Mediagazer: Plex raises $50M+ Series C from existing investor Intercap, bringing its total raised to $60M, and says it has more than 25M registered users globally (Todd Spangler/Variety)

11:35 AM ET, April 14, 2021

Top News:

Fox says Lachlan Murdoch will return to LA from Australia in early September to reopen Fox HQ “and will go back to working and living in the US” — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch will return to the United States from a months-long Australian sojourn …

Discussion: The Hill, @alexweprin, @benyt, @benyt and @brianstelter

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Plex raises $50M+ Series C from existing investor Intercap, bringing its total raised to $60M, and says it has more than 25M registered users globally — Streaming media service Plex, looking to grow its free, ad-supported video business, announced that it raised more than $50 million …

Discussion: The Streamable, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Light Reading, Engadget, Protocol, FierceVideo and Plex, more at Techmeme »

Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:

Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund — The two companies announce a plan to combine media, production and content assets. — Two of the biggest Spanish-language media companies in the world are planning to merge.

Discussion: Financial Times, Axios, The Wrap, FierceVideo, @w7voa, @fidmart85, The Desk, Forbes, Bloomberg, Deadline, Reuters, Variety, Radio & Television … and KABE-LP

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

Facebook rolls out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News, after launching a similar section in the US last year — Facebook has rolled out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News. — The social network said in a blog post that the new feature will help …

Discussion: The Drum, One Man & His Blog and Facebook Journalism Project

Eshe Nelson / New York Times:

Source: Susan Zirinsky, the first woman to lead CBS News, to announce that she is stepping down from the presidency of the division, as soon as this week — Here's what you need to know: — Excitement over Coinbase's I.P.O. spreads to other corners of the market.

more at Techmeme »

Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:

Report: in pitch decks submitted to US advertisers about new ad formats, TikTok says it has 732M MAUs globally, 100M+ in the US, 59% of its users are under 24 — TikTok is planning to launch a range of new eCommerce focused ad offerings as it seeks to maximize its revenue potential …

Discussion: Insider, @tanyadua, @pip_net, @dwhate, @tanyadua, @joshsternberg, @mattnavarra, @prodbywalkz, @tanyadua and musically.com, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who joined with Stewart Bainum in the top Tribune bid, has ties to a group pushing progressive political policies and Democrats — The Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss helped build a sophisticated behind-the-scenes operation that attacked Republicans and promoted Democratic causes.

Discussion: Robert Feder, @kenvogel, @hopnotes, @nickmerrill, @coreyciorciari, @teddyschleifer, @curtishouck, @nickmerrill, @nickmerrill, @harrysiegel, @kenvogel, @nickmerrill, @hughhewitt, @mattdizwhitlock, @nickmerrill and Daily Herald

New York Times:

Hundreds of executives and companies, including Netflix, ViacomCBS, Apple, and Amazon, sign a statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation” around voting — Amazon, Google, G.M. and Starbucks were among those joining the biggest show of solidarity by businesses over legislation in numerous states.

Discussion: Insider, The Wrap, The Hill, @edmundlee, The Daily Caller, Hollywood Reporter, @kylegriffin1, @ariberman and Maples on Politics, more at Techmeme »

VICE:

Vice apologizes for publishing doctored images of Khmer Rouge victims and says it has removed the article because it does not meet its editorial standards — This story previously included photos from artist Matt Loughrey that were modified beyond colorization.

Radio Free Asia:

China puts US-based Radio Free Asia journalist Gulchehra Hoja on international terror wanted list for reporting on the Uyghur concentration camps — Among the 13 is an RFA Uyghur Service reporter Beijing says is on a ‘terrorist watchlist.’ — China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced …

Discussion: @billbrowder

The Guardian:

UK government vetoes the reappointment of two women to Channel 4's board, against advice of the state-owned but privately-funded broadcaster's board and Ofcom — Decision not to renew Uzma Hasan and Fru Hazlitt was made against advice of Channel 4 and Ofcom

Discussion: @bpsmithuk, @nick_miles_, @jimwaterson, @transsomething, @catherine_mayer and @claire_phipps

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: @tomgara, @rafat, @rickgamesnow, @airmailweekly, @niemanlab, @simonowens, @sarafischer and The Flack on Stack

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Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:
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James Risen / The Intercept:
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Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
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Arianne Cohen / Fast Company:
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Discussion: Variety, @michellemanafy, musically.com, Complete Music Update, @kifleswing, @brooke, @veeps, Billboard, USA Today, Rolling Stone and Music Business Worldwide

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

Discussion: Ad Age and @dentsuusa

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

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Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: @andrewmannix, Columbia Journalism Review, Law & Crime, Discourse Blog, Washington Post and The Hill

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

Discussion: @commercialfree

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

Discussion: @hlmorgan and @digitalshields

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

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

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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

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Reuters:
Reuters News names Alessandra Galloni as its next EIC, starting April 19; she will be the first woman to lead the news agency

Discussion: @stephenjadler, @lhermoso_, @garethharding, @dannyctkemp, @matinastevis, @sewellchan, @aagalloni, @madversity, American Press Institute, @tostevinm, @aagalloni, @dionrabouin, @raju, @scottnover, The Hill, Mediaite, CNN, Bloomberg and PR Newswire

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
In a letter, Lachlan Murdoch dismisses ADL complaint and claims a review of Tucker Carlson's comments found Carlson “decried and rejected replacement theory”

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

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Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that creates a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China, saying it was ordered to do so by China's cyberspace officials citing national security concerns

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