Mediagazer: Sinclair Broadcast announces it will buy 21 regional sports networks from Disney in a deal valued at $10.6B; deal does not include YES Network (New York Times)

5:05 PM ET, May 3, 2019

Top News:

Teresa Mioli / Journalism in the Americas:

Journalists and press freedom advocates are highlighting a theme of media for democracy in times of disinformation for the 26th World Press Freedom Day — Each May 3 is a global celebration of press freedom and its importance to society. For this year's World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @pontifex, @tim_cook, CNN, Washington Post, @anthonymacuk, @bmorrissey, @kevinroose, @barry, @emilybell, @opensociety, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @cjr and Editor & Publisher

Committee to Protect Journalists:

In 2018, 54 journalists were killed for their work worldwide, and five have been killed in 2019; 250 journalists are imprisoned, with 28 on “false news” charges — The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom …

Discussion: @newseum

Anabel Pasarow / Refinery29:
Twitter launching a monthly original video series on May 3 spotlighting women in journalism, using the hashtag #HerStory in honor of World Press Freedom Day

Discussion: @twitternews, Press Gazette, @_emmagh, @misstessowen, @niketa, @oneunderscore__, @niketa, @thatvideogal, @mariaressa, @twittercomms, @policy, @twitternews and The Hill

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Reporters Without Borders to launch an all-party parliamentary group in the UK in July to promote press freedom worldwide

Discussion: BBC and Reporters Without Borders

New York Times:

Sinclair Broadcast announces it will buy 21 regional sports networks from Disney in a deal valued at $10.6B; deal does not include YES Network — Sinclair Broadcast Group said Friday that it had agreed to acquire 21 regional sports networks from Walt Disney Company in a deal worth $10.6 billion …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, PR Newswire, CNBC, @andrewgreif and Los Angeles Times

Nicholas Thompson / Wired:

Fifteen months after the paywall launch, Wired EIC discusses the effectiveness of newsletters, gifts, phrasing in turning readers into subscribers — A LITTLE OVER a year ago, we introduced a paywall at WIRED. The idea, as I wrote back then, was largely about us.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @mathewi, @dlberes, @techjournalist and @elanazak

Reuters:

Dish Network reports Q1 revenue of $3.19B, down 8% YoY, net income of $340M, says it lost 259K subs after HBO and Univision blackouts and added 7K Sling TV subs — (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp fell short of estimates for quarterly profit on Friday, as the U.S. satellite TV service provider lost …

Discussion: Variety, Variety, Multichannel News and MediaPost

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Sources: the Financial Times has begun searching for a new editor in chief to replace Lionel Barber, who has held the position since 2005 — Barber, the UK's longest serving national newspaper editor, has held the post since 2005 — The Financial Times has begun its search for a new editor …

Discussion: @charliebeckett

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Facebook bans Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, Louis Farrakhan, others from Facebook and Instagram, citing dangerous individuals and orgs policy — Milo Yiannopoulos and Louis Farrakhan have been banned as well — Facebook today removed Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Paul Nehlen …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube says it will make all of its original content free this fall in a strategy that its CBO says is in opposition to what other media companies are doing — - YouTube Renews Kevin Hart Comedy Series, Sets Maluma and Paris Hilton Documentaries, Lollapalooza Live-Streaming Deal

Discussion: Reuters, Multichannel News, Observer, MediaPost, AdExchanger, /Film, CNBC, Engadget, Broadcasting & Cable, Fast Company, TechCrunch, The A.V. Club, 9to5Google and YouTube Blog, more at Techmeme »

Tiffany Stevens / Columbia Journalism Review:

How major storms can affect local media: eight staffers left WMBB-TV in Panama City, FL, after Hurricane Michael when schools and housing became hard to obtain — Two days before Hurricane Michael hit Panama City, Florida, Justin Kiefer's wife and their two sons headed for Nashville, Tennessee.

Discussion: FTVLive, @tiffanymstevens and @mariekshan

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

UK's Evening Standard editor announces job cuts as the free paper merges its print and online teams following a £10M loss in 2018 — Newspaper's editor, George Osborne, announces plan to merge print and online teams — George Osborne has announced a round of job cuts at the Evening Standard …

Discussion: @jamesrbuk, The Drum, @jimwaterson, @citycyclists, @tomgara and @john_self

Andy Bechtel / The Editor's Desk:

Q&A with Megan Cassella, a Politico reporter covering trade and a 2015 j-school graduate, on typical editing at Politico, essential job skills, and adaptation — Megan Cassella is a reporter at POLITICO in Washington, D.C., covering the trade beat. She previously worked at Reuters news service.

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Sources: Fox to cut one commercial break from each quarter during the 2020 Super Bowl to counter complaints about interruptions and retain viewer attention — Fox has an intriguing new offer for Super Bowl advertisers: a complete reworking of the gridiron for the game's glitzy commercials.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek and Fortune

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More News:

NBC News:
Subscription-based sports news startup The Athletic will launch original video content on May 8, says CEO Alex Mather

Discussion: @armenketeyian

Nicole Lafond / Talking Points Memo:
Rep. Nunes hasn't served legal papers to the Fresno Bee since filing his $150M suit; of $1.2M he raised in Q1 2019, ~25% came after he filed his Twitter suit

Discussion: @amy_siskind and Fresno Bee

Jessica Davies / Digiday:
Publishers and ad tech vendors are broadly content with second version of IAB Europe's framework for GDPR compliance, which will be open for comment for 30 days

Kali Hays / WWD:
Interview with InStyle's third publisher in three years, Agnes Chapski, on plans to grow digital channels like social and video, where she sees potential

Barbara Allen / Poynter:
After complaints, Poynter pulls down its list of 515 “unreliable” news sites and says an internal review found inconsistencies and weaknesses in methodology

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Washington Times, @newsguardrating, @newsguardrating, @newsguardrating, @newsguardrating, @newsguardrating, @pcunliffejones, @matthewkeyslive, @wes92i, FTVLive and @amber_athey

Lisa de Moraes / Deadline:
Sources: Gayle King will anchor CBS This Morning, with co-hosts Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil; Norah O'Donnell is expected to move to the CBS evening newscast

Discussion: Page Six, Variety, USA Today, The Wrap, Page Six, CNN, @marvk and Hollywood Reporter

Earlier Picks:

Garett Sloane / Ad Age:
Walmart announces the Vudu Audience Extension network, which will allow advertisers to buy campaigns through Vudu that will also run on other streaming services

Discussion: TechCrunch and TechCrunch

The Advocate:
New Orleans Advocate owners John and Dathel Georges buy The Times-Picayune and nola.com from Advance Local, will merge websites and publish one daily newspaper

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Verizon is seeking a buyer for Tumblr as it tries to steady Verizon Media Group, which has struggled to meet revenue targets

CNN:
NYT publisher says editor responsible for publication of anti-Semitic cartoon will be disciplined, promises changes to processes to “ensure adequate oversight”

Discussion: Politico, The Guardian, @brianstelter, iMediaEthics and New York Times

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Discovery meets expectations with net income of $384M in Q1, up from a net loss of $8M in Q1 2018, with $2.7B in revenue, up 17% YoY

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, Deadline and The Wrap

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China, saying it was ordered to do so by China's cyberspace officials citing national security concerns

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google announces a new Platforms and Devices team overseeing Pixel, Android, Chrome, Photos, and more, to integrate AI across its products, led by Rick Osterloh

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