Mediagazer: Four European Wikipedia sites are blocking access and directing users to contact their EU representatives on March 21 to protest the copyright directive (James Vincent/The Verge)

10:30 AM ET, March 21, 2019

Top News:

Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:

Instagram, which has largely escaped scrutiny, is teeming with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and extremist memes, linked by its recommendation algorithm — When Alex, now a high-school senior, saw an Instagram account he followed post about something called QAnon back in 2017 …

Discussion: @taylorlorenz and @cwarzel

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Sources: WSJ plans to join the new paid tier of Apple News to be announced on Monday, expected to cost $10/month; NYT and The Washington Post have opted out — SAN FRANCISCO — The Wall Street Journal plans to join a new paid subscription news service run by Apple, according to two people familiar …

Discussion: Fortune, The Verge, CNBC, @zidanism, @nytimesbusiness, @caro_milanesi, @mikeisaac, @mdudas, Engadget, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and MAC blog, more at Techmeme »

Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
Sources: top publishers with good subscription numbers think a paid Apple News tier could cannibalize existing subs; smaller publishers have little to lose

Discussion: @bobbierman and @lmoses

James Vincent / The Verge:

Four European Wikipedia sites are blocking access and directing users to contact their EU representatives on March 21 to protest the copyright directive — Sites including Reddit, Twitch, and PornHub are also encouraging users in the EU to contact local politicians

Discussion: Wikimedia Foundation, Business Insider, Fortune, Boing Boing and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:

After the events in New Zealand, journalists and tech companies should once again reflect on their roles in how extremist material enters the public square — Journalism has a panopticon problem. Just like the watchman in the center of Jeremy Bentham's theoretical circular prison …

Discussion: @jbenton and @columbiajourn

Paige Leskin / Business Insider:

YouTube shut down Fantastic Adventures, a channel with 800K subscribers, as creator gets arrested for allegedly mistreating her kids who performed in the shows — - YouTube creator Machelle Hackney, behind the popular channel “Fantastic Adventures,” has been arrested in connection …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, @broderick, @brionykidd, @ambiej, Washington Post, NBC News, The A.V. Club, The Daily Caller and The Daily Beast

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google launches two new fact-checking tools for journalists and says 50 partners are working with Subscribe With Google, including The Washington Post and FT — The Google News Initiative launched in 2018 to tackle “fake news” and create products that support journalists and the broader industry.

Discussion: Digiday, The Keyword, @googlenewsinit, @google, The Keyword and Fortune

Sarah Feldberg / Columbia Journalism Review:

A lawsuit in California about the employment misclassification of delivery truck drivers prompts some companies to stop working with freelance reporters — Carrie Bell likes being her own boss. A full-time freelancer for nearly 18 years, she covers entertainment and travel for outlets like Yahoo and PopSugar.

Discussion: @malenawatrous, @rachaelmyrow, @paperalphabet, @candjattorneys, @wordchem, @bu_law and Columbia Journalism Review

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

Interview with Donna Brazile on her job with Fox News, the role of the network and others in fomenting hate, and why she thinks reaching Fox viewers is valuable — Donna Brazile, who has twice served as the interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, is one of the most prominent political strategists of recent times.

Caroline Haskins / Motherboard:

Interviews detail the ongoing battle on YouTube between children-focused channels making animated videos and those featuring humans — Animated videos dominate the kids YouTube space. Humans are fighting against YouTube's algorithm to try and compete. — Last month, news feeds were saturated with distressing headlines about Momo.

more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Despite a diverse Democratic field for president in 2020, national media outlets focus on three white men, depicting candidates as characters in a drama — As amorous embraces go, few could be more ardent than the one Beto O'Rourke got this month from Vanity Fair magazine.

Discussion: @sulliview, @katzonearth, @bobstep, @amy_siskind, @jayrosen_nyu, @projomike, @amlwhere, @nprinskeep, @heidilifeldman, @jrubinblogger, @bykowicz, @sulliview, @sullivanamy, @nickconfessore, @karaswisher, @sjdemas and Slate

Guy Rosen / Facebook:

The NZ shooting video was harder to block on Facebook than official terrorist propaganda videos because the latter aren't rebroadcast or reshared widely — We continue to keep the people, families and communities affected by the tragedy in New Zealand in our hearts.

