Mediagazer: Federal judge dismisses Planet Aid's four year, multimillion-dollar libel lawsuit against Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting (Reveal)

9:45 PM ET, March 29, 2021

Top News:

Sources: Substack is raising $65M at a $650M valuation; a16z will lead the round — Substack is raising $65 million in new venture capital funding that would value the company at around $650 million, Axios has learned. Existing investor Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round.

Discussion: @sarafischer, @katie_roof, @lucas_shaw, @mattyglesias, @jonathanvswan, @mdudas and @pkafka

Chris Welch / The Verge:

T-Mobile to shut down TVision's three bundles of live channels at the end of April, after launching in Nov., and is instead partnering with YouTube TV and Philo — TVision Live, Live Plus, and Live Zone will go offline on April 29th — Only five months after announcing its TVision streaming service …

Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:

Mason Slaine, who owns a 3.4% stake in Tribune, says he would commit $100M toward Bainum's Tribune bid, aiming to acquire the Orlando Sentinel and Sun Sentinel — Mason Slaine, a minority Tribune investor, is looking to acquire the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun Sentinel

Jon Harris / Morning Call:
A mystery bidder, identified as “Bidder C”, has offered $30M-$40M for Morning Call Media Group to owner Tribune Publishing, recently acquired by Alden Global

Discussion: @davewiner and @mcallguild

Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss joins Stewart Bainum in Tribune bid, with plans to own Chicago Tribune; source: each plans to put up $100M towards the $650M bid

Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez:

Felicia Sonmez says she has been told by her editors that the Washington Post is rescinding its years-long ban on her from writing about sexual misconduct — Hi all. I've been told by my editors that the Post is rescinding its ban. This is good news, but it's unfortunate that it had to come at such a high emotional toll, and after my distress was dismissed for years. I'm taking time to rest and process. Thank you for your support.

Discussion: The Hill, @briannawu, @cagoldberglaw, Insider, @wesleylowery, The Wrap, @dataeditor, @vikkie, @jackmirkinson, @nycsouthpaw, @moiradonegan, @joshchafetz, @emilyrauhala, @jayrosen_nyu, @hshaban and @hanaatameez

Rachael Bade / Politico:
Felicia Sonmez criticized WaPo editors during a staff town hall, revealing that she is barred from writing anything about sexual misconduct or #MeToo

Discussion: @feliciasonmez, My New Band Is, Jezebel, Washington Post, @anamariecox, @feliciasonmez, Poynter, @zachdcarter, @owillis, @bellwak, @moiradonegan, @amybwang, The Hill, @tinywriterlaura, @espiers, @mcastimovies, @kerrymflynn, @martinfowler, Mediaite, @adamdavidson, All in Her Head, @feliciasonmez, @blackamazon, @econ_marshall, @briannawu, @jamesgleick, @chenderson, @evaholland, @max_fisher, @aaschapiro, @hunterw, @sarahkaplan48, @emilymiller, @ericmgarcia, @wesleylowery, @amlwhere, @feliciasonmez, @cmclymer, @jenzerb, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @lemieuxlgm, @budrykzack, @jbendery, @allisongeroi, @jayrosen_nyu, @lisagartner, @khandozo, @soledadobrien, @gmillertsn, @coleenchristie, @juliedicaro, @atrios, @pwcdanica, @adamdavidson, @ourobororoboruo, @mattyglesias, @espiers, @bfishbfish, @grace_segers, @bloosemore, @benjamingoggin, @kemc, @shefalil, @mikkipedia, Free Political Newsletter, @spj_tweets, @miriamelder and @chick_in_kiev

Reveal:

Federal judge dismisses Planet Aid's four year, multimillion-dollar libel lawsuit against Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting — After more than four years of fighting a multimillion-dollar libel lawsuit brought by international aid group Planet Aid, Reveal from The Center …

Discussion: @reveal, @christacir, @vdbaranetsky, @inn, @jkealing, @reveal, @emilyroseman1 and @achabel

Luke Winkie / Nieman Lab:

Boston Globe's health and life sciences pub Stat is thriving during the pandemic, with monthly unique visitors of 23M+, up from an average of 1.5M in 2019 — “Our Chartbeat dial went past the maximum. It went all the way around again.” — 2020 was one of the grimmest years for the media business on record.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @rickberke, @niemanreports, @luke_winkie and @jimrutenberg

Ronan Shields / Adweek:

Ad tech company TripleLift sells a majority stake to Vista Equity Partners, sources say for $1.4B — Ad tech sees another M&A jolt

Discussion: Insider, PE Hub, PR Newswire, @davidbeisel, @robgo, @digitalshields, @adweek, @ezberry, @dangoldin, @nextviewvc, @aripap and Ad Age, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast starts rolling out Disney+ and ESPN+ on its X1 cable TV and Flex broadband-streaming platforms — Comcast is plugging the Walt Disney Co.'s Disney Plus and ESPN Plus into its X1 cable TV and Flex broadband-streaming platforms — part of the operator's ongoing strategy to become the one-stop hub for all video entertainment.

