Mediagazer: CBS and Viacom to merge in a ~$30B all-stock deal, creating ViacomCBS Inc.; Shari Redstone will be chair and Bob Bakish will be president and CEO (Wall Street Journal)

5:15 AM ET, August 14, 2019

Top News:

CBS and Viacom to merge in a ~$30B all-stock deal, creating ViacomCBS Inc.; Shari Redstone will be chair and Bob Bakish will be president and CEO — Companies seek greater scale to survive in a media landscape dominated by major tech companies and bulked-up rivals.

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Interview with Joe Ianniello, president and acting CEO of CBS, who will be named chairman-CEO of CBS after the Viacom-CBS transaction is complete — Joe Ianniello was seen as the odd man out once members of the CBS and Viacom boards got serious about merger discussions this past spring.

Discussion: Multichannel News, Fortune and The Wrap

Peter Kafka / Vox:
A combined CBS and Viacom will still not be big enough to compete with Netflix, Apple, and Disney, and will have to become a buyer of smaller companies

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Variety, @ranimolla, @pkafka, The Wrap, TechCrunch, @taralach, @pkafka, Washington Post and CNN

Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:

Detailed post about Epstein's death was on 4chan 38 minutes before officials announced it; NYC Fire Department investigating if a first responder is responsible — The New York City Fire Department is investigating whether a first responder posted about Jeffrey Epstein's death …

Discussion: CBS News, @profcarroll, The Daily Dot, Breitbart, Rolling Stone, CNET, Mediaite, Gizmodo, The Hill, Business Insider, Boing Boing and New York Post

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The Twitter-fed misinformation disaster following Epstein's death makes a case for slow news consumption, where readers disengage from breaking news

Discussion: Vox, @janecat60, @dabeard, @tefomohapi, @b52malmet, @emilybell, @mathewi, The Verge, VICE, Fox News and @hshaban

Tom Jones / Poynter:

Layoffs hit GateHouse newsrooms: five at the Oklahoman, two at the Palm Beach Post, two at the Cape Cod Times; many non-newsroom staff have also been laid off — Last week, GateHouse and Gannett announced their intent to merge and form the largest newspaper chain in the country, a consolidation designed to save money.

Discussion: New York Post, Boston Business Journal, @apantazi, @dankennedy_nu and @henderson_mark

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

NYT says deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman has been demoted and will no longer oversee the team covering Congress or be active on social media — New York (CNN Business)Jonathan Weisman, the deputy Washington editor for The New York Times (NYT), has been demoted after a pair …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy openly threatens to fire employees engaged in union organizing, which would violate federal labor laws — Dave “El Presidente” Portnoy, founder of media company Barstool Sports, really, really hates unions. Now he's made explicit threats to fire employees …

Discussion: Bloomberg, @aoc, @nyslabor, @nyslabor, Breitbart, @annamerlan, Deadspin, @xpangler, Rolling Stone, Business Insider and Fox News

Tom Ley / Deadspin:
The editorial staff of The Ringer announces it has formed a union with WGA East and seeks voluntary recognition from management

Discussion: @ringerunion, @oneunderscore__, @howardbeck, The Wrap, Nieman Lab, @kevinmdraper, @ringerunion, @rodger, @jasonschreier, @yourmandevine, @jbenton, bookforum.com, @latguild, @onlxn, @haleymlotek and digitalwritersunion.org

Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix is quickly expanding its global property portfolio, which includes 30+ offices and studios, as it ramps up its global content production — From sizable investments in studio facilities to high-end office spaces in some of the world's priciest neighborhoods, the company is quickly building …

more at Techmeme »

CNN:

Washington Post executive editor responds to Bernie Sanders' suggestion that Bezos influences coverage, calling it a “conspiracy theory” — (CNN)The executive editor of The Washington Post hit back at Sen. Bernie Sanders' suggestion that the paper's coverage of the presidential candidate …

Discussion: @trinitymustache, @rmc031, @b_fung, Reason, @sulliview, The Daily Beast, Fox News, The Wrap, NPR, Politico, Politico, The Hill, Poynter and Washington Post

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

While Mueller's inquiry has concluded, the universe of podcasts, pundits, journalists and others focused on the Russia probe has continued to expand — In mid-July, four months after Robert Mueller delivered his investigative findings to the attorney general, a podcast called “The Report” aired its very first episode.

