Mediagazer: UK's Independent Digital News and Media, publisher of The Independent and Indy100, names John Paton as chairman; Paton formerly founded Digital First Media (The Independent)

Top News:

Jillian Ambrose / The Guardian:

The New York Times drops sponsorship of one of the world's biggest oil industry conferences: “we want there to be no question of our independence” — Newspaper says event ‘gives us cause for concern’ after protests outside its offices — The New York Times has scrapped plans …

Discussion: @nytclimate, Talking Biz News, The Drum, @billmckibben and @_cingraham

Editor & Publisher:

Newspaper industry magazine Editor & Publisher has been sold to media consultant Mike Blinder for an undisclosed sum — Duncan McIntosh, president and group publisher of the Duncan McIntosh Co., Inc. and owner of Editor and Publisher (E&P), has announced today the sale of the trade magazine …

Discussion: Fortune, Talking Biz News, @fortunemagazine, @rafat and @ahess247

Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:

The New Yorker will hire its subcontracted fact-checkers and editors as direct employees, amid ongoing contract negotiations with its newly unionized staff — - Condé Nast says it regularly reviews contingent worker roles — Magazine's editorial workers unionized with NewsGuild in 2018

Discussion: @wudanyan, @mikkipedia, @sammcooney and @beijingpalmer

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Podcasts are being review-bombed in coordinated campaigns aimed at putting thousands of one-star reviews on their Apple Podcasts pages; hosts have no recourse — Justin Drown's true crime podcast, Obscura, always seemed to garner positive reviews. For the first year he hosted the show …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @ashleyrcarman, Hot Pod News, @katienotopoulos, @taylorlorenz, @caseynewton, @noupside and bookforum.com

Hilary Russ / Reuters:

Fox becomes the first major media company in North America to become the face of a sports gambling platform with the launch of FOX Bet, now live in New Jersey — NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp (FOXA.O) launches the FOX Bet sports betting platform on Monday …

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Sources: News Corp is considering sale of Unruly, the video advertising platform it acquired for ~£115M in 2015 that now handles all of its digital ad inventory — The owner of The Sun and The Times is working with bankers on a sale of the adtech business it bought in 2015, Sky News learns.

Discussion: The Drum, @mediavoicespod, @markkleinmansky and AdNews

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

Vice says it grew its video ad revenue by 120% globally after launching Video Everywhere, to sell video ads across multiple platforms, in September — Over the last year, Vice Media began selling video ads against its content across multiple platforms by pitching itself to agencies as a place …

Discussion: American Press Institute

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Filings show FT had pre-tax profits of £8.15M in 2018, up 68% from £4.65M in 2017, revenue of £323.6M, while digital subscriptions grew 11% YoY to 796K — Pre-tax profits at the Financial Times grew by three-quarters in 2018 as digital subscription revenues continued to rise.

Discussion: @sarafischer and @corinne_podger

YouTube Blog:

YouTube has removed 100K+ videos and 17K channels for hate speech, ~5x more than in Q1, since implementing changes to its hateful content policies in June — Over the past several years, we've redoubled our efforts to live up to our responsibility while preserving the power of an open platform.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Hill, The Wrap, Mashable, CNET, Engadget, The Drum, Tubefilter and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey promoted to added roles of AT&T COO and president — The telecom giant said this was “a new position reporting to Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO.” — AT&T said Tuesday that WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey will take on the additional roles of president …

Discussion: CNN, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Variety, The Streamable, Deadline and Ad Age

The Independent:

UK's Independent Digital News and Media, publisher of The Independent and Indy100, names John Paton as chairman; Paton formerly founded Digital First Media — 'I am excited to work with the team to expand the first truly independent, digital pure-play quality journalism company in the world,' he says

Brian Barrett / Wired:

A grand jury indicts eight people for allegedly running two of the largest US illegal streaming sites, Jetflicks and iStreamItAll, that touted 37,000+ paid subs — In a sweeping indictment, the feds came down hard on Jetflicks and iStreamItAll, which allegedly crossed a very important line.

Discussion: @wired and @neilturkewitz