Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple Music has been growing at a monthly rate of 2.6% to 3%, had 28M users in US in February, compared to Spotify's 26M users and growth of 1.5% to 2% — Apple's music-streaming service has surpassed Spotify's in paid U.S. subscriptions yet lags its Swedish competitor globally.
Discussion:
USA Today, TechCrunch, @ow, @pkedrosky, @tomwarren, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, @carlquintanilla, Ars Technica and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Paul Karp / The Guardian:
Australia passes law penalizing content service providers and hosting services for failing to quickly remove abhorrent violent content, despite tech opposition — Labor supports legislation in response to Christchurch shooting that threatens jail for executives, despite media companies' concerns
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Wrap, New York Times, @donie, @vickerysec, ZDNet, TechCrunch, @baekdal, iTnews, ZDNet, ARN, Boing Boing, aph.gov.au, Engadget, 9to5Google and NPR
RELATED:
Rob Williams / MediaPost:
Vogue returns to Greece after shutting down in 2012 due to the economic crisis; its 29-year-old EIC Thaleia Karafyllidou is the youngest of any Vogue title — This week, Vogue returned to Greece after a seven-year absence as the Mediterranean country's economy enters its third year of growth after bottoming in 2016.
Harry A. Jessell / TVNewsCheck:
Borrell report: Facebook, Google made up 70% of the $60B in local digital ad spending in 2018; TV comprised 9% of local ad spend, beating newspapers, a first — The social media giant and search engine now account for 70% of the $60 billion spent on digital advertising in 2018, says a new Borrell report, with Facebook leading the way.
David Jackson / USA Today:
Trump says he will again skip the White House Correspondents Dinner, which has dropped a comedian as the main speaker, inviting historian Ron Chernow instead — At the 2018 White House Correspondents' dinner, comedian Michelle Wolf delivered a number of racy jokes. Her main target seemed to be Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
CNN:
Netflix's DVD service, with its 2.7M US subscribers, appeals not only to those with poor broadband but also to many in urban areas seeking an extensive catalog — (CNN)Remember when Netflix used to be a DVD-by-mail company? Well, for 2.7 million subscribers in the US, it still is.
Discussion:
FYIMusicNews
Julia Ziemer / Polis:
Google News Initiative and LSE's journalism think tank are collaborating on Journalism AI, a project to survey media usage of AI and foster AI literacy — Introducing Journalism AI, a collaboration between LSE's Polis and the Google News Initiative to foster literacy in newsrooms globally about artificial intelligence.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Snap emphasizes that its approach to privacy is different than others as it adds integrations like sharing buttons, with The Washington Post as a launch partner — Snap CEO Evan Spiegel wants to have it both ways: Keep Snapchat insulated from the darker sides of the internet, and also open it up to some of the rest of the web.
Discussion:
MediaPost, Digiday, TechCrunch, Recode, Adweek, @lucas_shaw, VentureBeat, Fast Company, Bloomberg and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Patrick Wintour / The Guardian:
Amal Clooney appointed UK Foreign Office special envoy on media freedom and chair of a panel of legal experts that will propose policies to protect media — Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt hires human rights lawyer for journalist safety campaign — Amal Clooney, the international human rights lawyer …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, BBC and @foreignoffice
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Google pilots a row of ads on the Android TV home screen of Sony smart TVs, NVIDIA Shield TV, others; users say they cannot disable the ads — The Sponsored Channel pictured here is blank, but it will be an entire row of the UI. [credit: AtHeartEngineer ]
Discussion:
Business Insider, CordCutters, @mistydemeo, @marypcbuk, The Verge, @blowdart, 9to5Google, Android Police and XDA Developers, more at Techmeme »
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announce a divorce settlement that will leave him with 75% of their Amazon stock and their full stake in The Washington Post — In a tweet Thursday, MacKenzie Bezos said that her divorce from Jeff Bezos was finalized and that she would give her ex-husband voting control of her Amazon shares.
Discussion:
@mackenziebezos, Vox, Washingtonian, TechCrunch, @ianbremmer, @jackshafer, @sdkstl, @yashar, @ebboyd, @pkcapitol, @eriqgardner, @edmundlee, @edmundlee and CNN, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Conde Nast names Roger Lynch its first global CEO; Lynch was president and CEO of Pandora prior to its acquisition by Sirius XM — - Kate del Castillo Invests in Combate Americas as Part of MMA Franchise's $20 Million Round (EXCLUSIVE) — Roger Lynch has been named Condé Nast's first global CEO …
Discussion:
Digiday, Press Gazette, New York Post, WWD, Recode, @pkafka, New York Times, @katierosman, Folio, MediaPost, Broadcasting & Cable, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Adweek and WWD