Mediagazer: Study: news sites typically rely more on outside companies for advertising than non-news sites, promoting web tracking, more so in the US than in the EU (Timothy Libert/New York Times)

3:45 PM ET, September 19, 2019

Top News:

Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund makes first grants: $5.25M to three Philadelphia recipients to support new models for local journalism — Fund's first grants to support new local journalism models, advanced technology for newsrooms — The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund …

Discussion: @lenfestinst, @pilhofer, Inquirer.com, Talking Biz News, @tylrfishr, @kimfox, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @shanbow, @tylrfishr, @billy_penn, @lenfestinst and @jroxann

Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:

Google is investing “several million dollars” in Project Neon, a three-year partnership with UK news publisher Archant, which will launch three local news sites — Google is investing “several million dollars” into a joint venture with a British local news publisher …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Nieman Lab, The Keyword, Talking Biz News, @mattlcapon and @updatesneon

Omar Sanchez / The Wrap:

Acorn TV, AMC's British film and TV show streaming service, has passed 1M subscribers in Canada and the US — Acorn TV, AMC's streaming service featuring British film and television programs, has passed one million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, the network has announced, calling it a …

Discussion: The Streamable, Broadcasting & Cable and Deadline

Marcela Kunova / Journalism.co.uk:

BBC tests a browser extension that blurs out text, images, and headlines of articles based on personalized trigger words that can prompt anxiety in readers — As one third of audience switches off from news, the public broadcaster is testing a tool that would allow readers to blur out stories that may impact their mental health

Discussion: Ad Age

David Cohen / Adweek:

Nielsen Social Content Ratings, which measure talent's promotion of TV shows on social media, now include Instagram in addition to Twitter and Facebook — Facebook and Twitter were already being tracked — The Nielsen Social Content Ratings now measure talent's promotion …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Tubefilter and Broadcasting & Cable

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Roku OS 9.2 will feature Roku Zones, which aggregate content from particular genres, sorting it according to whether it's free, available for rental or purchase — The Ultra's remote can open whatever app you want with a single button press — Roku is unveiling its fall 2019 lineup …

Discussion: Roku Online Newsroom, Variety, TechCrunch, Multichannel News and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

Survey of nonprofit outlets: foundations supplied under 50% of funding for the first time on record in 2018, as earned income and individual giving increases — “Nonprofit news organizations have much in common even if their scope or mission differs. Their journalistic missions …

Discussion: American Press Institute, Talking Biz News, @jcstearns, @wburbizlab and @spj_tweets

Timothy Libert / New York Times:

Study: news sites typically rely more on outside companies for advertising than non-news sites, promoting web tracking, more so in the US than in the EU — The same news organizations that do a great job of reporting on privacy problems — have privacy problems.

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Hearst Television says its stations will sell ads based on audience impressions instead of ratings, a method NBCU/Telemundo local stations are using as well — Hearst Television said its stations will begin selling TV ads based on audience impressions, a shift away from traditional ratings.

Discussion: Radio & Television …

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: AT&T is considering parting ways with its DirecTV unit, including spinning it off into a separate public company or combining assets with Dish — Telecom giant considers fate of DirecTV satellite unit — AT&T Inc. is exploring parting with its DirecTV satellite unit …

Discussion: CNBC, NBC News, The Daily Beast, Light Reading, Talking New Media, Ad Age, @brianstelter, @the___spy, Ars Technica, Los Angeles Times, Multichannel News, The Wrap, CNN, Engadget, The Streamable, CNBC and CNET, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube to tighten creator verification in October, focusing on channels with a need for proof of authenticity and clarifying verification isn't an endorsement — YouTube's verification program is getting a massive overhaul, the company announced today, which will likely result in a number …

Discussion: Variety, YouTube Creator Blog, 9to5Google, Engadget, @caseyhall_, @sarahintampa and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Hilary Russ / Reuters:

DAZN reaches distribution deal with Comcast, its first in North America; Xfinity Flex box users will have access to DAZN starting today — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media and communications giant Comcast Corp has struck a distribution deal with digital global sports provider DAZN Group …

