Mediagazer: Apps backed by old-guard financial firms help consumers trim rising recurring payments for media subscriptions (Anousha Sakoui/Bloomberg)

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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: Vox, Variety, @cramersshirt, @jasonabbruzzese, @pkafka, @lgbtqfc, @natjarv, @thrmattbelloni, @felixsalmon, Yahoo and Business Insider

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: The Walt Disney Company, Variety, @eriqgardner, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Broadcasting & Cable, FierceVideo and The Verge

Anousha Sakoui / Bloomberg:

Apps backed by old-guard financial firms help consumers trim rising recurring payments for media subscriptions — - Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo among the players using new twist — Applications target forgotten monthly bills' recurring costs — Old-guard financial firms …

Discussion: @richbtig

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.

Rani Molla / Vox:

Experts say apps like Nextdoor and Ring's Neighbors give people a false sense that the US crime rate is worsening even as violent crime reaches record lows — Why people are socializing more about crime even as it becomes rarer. — Violent crime in the US is at its lowest rate in decades.

Discussion: @ranimolla, @tvcolincampbell, @mattzollerseitz, @melissakxly4, @jayohday, New York Post and @dangillmor

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Fox to invest $236M in Canadian gambling company The Stars Group for ~5% equity, marking the first time a big media company puts its name behind sports betting — - Fox is investing $236 million in The Stars Group, part of a partnership to launch Fox Bet, a new online sports betting service.

Discussion: The Big Lead, The Drum and Engadget

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, News One, @goldietaylor, @jray05, @pamelacolloff, @rolandsmartin, @chrisgeidner, @brooklynmarie, @bilbocroft and Columbia Journalism Review

Business Wire:

NYT Q1: net income up 37.6% YoY to $30.1M on revenue of $439M with 223K new digital-only subscriptions, for a total of 4.5M subscribers — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)— The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today first-quarter 2019 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations …

Discussion: Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and Wall Street Journal

Jaren Kerr / CANADALAND:

Canada's Globe and Mail seeks to cut labor costs by $10M via voluntary buyouts, with layoffs if there aren't enough voluntary departures, says union chairperson — The paper will turn to layoffs if they can't hit their target — Globe and Mail staffers received some unfortunate news …

Discussion: @sdbcraig and @davidmilstead

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Fox Corporation beats expectations with profit of $529M, up 16% YoY, on revenue of $2.75B, up 12% YoY, with Fox News and Fox Sports delivering $741M of earnings — Fox Corporation outperformed Wall Street's expectations by delivering strong earnings in the newly minted company's fiscal third quarter.

Discussion: The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

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: @lucas_shaw, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google, The Verge and hypebot, more at Techmeme »

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