Discussion: VentureBeat, The Register, CNET, KTLA, Business Insider, @raju, Engadget, The Guardian, Associated Press, Mother Jones, MediaNama, @sarahfrier, @hadas_gold and @ruskin147, more at Techmeme »

Laura M. Holson / New York Times:

After Rep. Devin Nunes sued Twitter and the @DevinCow account claiming defamation, the parody account gained 465K+ followers, surpassing his own follower count — Consider this: a parody account pretending to be an imaginary cow owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican …

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Analysts say ripple effects of the Disney-21st Century Fox deal may not be clear for years: predictions include 3,000+ layoffs and more competition in streaming — LOS ANGELES — “Everything the light touches is our kingdom.” — It's a line from Disney's “The Lion King,” spoken by Mufasa to young Simba as they sit atop Pride Rock.

Discussion: Variety, Fox News, Hollywood Reporter, @tonkohouse, @thr, Hollywood Reporter, FierceVideo, Multichannel News, Vanity Fair, MacRumors, The Week and Bloomberg

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Memo: Bob Iger talks about Fox acquisition, says “challenging” work lies ahead and that some businesses will be “impacted more” than others by the deal

Discussion: Business Insider, The Week and TVWeek.com

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

With no spammy notifications, bots and troll mentions, email newsletters are becoming a more attractive medium than news feeds for writers — SAN FRANCISCO — My favorite new social network doesn't incessantly spam me with notifications. When I post, I'm not bombarded with @mentions from bots and trolls.

Discussion: @nikillinit, @millie, @alexisohanian and Boing Boing

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:30 AM ET, March 21, 2019.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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More News:

Sara Guaglione / MediaPost:
Forbes launches Forbes8, a streaming service aimed at entrepreneurs, featuring over 2,000 pieces of video content for $8.99 per month

Vlad Savov / The Verge:
By integrating Stadia into YouTube, Google plans to cement YouTube's dominance, as 200M users already watch gaming content there every day

Discussion: @oscb, @intelligencer, @glenngabe, @glenngabe, 9to5Google, Business Insider, TechCrunch and Kotaku, more at Techmeme »

Reading Eagle:
The Reading Eagle Company in PA, with 236 full-time employees, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, plans to keep publishing its newspaper as it seeks a buyer

Discussion: Poynter, CNN, @rogerdupuis2, @bobcesca_go, @richterific and @riley_yates

Jamie McGee / The Tennessean:
LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, says it will close all 170 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores in 2019

Discussion: The Alabama Baptist and Baptist Press News

Lauren Easton / The Definitive Source:
AP's VP for Standards, John Daniszewski, highlights attacks on journalists globally, at an International Press Institute event at the UN: “We need to get angry”

Discussion: @dabeard

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Britain's counter-terrorism chief criticizes newspapers for publishing “manifestos” of killers while they blast digital platforms for hosting extremist content

Discussion: @owenjones84, @meralhece, @nadiakhomami, @nealcurtis, @theauracl3, @jamesrbuk, @jimwaterson, @cheng_christine and @marklittlenews

Committee to Protect Journalists:
The CPJ and other press freedom groups are seeking a meeting with Sacramento police after three journalists were arrested while covering protests

Discussion: @rcfp, @rcfp, @spj_tweets, @uspresstracker, @aaschapiro, @pressfreedom and @aaschapiro

Earlier Picks:

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
A look at how journalists are preparing for the Mueller report, a swirling drama which has sold many newspaper subscriptions over the last two years

Discussion: @markdistef, @joepompeo, Politico, @joepompeo and Quartz

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Comcast says it is launching a new service on Thursday but declined to specify what it will be, with some speculation that it's a smart-home hub for TVs

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The BBC's Newsnight becomes one of its first current affairs shows to be presented and edited entirely by women, as Emily Maitlis is confirmed as lead presenter

Discussion: @angelafwrites

Norberto Santana Jr / Voice of OC:
Around 33 newsrooms in California, including The LA Times and the Orange County Register, join forces to report on recently released police misconduct files

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @garveymcvg, @aclu_norcal, @jeremiahdobruck, Sacramento Bee, @raju, LAist, Los Angeles Times and Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Diamond & Silk, who host a weekly show on Fox News streaming platform Fox Nation, appeared in a recent Trump re-election campaign video

Discussion: @mollyjongfast, Media Matters for America and CNN

EU Press Room:
The European Commission has fined Google €1.49B for “abusive practices in online advertising” and breaching EU antitrust rules

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Deloitte Digital Media Trends: 47% US consumers are frustrated by subscriptions, 75% prefer pay TV with fewer ads, 82% say companies don't protect user data

Discussion: USA Today, USA Today, @usatodaymoney, American Press Institute, @karlbode, @rafat, Awful Announcing, @macemoneta, Dark Horizons, BGR and Deloitte Insights, more at Techmeme »

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
David Sirota, hired March 11 by Bernie Sanders, informally advised Sanders for months while attacking opponents on Twitter and in The Guardian through December

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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