussion: Gizmodo, @jank0, @russellholly, The Verge, Engadget and TechCrunch

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
Amazon has delisted two books that claimed to hold cures for autism, following a letter from Rep. Schiff criticizing anti-vaccine misinformation on the platform

Discussion: Poynter, The Guardian, BOOK RIOT, @tcarmody, @allicatmeowmeow, @boblonsberry, NBC News, CBS News and CNBC

From Techmeme:

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Tech stocks teetered in volatile trading on April 7: AAPL closed down 3.67% and MSFT closed down 0.55%, while Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Nvidia closed up

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple plans to send more iPhones to the US from India to offset the China tariffs, but the situation is too uncertain to upend supply chain investments

Matthew Gault / 404 Media:
Framework pauses sales of its six lowest-priced laptops in the US, saying the models would sell at a loss due to the 10% tariff that went into effect on April 5

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