Mediagazer: The Wall Street Journal has redesigned its comments section, renaming it “Conversations”, in an attempt to engage readers who do not comment often (Louise Story/Nieman Lab)

3:50 PM ET, April 9, 2019

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Subscription-based sports site The Athletic is launching 20 ad-free podcasts across its app and website on Tuesday, produced by 12 new hires — The Athletic, a subscription-based digital sports media company, is launching a multi-million dollar podcasting business.

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

After suing Twitter, Rep. Devin Nunes is suing McClatchy and others for alleged defamation, referring to a McClatchy-owned Fresno Bee article, seeks $150M — Congressman Devin Nunes is filing another lawsuit. — Following the lawsuit he filed last month against Twitter, Liz Mair …

Sahil Patel / Digiday:

Magna Global: OTT-based advertising reached $2.7B in revenue in 2018, up 54% YoY, and is expected to grow 39% in 2019 to $3.8B and 31% in 2020 to $5B — Disney, WarnerMedia and other media giants are going “direct to consumer” with new subscription streaming services.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable and FierceVideo

Louise Story / Nieman Lab:

The Wall Street Journal has redesigned its comments section, renaming it “Conversations”, in an attempt to engage readers who do not comment often — Our readers this week will see a lot of changes built around the goal of elevating the quality of community discourse on WSJ.com.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @toddjolmstead, @janebsinger, @ismaelnafria, @niemanlab, @laurahazardowen and @gvipers

Mike Fleming / Deadline:

Sources: Netflix is in talks to buy the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, which would be its first brick and mortar theater acquisition — EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is in preliminary talks with American Cinematheque to buy the venerable Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Discussion: /Film, The Week, Bloomberg, The A.V. Club, @uhnet, @theflitecast, The Playlist, @r2b2walton, @functionalnerd and @thathagengrrl

Megha Rajagopalan / BuzzFeed News:

A profile of The Whistle, the only fact-checking organization in Israel working with Facebook, which has just five staffers and a handful of student volunteers — The only Israeli organization working with Facebook to fact-check news ahead of Israel's elections started last week, just days before voters go to the polls.

Discussion: The Verge, @buzzfeednews and @miriamelder

Lauren Easton / Associated Press:
AP announces it will expand its fact checking of false and misleading information that appears on Facebook, now also vetting video and Spanish-language content

Discussion: Poynter

Wendy Davis / MediaPost:

Major ad industry associations, including ANA and IAB, are launching Privacy for America, a new lobby group that will advocate for a federal data privacy law — A group of major ad industry associations is launching a new organization, Privacy for America, that aims to shape federal privacy laws.

Discussion: Adweek and AList

Kelly McCarthy / ABC News:

ABC News producer Alexa Valiente passed away over the weekend at the age of 27 — She will be remembered for her bright personality and infectious love of life. — Alexa Valiente, a producer for ABC News for six years, passed away over the weekend. — Valiente, who had been facing health issues …

Discussion: People.com, TVWeek.com, Politico, @jazdidwhat, @betsy_klein, @abbydphillip, @springer, @alyssanewcomb, @abcworldnews, @kfaulders, @nia_official, @myhlee, @iamamnanawaz, @mattgutmanabc, The Wrap, Fox News and gofundme.com

William D. Cohan / Vanity Fair:

Sources: CBS is struggling to recruit a CEO, as potential candidates are wary of the Redstones and the company's culture; Richard Plepler turned down the job — Plepler is a no. Katzenberg is a no. Ianniello wants to stay—but he's a Moonves guy. Will an A-lister come to clean up Redstone's mess?

Discussion: @gerryfsmith and @media_evan

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:

At CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week, movie distributors and theatre owners alike said streaming services like Netflix were not impacting theatre ticket sales — - At CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week, movie distributors and theater owners alike say there is little to fear from a growing population of streaming services.