Discussion: @lawfareblog, @politico, @ddiamond and @benjaminwittes

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta, giving podcasters valuable listener data like age, gender, location, music taste, and episode listening duration — Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today — Spotify is going to give podcasters listener data they can't get anywhere else.

Discussion: Spotify, @marcoarment, @swindledpodcast, @mims and @ashleyrcarman, more at Techmeme »

Dave McNary / Variety:

Under pressure from transgender individuals and LGBTQ groups, IMDb revises its birth name policy to allow industry professionals to remove their birth names — IMDb has revised its birth name policy and will allow industry professionals to remove their birth names in response to feedback …

Discussion: Fast Company, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Gizmodo, The A.V. Club, New York Times, The Wrap, Engadget, IndieWire and The Guardian

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Memo: Facebook is funding two new BuzzFeed shows, including a daily news roundup, as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch — Facebook is funding 2 new BuzzFeed shows as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch, according to an internal memo by BuzzFeed editor …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

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More News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
In Australia, after recent raids on media organizations, new government directive adds some protections for journalists, but not for sources and whistleblowers

Discussion: Associated Press, @niemanlab, The Conversation and The Conversation

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Spectator, which has been published in the UK since 1828, is launching a US monthly print version in October, after starting a US digital presence last year

Discussion: @jason_pontin

Matt Lopez / The Wrap:
FuboTV launches its ad-supported Fubo Sports Network on Roku's streaming service, The Roku Channel, and plans its first foray into original content soon

Discussion: Multichannel News and The Streamable

Sara Fischer / Axios:
This fall, Group Nine Media will begin to launch podcasts across its four brands (NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker, and Thrillist) in an exclusive iHeartMedia deal

Discussion: @groupninemedia and Yahoo Finance

Lily Kuo / The Guardian:
Chinese state media outlets went from near silence and blanket censorship on the protests in Hong Kong to actively pushing propaganda, over the past two months

Discussion: Politico and PEN America

Earlier Picks:

Jessica Davies / Digiday:
Content compensation company Sourcepoint releases a consent-authentication tool that eliminates the need for pubs to use third-party cookies

Discussion: AdExchanger

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
Report: UK to give Ofcom new legal powers to penalize video-sharing platforms that fail to establish robust age verification checks and parental controls

Discussion: Press Gazette, @hadas_gold and @joshajhall

Emine Saner / The Guardian:
Susan Wojcicki talks about the crises that have engulfed YouTube recently, the power of its platform, and being a working parent of five

Discussion: @marconav

New York Times:
How some of Kashmir's journalists keep publishing despite India's lockdown of online communications and imposition of travel restrictions

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Foreign Policy, @cjr, @gbahadur and @mayalau

Axios:
WordPress.com owner Automattic says it will buy Tumblr from Verizon, take on ~200 staffers, and keep the porn ban; source says Automattic paid less than $10M

Discussion: @danprimack, @danprimack, American Press Institute, TechCrunch, Vox, @marcoarment, Tumblr, Crunchbase News, MediaPost, The Guardian, @mathewi, @beigeshiba, Know Your Meme Blog, Marketing Land, @__apf__, The Week, @numbersmuncher, NME, @brooklynmarie, @mcmansionhell, @nycsouthpaw, @yashar, @mmasnick, @ericajoy, @hello_tailor, @dansinker, @workforfood, @jacknicas, @juliaferraioli, @blackamazon, @danprimack, @jnadeau, MacDailyNews, Ad Age, The Next Web, @loudmouthjulia, @reckless, @chillmage, @whatthebit, @chronotope, @alicegoldfuss, @hunterwalk, @mathewi, @gaberivera, @photomatt, @mikeisaac, @anthony, @karlbode, @markarms, @bluechoochoo, @stevekovach, @stevekovach, @shiraovide, @stephgwhiteside, @danprimack, BetaNews, The Verge, Silicon Republic, TechCrunch, Eamonn Fitzgerald, Consequence of Sound, Fortune, Fast Company, Engadget, Boing Boing, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, CNET and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Microsoft invests $1.5B in Abu Dhabi-based AI startup G42 for a minority stake, after G42 severed ties with Chinese suppliers; Brad Smith will join G42's board

Raphael Satter / Reuters:
The Open Source Security Foundation and the OpenJS Foundation say the attempt to insert a secret backdoor into XZ Utils “may not be an isolated incident”

Benjamin Sandofsky / Sandofsky:
A look at the failure of Humane's Ai Pin, which took six years to ship after raising $230M, including building the device “the Apple way” and raising too much

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