Top News:
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Patrick Soon-Shiong is exploring a sale of LA Times and considered transferring management of The San Diego Union-Tribune to Alden's MediaNews Group — Patrick Soon-Shiong seeks exit after less than three years at the helm, as losses mount — Billionaire biotech investor Patrick Soon-Shiong …
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Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:
App Annie: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's news app was briefly the most downloaded app on the AU App Store after Facebook's news ban and is now second — Readers may be going directly to the source — The Australian Broadcast Company's ABC News app shot to the top of Apple's App Store charts …
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Sheldon Chanel / The Guardian:
Facebook's Australia ban is acute for people in places like Fiji, who rely on phone plans with cheap Facebook access as going to news websites costs more data — Media experts fear that communities reliant on the site for information will suffer significant impact
Jason Scott / Bloomberg:
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he will hold talks with Zuckerberg to “see if there's a pathway forward”, but says news legislation will go ahead
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he will hold talks with Zuckerberg to “see if there's a pathway forward”, but says news legislation will go ahead
Poynter:
Three fact-checking organizations, including two members of Facebook's fact-checking program, haven't been able to operate their Facebook pages in Australia
Three fact-checking organizations, including two members of Facebook's fact-checking program, haven't been able to operate their Facebook pages in Australia
Discussion:
@ctardaguila, @stephanlivera, ScreenRant and @mantzarlis
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Facebook's refusal to pay a misguided media tax, pushed by Rupert Murdoch, is a defense of the open web and criticizing it for rejecting a link tax is bizarre
Facebook's refusal to pay a misguided media tax, pushed by Rupert Murdoch, is a defense of the open web and criticizing it for rejecting a link tax is bizarre
Discussion:
@mmasnick, Axios, Washington Post, @digiphile, @mattbruenig, @zenjournalist, Reason, @marklittlenews, @b_fung, @rasmus_kleis, The Lightbulb, Praise & Slander, @jeffjarvis, @emilybell, @mmasnick, @robpegoraro, @foofdawg, @mmasnick, @emilybell, @emilybell, @theophite, @mmasnick, @saramorrison, @likpiara, What's New in Publishing, @benthompson, @hughhewitt, @hkanji, @lachlan, @evan_greer, @bobbyallyn, @randyebarnett, @wexler, @mathewi, TechCrunch and Reason, more at Techmeme »
Daniel Hurst / The Guardian:
In a media diversity hearing, ex-PM Kevin Rudd said that Australian politicians are afraid of Murdoch media; a News Corp exec dismissed Rudd's claims
In a media diversity hearing, ex-PM Kevin Rudd said that Australian politicians are afraid of Murdoch media; a News Corp exec dismissed Rudd's claims
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Banning Australian news makes sense for Facebook and may prompt people to visit news sites directly; Google's payoffs, though, will invite global shakedowns
Banning Australian news makes sense for Facebook and may prompt people to visit news sites directly; Google's payoffs, though, will invite global shakedowns
Discussion:
New York Times, Quartz, Marketing Land, @jamessurowiecki, Just Security, @damiencave, @adrianweckler, @jamessurowiecki, @yanisvaroufakis, @jayrosen_nyu, @mikarv, The Guardian, New York Post, @ketanj0, @brianstelter, @skynewsaust, @mariachong, @jason_kint, @cameronwilson, @hotlinejosh, @alecstapp, @nxthompson, @hunterwalk, @sarthakgh, Institutional Economics, @gadyepstein, @caseynewton, @s8mb, The Information, @journalismfest, @caseynewton, @emilybell, @emilybell, @emilybell, @emilybell, @emilybell, @karaswisher, @waxy, @beneltham, @evadienel, @_claireconnelly, @evanspw, @joshelman, @swesterman, @gaberivera, @laurenweinstein, @adamnash, CNN, American Press Institute, Vox, Breitbart, MediaNama, Foreign Policy, Beyond Search and Reuters
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Amid a gold rush in the music library space, a look at Hipgnosis, which has spent $1.75B on 129 catalogs, accumulating 60,836 songs, as of the end of January — A former music manager's company has acquired more than 100 publishing catalogs, including a 50 percent stake in Neil Young's …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @daniburgz, @lucas_shaw, Variety and The Wrap
Denise Petski / Deadline:
Insider, formerly BI, Mark Wahlberg's Unrealistic Ideas, and Assemble Media are producing a docuseries about the rise and fall of MoviePass — EXCLUSIVE: Mark Wahlberg's Unrealistic Ideas, the company behind HBO's Emmy-nominated McMillions, is taking another deep dive into the absurdities …
Discussion:
Insider, Gizmodo, /Film, @abnormalreturns, @jasonguerrasio, @joimariewrites, @harrymccracken, @nmcalone, Engadget, UPROXX, Cord Cutters News and IndieWire
Sara Luterman / Nieman Reports:
Disabled people are poorly represented in newsrooms and lack resources, like formal talent pipelines, leading to lower quality coverage of disability — Disabled people make up 20% of the U.S. population but take up little space on mastheads and in coverage. Why? — ARTICLE BY
Discussion:
@spj_tweets, @mich_mcq, @greatlakeskaye, @ncdj_asu and National Center …
Nardine Saad / Los Angeles Times:
Nielsen debuts Gracenote Inclusion Analytics, to measure onscreen diversity in terms of gender, race, and sexual orientation and how much it reflects audiences — Ratings titan Nielsen has begun tracking inclusion in television to accelerate diversity and equity in media.
Discussion:
@marcusryder, @inclusionists, PR Newswire, Deadline and Hollywood Reporter
Wall Street Journal:
In a court brief, Quibi attorneys say Elliott Management founder Paul Singer appears to have personal ties that prompted it to finance a patent suit by Eko — Hedge fund says defunct streaming service is focusing on ‘personal matters in order to put forward a false narrative’
Discussion:
@stockjabber, @ashkan, New York Post, Bloomberg, @wsj, Variety, @patiencehaggin and @anthony
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Column, a startup that charges a small fee to process the placement of public notices, has partnered with McClatchy, Wick Communications, and Ogden Newspapers — Five months after launching with the goal of modernizing public notices in newspapers, the startup Column has formed partnerships with McClatchy …
Discussion:
@columnpbc, @jakeseaton0 and @niemanlab
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Sources: Meredith, which sold Time to the Benioffs, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to try to stop Time from moving its bookazines from Meredith to Bauer — Print magazines may be a struggling business, but a recent cease-and-desist aimed at Time magazine suggests the business of churning …
Discussion:
MediaPost
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Sweden-based podcast host and ad network Acast says it is acquiring RadioPublic; RadioPublic's podcast app will remain live and its team will stay in the US — It already claims to be the biggest everywhere else — Acast, a podcast host and ad network, is looking to improve its tech and broaden its reach.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
US Chamber of Commerce and Big Tech lobbying groups sue Maryland over its new online ad tax that targets tech companies that do more than $100M in ad sales/year — The lawsuit from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and groups such as the Internet Association, whose members include Amazon …
Discussion:
CNN, @hypervisible, @profcarroll, @tonyromm, Adweek and The Verge