Discussion: @ckrewson and @cnbc

Nieman Foundation:

Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein and Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery have been awarded the 2019 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence — In recognition of their enduring support of investigative reporting and independent journalists, Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery of Mother Jones magazine …

Discussion: @tasneemraja, @carletoncollege, @niemanfdn, @davidcorndc, @nobleideas, @jayrosen_nyu, @juliachanb and @7im

Ted Johnson / Variety:

YouTube has disabled comments on a livestream of the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on hate crimes because it was generating too much hate speech — WASHINGTON — YouTube has disabled the commenting function on a livestream of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes …

Discussion: Mediaite, Splinter, NBC News, @oneunderscore__ and The Daily Beast

Aliya Iftikhar / Columbia Journalism Review:

Rising Kashmir editor Syed Shujaat Bukhari's murder remains unsolved after 10 months, perpetuating a climate of fear and censorship among Kashmiri journalists — Ahead of India's national elections, the mystery of Shujaat Bukhari creates a climate of fear and censorship

Discussion: @cjr, @pressfreedom, @jameelyusuf, @aliyazeba, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @gijn, @jclassrooms and @stphnfwlr

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

YouTube says it will begin developing choose-your-own-adventure-style shows under a new unit, following the success of Netflix's “Bandersnatch” and others — - Video site is steering program dollars into new technology — Company to announce new slate of shows next month in New York

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Press Association says eight regional news companies have signed up to its robot-powered news service, Radar, which has filed 100K stories since June 2018 — Eight regional news providers have signed up as the first paying subscribers to the Press Association's “robot-generated” news service.

Discussion: @puzzlesthewill

Carolyn Giardina / Hollywood Reporter:

NAB CEO Gordon Smith has called on tech companies including Apple to embed broadcast chips in smartphones to enable broadcasting without a cell network — Gordon Smith called on lawmakers to address the “threat” to local journalism by tech companies by “increas[ing] regulation on the tech industry …

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Roy J. Harris Jr / Poynter:
A look at the reporting projects that could win the 2019 Pulitzers being announced next week, based on this season's award winners so far

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Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
Profile of CarpeDonktum, a stay-at-home dad posting highly popular pro-Trump memes and blurring the lines between viral trolling and the business of politics

Discussion: Financial Times, @codinghorror, @eddiezipperer, @maggienyt, @cwarzel and @hshaban

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
The Nation's editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel to step down as editor and continue as editorial director, succeeded by editor-at-large D.D. Guttenplan

Discussion: The Nation and @katrinanation

Lasantha Wickrematunge / BuzzFeed News:
“When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me”: the final column of Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, murdered in January 2009

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Variety:
Universal Music Group has licensed its catalog to uduX, Nigeria's first domestic streaming service, less than a year after opening an office in the country

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Arielle Pardes / Wired:
Founder of Change My View subreddit, which has 700K+ subscribers, launches Change A View, a site with paid moderators and some funding from Alphabet's Jigsaw

Discussion: @turnernovak, @wired and @viperchill

Earlier Picks:

Amanda Darrach / Columbia Journalism Review:
Profile of Ruth Sherlock, an NPR correspondent in the Middle East, on covering the ISIS beat amid tabloid sensationalism from other corners of the media

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Viacom's ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV has signed a content deal with BBC Studios and now has 15M MAUs, up 3M from January

Discussion: The Wrap, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News and MediaPost

Axios:
Democratic presidential candidates are divided on whether or not to appear on Fox News, with Pete Buttigieg among others appearing on the network's shows

Discussion: @mattielisbon and @axios

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Joseph Azam, who resigned from News Corp in late 2017, says other employees were also troubled by Fox News' rhetoric

Discussion: Newsweek, wgbh.org, Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Inquisitr, @brianstelter, @brianstelter and Mediaite

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
A look at Facebook's “Today In” feature which only ~1.1M users have opted into so far and which is mostly surfacing crime and courts news

Discussion: American Press Institute, @niemanlab, @raju, @robyntomlin, @niemanlab, @dkiesow, @ewerickson and @jbenton

Jon Levine / The Wrap:
Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is to host a nightly show, airing on local news company Gray Television's 93 television stations from September

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Deadline, Variety, TVNewser, TVSpy and Broadcasting & Cable

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Private equity firm Great Hill Partners has agreed to acquire Gizmodo Media Group from Univision, forming a new company led by digital media exec Jim Spanfeller

BBC:
UK whitepaper proposes “code of best practice” for how internet platforms should deal with harmful content, suggests expanding liability to tech company execs

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Esha Dey / Bloomberg:
Tesla's shares are up 73% since Election Day, as several analysts see the Trump administration easing rules for self-driving tech, benefiting Tesla's ambitions

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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