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast will give internet-only customers free access to Xfinity Flex, its streaming platform with 10K+ movies and shows, which used to cost $5 per month

Discussion: Associated Press, Multichannel News, @xpangler, The Verge, corporate.comcast.com, The Wrap, Deadline, TechRadar.com, Fast Company, Engadget, Deadline, The Streamable, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Tumblr and WordPress.com parent company Automattic raises $300M Series D from Salesforce Ventures at a post-money valuation of $3B — Automattic, the company best known for WordPress.com and its contributions to the open source, non-hosted WordPress alternative, has raised $300 million …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Matt Mullenweg and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Katie Deighton / The Drum:

GroupM forms New Majority Ready Coalition with media and tech companies, excluding Facebook, to help brands adapt to US's changing demographics in advertising — The biggest players in US media - Facebook excluded - have formed a cross-industry coalition to better understand multicultural audiences …

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost and Multichannel News

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:45 PM ET, September 19, 2019.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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More News:

Dylan Byers / NBC News:
HBO's five-year deal for The Big Bang Theory is the clearest sign yet of AT&T's intention to transition HBO from a premium brand to a mass-market broadcaster

Discussion: Business Insider

Megan Graham / CNBC:
CBS, Viacom, and WarnerMedia say they will no longer run e-cigarette advertising on their networks, a week after WarnerMedia's CNN announced a similar ban

Discussion: The Wrap, New York Times, Times of India, The Verge, The Hill and USA Today

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Researchers: many smart TVs and streaming dongles from Roku, Samsung, Amazon and others are sending user data to companies like Netflix, Microsoft, and Facebook

Discussion: @geoffreyfowler, ZDNet, @ilvestoomas, Washington Post, @dhh, @mmnjug, @justinbrookman, @geoffreyfowler, @faizsays, @upma23, @hoofnagle, @valaafshar, Wired, The Mac Observer and Slashdot, more at Techmeme »

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Nielsen acquires a minority stake in OpenSlate, which evaluates brand safety of video content on YouTube and Facebook; source: deal values OpenSlate at $100M+

Discussion: Tubefilter, @bjqool, @roomnoise, @nielsen and @digitalshields

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Medium adds a “Save to Medium” bookmarking feature that lets users save articles to a reading list via sharing extensions on mobile and in Chrome

Discussion: @medium, @ckrewson, blog.medium.com, @caseynewton and Medium Help Center, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Robert Iger / Vanity Fair:
Book excerpt: as he exits Apple's board, Disney's Bob Iger recounts talks with Steve Jobs before Disney bought Pixar, and how their friendship grew

Discussion: Variety, @alexweprin, /Film, Engadget, @hblodget, The Mac Observer, @benfritz, @mousterpiece, @loudmouthjulia, @scottgustin, @mousterpiece, @ballmatthew, @dlthings, CNBC, CNET, Deadline, Business Insider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Aaron Rupar / Vox:
CNN booked Corey Lewandowski for an interview just hours after telling Congress he has “no obligation to be honest with the media”

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook debuts $149 Portal TV, a streaming box supporting Prime Video, Showtime, and CBS All Access that can also make video calls while viewing Facebook Watch

Discussion: Vox, Morning Brew, @auchenberg, Facebook, 9to5Google, @davezatz, @mikedrucker, @ow, @amahnke, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Fortune, CNET and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Tal Axelrod / The Hill:
NYT announced Tuesday that it is shutting down its Spanish-language platform, NYT en Español, which debuted in 2016, saying it was not financially successful

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Vox, @niemanlab, The Wrap, American Press Institute, @raju, @hshaban, @hugobalta, @hechaenchicago, New York Times, The Hill and RealClearPolitics

From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Wall Street Journal:
Elon Musk, as Trump's efficiency czar, is singling out ordinary federal staffers, including some with climate-related jobs, on X and unleashing his fans on them

Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
SCOTUS dismisses Meta's appeal of a lower court order reviving a shareholder lawsuit for allegedly misleading investors on the 2015 Cambridge Analytica scandal

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