Mediagazer: Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai writes to his Apple Daily staff ahead of his sentencing for participating in a protest: “Freedom of speech is a dangerous job” (Helen Davidson/The Guardian)

5:30 PM ET, April 13, 2021

Top News:

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Discussion: Variety, The Hill, Mediaite, The Wrap, @bristei, New York Post, @davidclinchnews and @dylanbyers

Oversight Board:

Facebook Oversight Board will now accept appeals to remove content from Facebook and Instagram; previously, users were only able to appeal to restore content — From today, users will be able to appeal content to the Oversight Board which they want removed from Facebook and Instagram.

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Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Over 650 tech workers at the NYT announce they have formed a union to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York and are seeking union recognition from the NYT — Tech workers at The New York Times announced on Tuesday that they had formed a union and would ask the company to recognize it.

Discussion: @nytguildtech, @ebruenig, The Hill, Protocol, @nycdsatechwg, @kateconger, The Verge, @bgrueskin, @cwaunion, @hamiltonnolan, @sarambsimon, @gwsocal, bookforum.com, nyguild.org and The NewsGuild - CWA, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Air Mail, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's media venture, expects to employ 40 people by year's end, up from 30 now, and has added an e-commerce shop — Former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's new media venture, Air Mail, expects to employ 40 people by year's end …

Discussion: @rickgamesnow, @airmailweekly, @niemanlab, @simonowens and @sarafischer

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:

Contextual adtech company GumGum raises $75M, sources say at a ~$700M valuation, almost tripling from last funding round, as Google and Apple limit targeted ads — The adtech company focuses on contextual advertising, as opposed to ads that target people based on identifiable information

Discussion: @hlmorgan and @digitalshields, more at Techmeme »

Helen Davidson / The Guardian:

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai writes to his Apple Daily staff ahead of his sentencing for participating in a protest: “Freedom of speech is a dangerous job” — Media mogul writes from prison that ‘freedom of speech is a dangerous job’ but journalists must uphold justice

Discussion: Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

Reuters:

Reuters News names Alessandra Galloni as its next EIC, starting April 19; she will be the first woman to lead the news agency — (Reuters) -Reuters News is set to name one of its top editors, Alessandra Galloni, as its next editor-in-chief, the first woman to lead the globe-spanning news agency in its 170-year history.

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Unlike national and international outlets, some local Minnesota news outlets were not let in to a police press conference after the shooting of Daunte Wright — Reporters from multiple local organizations were denied entry to a news conference on Monday about the shooting of Daunte Wright …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Star Tribune, The Hill, Discourse Blog, Washington Post and @andrewmannix

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Spotify announces Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car, launching today for free for select US users — It's free, but users have to pay for shipping — Spotify's first gadget has landed. Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car …

Natasha Singer / New York Times:

Disney, Viacom, and 10 ad tech companies agree to remove or disable software from children's apps that could target children with ads, resolving three lawsuits — In legal settlements that could reshape the children's app market, Disney, Viacom and 10 advertising technology firms have agreed …

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

A look at the damage already done to Tribune's nine metro papers: since Alden acquired a 32% share, NewsGuild says staff fell 30.4% in one year — Employees and local readers are concerned that Alden would make deep cuts to Tribune if it bought the company. But it seems that's already happening.

Discussion: @raju, @toddlighty and @courantguild

Tim Peterson / Digiday:

Ad agency Dentsu says it has developed a tool to consolidate audience-based buys across TV networks via a single source of viewership data provided by VideoAmp — Traditional TV's adoption of digital's audience-based ad targeting is underway, but it remains ensnared by a lack of standardization.

Discussion: @dentsuusa, Business Wire and AgencySpy

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Substack strikes deals with trans writers, amid claims it supports allegedly anti-trans writers and is a kind of lucrative off ramp for “cancel culture” victims

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