Mediagazer: 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 (Marcela Kunova/Journalism.co.uk)

12:50 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: @pilhofer, @lenfestinst, Inquirer.com, Talking Biz News, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @jroxann and @lenfestinst

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

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

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

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: Talking Biz News and @jcstearns

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 »

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 — Most sites don't load in reading mode — Medium's “Save to Medium” bookmarking feature is now live, letting you save articles …

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

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 …

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 — As he exits Apple's board, the Disney chief reminisces about his relationship with its mercurial founder—and how their radical visions aligned to save two companies.

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 and Broadcasting & Cable

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: MediaPost, Adweek and Multichannel News

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

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

After Corey Lewandowski pronounced his freedom to lie to media, a look at how a Fox News “straight news” anchor interviewed him and sidestepped the lying issue — Fox News and its peers in the mainstream media seldom find common cause, though extraordinary circumstances occasionally give them opportunity to do so.

Discussion: @politidope, @theplumlinegs, @oliverdarcy, @rachellarris, @sophiatesfaye, @badfoxgraphics and Mediaite

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”

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:50 PM ET, September 19, 2019.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior Social Media Specialist, NC — espnW

Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — Firecrown

Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Content Managing Editor — Freedom Forum

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Associate Editor, Remote — Tech Policy Press

Retail Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — Spotlight PA

News Editor - UK, Remote — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Service Journalism Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Content Director, Remote — Campaigns & Elections

Los Angeles Issues Reporter, CA — CalMatters

Reporter - Middle East — Rest of World

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Lexington County Reporter, SC — The State

Reporter - Offshore Wind — Canary Media

General Assignment Reporter, FL — County Record

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Tumblr and WordPress.com parent company Automattic raises $300M Series D from Salesforce Ventures at a post-money valuation of $3B

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

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

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

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: Washington Post, @geoffreyfowler, ZDNet, @dhh, @ilvestoomas, @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: @bjqool, @roomnoise, @nielsen and @digitalshields, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Washington Post:
Congress grills Google, Facebook, and Twitter again as lawmakers weigh creating a commission with subpoena power to study and monitor social media weaponization

Discussion: The Verge, @tonyromm, @tonyromm, Newser, Mashable, CNET, Engadget and MarketWatch, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Only one of The Correspondent's five full-time hires for its English-language version is based in the US, with others in Italy, Nigeria, India, and London

Discussion: @jbenton and @niemanlab

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Plex adds Lionsgate as a worldwide content partner for its ad-supported streaming service, joining Warner Bros., which was previously announced as a US partner

Discussion: Variety, @media_evan, Windows Central, The Streamable and 9to5Mac

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, Facebook, @auchenberg, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Fast Company, @davezatz, @mikedrucker, @ow, @amahnke, 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, New York Times, @raju, @hshaban, @hugobalta, @hechaenchicago, The Hill and RealClearPolitics

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses by conducting an internal study, codenamed Atlas, to gather employee feedback on products on the market

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind hacks in June and July of up to 165 Snowflake customers including AT&T

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
The second developer beta of iOS 18.2 shows a “daily limit” for free access to “advanced” ChatGPT via Siri and an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in Settings

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page