Discussion: Adweek, WebWire, Media Play News, Gizmodo, Light Reading, The Desk, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Inside Harper's, which has struggled in the digital era but is nonetheless America's most interesting magazine and offers one of media's oddest workplaces — The publication of the “Harper's letter” attracted huge attention. Most people had stopped reading the magazine, which is stranger and better than you might expect.

Brent Lang / Variety:

Tribeca Festival announces in-person, outdoor events from June 9-20 across NYC — The Tribeca Festival will return as an in-person event, a hopeful sign that coronavirus may be loosening its grip on cultural life in America. The announcement comes as vaccination levels are rising …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, /Film, Collider, The Playlist, Associated Press and The Wrap

Todd Spangler / Variety:

News Corp will acquire the consumer arm of educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $349M in cash and will combine it with HarperCollins Publishers — The Rupert Murdoch-controlled company said it expects the deal to close in the second quarter of calendar 2021 …

Discussion: New York Times, @markdistef, @raju, GameSpot, @blackamazon, @chaykak, Publishers Weekly, Business Wire, The Wrap, @jeffreyt1, @thelincoln, @pkafka, @jasonhirschhorn, @dabeard, Reuters and Wall Street Journal

Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:

Good Housekeeping says GH+, its $20 per year membership program, is on track to have 10,000 paying members at the program's one year anniversary in June — Good Housekeeping is testing what a membership model looks like in conjunction with a subscription product and is finding that the ceiling …

Discussion: @kerrymflynn

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:45 PM ET, March 29, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Editorial Assistant, Remote US — Launch Potato

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

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:

Lucy Campbell / The Guardian:
BBC had £880M of annual recurring savings since 2016/17, beating its target a year ahead of schedule; to cut costs, BBC Four will be focused on archived content

Associated Press:
Indian Country Today, an online news outlet and daily broadcaster covering tribes and Indigenous peoples, will now operate as an independent company

Discussion: @jennimonet

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:
Hong Kong's largest free-to-air broadcaster TVB opts not to renew the rights to the Academy Awards, which won't be aired there for the first time in 50+ years

Discussion: @thr and The Federalist

The Guardian:
Sources: UK government delays US-style televised briefings until mid-May, as it considers whether to continue a war with the media on “culture war” topics

Discussion: @parisdaguerre, @lucysiegle, @thattimwalker, @angelarayner and @frasermatthew

Nabila Ahmed / Bloomberg:
Australian media giant Nine says it suffered a cyberattack that disrupted live programming on Sunday; the company is working with Australia's cyber intel agency

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, The Desk, Sky News, BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, The Guardian, The Guardian, Hollywood Reporter and The Daily Aus

Earlier Picks:

Aaron Sankin / The Markup:
How Digital Advertising Alliance's AdChoices tool, which launched in 2010 to let users opt out of personalized ads, is undermined by its cookie-based approach

Discussion: @dangillmor and @themarkup

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
A look at Colour Entertainment, a 20-year-old nonprofit dedicated to helping executives of color in the entertainment industry climb the corporate ladder

BBC:
Brazilian court orders President Bolsonaro to pay $3,500 in damages to a reporter, after Bolsonaro suggested last year that she offered sex for information

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @lionelbarber, France 24, CNN and Newser

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Bidders for the NFT of Kevin Roose's NYT column, which sold for ~$560K, share their motivations, including fun, self-promotion, and a signal of support for NFTs

Discussion: Fast Company, @kashhill, @marclacey, @flitteronfraud, @mlcalderone, @kaibrach, @neilcybart, @smdiehl, @jacknicas, @ron_fournier and @kevinroose

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
X raises US Premium+ prices by 37.5% to $22 per month, starting on December 21, and EU prices from €16 to €21 per month; the basic subscription still costs $3

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