Top News:
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Disney discloses a $353M writedown on its ownership stake in Vice Media, following its $157M writedown in November — The entertainment giant previously recorded a $157 million impairment charge on its Vice stake. — Disney has taken another write-down on its investment in Vice Media.
Discussion:
Variety, Business Insider, The Wrap, @cramersshirt, @jasonabbruzzese, @thrmattbelloni, @natjarv and @pkafka
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Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Disney beats Q2 estimates with $14.92B revenue, up 3% YoY, vs. $14.36B est.; revenue from media networks was $5.53B, down from $5.92B the previous quarter — - Disney has made strides in its direct-to-consumer business through its unveiling of Disney+ and a 60% stake in Hulu.
Discussion:
Variety, The Walt Disney Company, Fast Company, Broadcasting & Cable, FierceVideo, @eriqgardner and The Verge
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The White House has set a difficult-to-meet standard for media “hard pass” credentials but granted exceptions; it refused an exception for WaPo's Dana Milbank — For the past 21 years, I have had the high privilege of holding a White House press pass, a magical ticket that gives the bearer a front-row seat to history.
Discussion:
Mediaite, @olganyc1211, @reaganbattalion, @evan_rosenfeld, @oliverdarcy, @brianstelter and @davidfolkenflik
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Robert Pear, longtime New York Times reporter who covered Washington with a focus on health care policy for 45 years, dies at 69 — An understated but tenacious journalist who mastered national health care issues with reporting that became a must-read in the capital and beyond.
Discussion:
@maggieastor, @sheeraf, Politico, @aslavitt, @glennthrush, @connieschultz, @neeratanden, @rachanadixit, @mlcalderone, @dvnjr, @nytnickc, @senstabenow, @citizencohn, @peterlattman, @ashleyrparker, Kaiser Health News, @aaronecarroll, @npfandos, @abbygoodnough, @peterbakernyt, @verambergen, @jimtankersley, @lawrence, @bcappelbaum and The Wrap
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
The New York Times launches its evidence-based Parenting vertical in beta as a mobile-optimized responsive site, building toward being a subscription product — Over about five years, The New York Times developed its Cooking product from a bunch of unmonetized recipes floating around its website …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @feedkastcharles and New York Times
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Google's paid music services, YouTube Music and Google Play Music, have passed 15M subscribers, far behind Apple's 50M+ and Spotify's 100M+ — - Figure includes users of YouTube Music and Google Play Music — Google's paid music services have eclipsed 15 million subscribers …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google, The Verge and hypebot, more at Techmeme »
Tony Semerad / Salt Lake Tribune:
The owner of The Salt Lake Tribune is pursuing IRS approval to change the newspaper to a nonprofit, likely forcing an end to its endorsements of candidates — After years of heavy financial losses, The Salt Lake Tribune is pursuing federal approval to become a nonprofit operation sustained by donations large and small.
Discussion:
@dicktofel, @pilhofer, @maeamy_co, @jayrosen_nyu, @seanpmeans, @kazweida, @robertgehrke, @andyblarsen, @tribjazz, @mattsbn, @alex_veeneman, @religiongal, @mckaycoppins, @patbagley, @sltrib, @aubreywieber, @jmshumway and fox13now.com
Justin Ray / Columbia Journalism Review:
Almost two years ago, an Austin TV reporter obtained Sandra Bland's video of a police traffic stop via an open records request; his station didn't publish it — In June 2017, Brian Collister was a lead investigative reporter for KXAN, a Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas.
Discussion:
@daviduberti, @brooklynmarie, New York Times, WFAA-TV, The Guardian and NPR
Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:
Sinclair Broadcast Group reports Q1 revenue of $722M, up 8.5% compared to the prior year, but income was down 12.1% YoY to $93.6M — Revenue rises 8.5%, but tougher comps meant lower profits in period — Revenue increased 8.5% at Sinclair Broadcast Group in Q1, but tougher comparisons …
Discussion:
Deadline, MediaPost, sbgi.net, Broadcasting & Cable and Radio & Television …
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
How Washington Post Fact Checker's tally of Trump falsehoods turned from a 100-day project into an invaluable resource recording 10K+ lies in less than 3 years — In early June, Glenn Kessler had documented 3,251 falsehoods from President Donald Trump. He said the count might reach 10,000 by the end of his term in 2021.
Discussion:
Strange Attractor, @dpfunke and @niemanlab
Jonathan Rauch / The Atlantic:
A look at the effectiveness of Squash, software from Bill Adair's Reporters' Lab at Duke University, designed to automate fact-checking during live events — Even robots are trying to hold Donald Trump accountable. — it's february 2019, and I'm waiting to see whether a robot will call the president of the United States a liar.
Discussion:
@adriennelaf, @dukeu and @theatlantic
Andrew Dalton / Associated Press:
Court TV, dismantled by Time Warner in 2008, is reborn under Katz Networks; the channel will air trials virtually in their entirety and discuss all things legal — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Court TV is ending its long recess. — The channel for legal junkies that thrived during the trial-crazy 1990s comes …
Discussion:
Orlando Sentinel, @courttv and TVNewser
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