Top News:
Simon Lewis / Reuters:
Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been freed from prison after being jailed in Myanmar for more than 500 days — Simon Lewis, Shoon Naing — YANGON (Reuters) - Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free …
Discussion:
@reuters, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Times, @kylepope, Press Gazette, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, American Press Institute, Reuters, Multichannel News, @reuters, The Wrap, The Week, @senjeffmerkley, The Daily Caller, @justintrudeau, Talking Points Memo, @verambergen, @jon_allsop, @journotopia, NPR, Quartz, @miafarrow, @nickkristof, @jrezaian, @jayrosen_nyu, Boing Boing, @nickpbrown, @verambergen, @petergreste, PEN America, @caoilfhionnanna, PEN Hong Kong, @snolen, @unesco and Committee to Protect …
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Sources: Amazon in talks with big US publishers about paying them to expand internationally so it can reach more shoppers with its affiliate business — Big US publishers already make money from Amazon's “affiliate” business. Amazon wants them to make more, and may pay them upfront.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, GeekWire, @mims, @pkafka, @martinsfp, @jbenton, @rafat, @joshsternberg and @filloux, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook updates its video guidelines to promote original content, loyal and engaged viewership — Facebook today announced a series of changes to the way it ranks videos on its social network, which determines how widely they're distributed. According to the updated guidelines …
Discussion:
Facebook, Facebook, @digitalwilson, @smexaminer, @cyrusshepard, @raju, @alexweprin, Adweek, Variety, Marketing Land and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Podfund, launching today, is making one-time investments in podcasts in exchange for a share of their revenue; the company raised $2.3M in its seed round — In exchange for part of their yearly revenue — The podcast industry is growing, but independent creators can still have a hard time making money.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab and @ashleyrcarman
Columbia Journalism Review:
Study examines how Report for America fellows struggle to build real trust in local news with communities in rural Kentucky and inner-city Chicago — Last June, Report for America (RFA) fellow Will Wright was looking for interviews in Eastern Kentucky. He was standing at a temporary health care clinic …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @jenniferdeseo, @athenae, @samthielman, @bgrueskin, @andreawenzel and @cjr
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
A look at the investments Condé Nast-owner Advance Publications is making to diversify away from its media holdings as it embarks on a $10B shopping spree — Advance Publications Inc., owner of the Condé Nast magazine empire and metropolitan newspapers, is on a $10 billion …
Discussion:
@david_marcelis, @raju, @graham_couch, @jarroddicker and @brianstelter
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Rolling Stone will begin publishing its own music charts, updated daily, beginning next Monday, in a challenge to Billboard — Mini media mogul Jay Penske is pushing into territory Billboard has held since the 1940s. But is the music world ready to switch?
Discussion:
Variety, Music Business Worldwide, VICE, @gloriousnoise, @sterlewine and hypebot
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Instagram starts reducing reach of posts identified as false by Facebook's 50+ fact-check partners, who will see Instagram posts in their dashboards this week — In an expansion of Facebook's partnership with fact-checking sites around the world, Instagram has started reducing the reach of false posts.
Discussion:
Adweek, @dpfunke, The Verge, @dpfunke, Engadget, The Hill and LJ infoDOCKET, more at Techmeme »
Zosha Millman / SeattlePI:
Seattle Times begins HR investigation and suspends reporter Mike Rosenberg after a journalist showed he sent her sexually harassing direct messages on Twitter — Seattle Times journalist Mike Rosenberg has deactivated his Twitter account after another journalist accused him of sending sexually explicit and harassing messages.
Discussion:
@itsa_talia, @justkelly_ok, @itsa_talia, @mkramer, @willoremus, @itsa_talia, @lillyafowler, Breitbart, @pronounced_ing, @theadegallier, @mkramer, @mkramer, @itsa_talia, iMediaEthics, @mcastimovies, @moorehn, @rossalynwarren, Talking Points Memo, Fox News, @laurendane, The Wrap, @sdkstl, @jcohenwrites, Crosscut, @spjwash, Mediaite, @derekwillis, @kierafeldman, @arieldumas, @thecitywanderer, @lisamcintire, @sdkstl, @sdkstl, @pgcornwell, @sdkstl, @iff_or, @itsa_talia, @mkramer, @rvoronacote, @itsa_talia, @itsa_talia, @itsa_talia, @justkelly_ok and Heavy.com
Deadline:
More than 100 CNN employees accept voluntary buyouts amid company-wide WarnerMedia restructuring as AT&T seeks to reduce its debt, which reached $170B in 2018 — CNN is the latest division of AT&T's WarnerMedia to feel the effects of company-wide restructuring, with voluntary buyouts …
Lauren Johnson / Business Insider:
Pitch deck shows Amazon aims to build a video advertising business on Fire TV devices and IMDb FreeDive to rival Roku, Hulu, and others — - Amazon wants a piece of OTT advertising and is targeting advertisers who are migrating from TV's $70 billion market.
Discussion:
@richbtig, more at Techmeme »
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Richland Source, a six-year-old digital news outlet in Ohio, is now automating high school sports articles and trying to expand its tech to other newsrooms — In the robots-are-coming-for-journalism world, it's usually big news organizations like The Washington Post or The Associated Press experimenting with automating their articles.
Discussion:
@jayallred651, @redlightvoices and @niemanlab