Top News:
The New York Times Company:
NYT's Choire Sicha is stepping down as Styles editor to become a senior editor working on expanding the paper's newsletter portfolio — After a great run leading the Styles section, Choire is taking on a new challenge to help expand our newsletter portfolio. Read more in this note from Dean Baquet, Joe Kahn and Sam Sifton.
Jeff Benson / Decrypt:
An NFT combining Edward Snowden's image and pages of a court ruling on surveillance sold for $5.45M in Ethereum; proceeds go to Freedom of the Press Foundation — “Stay Free” is a piece of art that combines Snowden's image and a court ruling. — NFT RevolutionEthereum — In brief
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, @snowden, @snowden, @trevortimm, @freedomofpress and Freedom of the Press …
Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:
Simon & Schuster says it won't distribute the book written by one of the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor last year, to be published by Post Hill Press — Publishing giant Simon & Schuster has announced it will not distribute the book written by one of the police officers …
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to artists, Apple says it pays a penny per stream, roughly double Spotify, which pays an average of about one-third to half a penny per stream — Streaming services open up about artist payouts, seeking to win credibility and subscribers — Apple Music told artists it pays …
Discussion:
Variety, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, The Wrap, Insider, Engadget, 9to5Mac, @joeyquits, @ethanwsj, @riegerreport, Rolling Stone, MacRumors, The Verge, AppleInsider and @lanceulanoff, more at Techmeme »
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Firefox and major Chromium browsers like Edge, Opera, Brave, and Vivaldi are not joining FLoC, Google's proposed ad technology to replace third-party cookies — Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, and Mozilla are all out — Google is going it alone with its proposed advertising technology to replace third-party cookies.
Discussion:
Digiday, @jason_kint, @backlon, @jason_kint, @samhulick and @katekayereports, more at Techmeme »
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Reuters is introducing a paywall: after registration and a free preview period, subscriptions will cost $34.99/month; it also plans to launch newsletters — Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @nytimes, @josephfcox, Reuters, Reuters News Agency, American Press Institute, @mathewi, @felixsalmon, @birdyword, @joannachiu, @rasmus_kleis, @jackmurphyrgr, @gilmerhealthlaw, @esotericcd, @janecoaston, @dlind, @pwnallthethings, @esotericcd, @inteldoge, @justiceputnam, @fbihop, @gitagovinda, @vinncent, @_will_brown, @jessebenn, @cenkuygur, @wagatwe, @ryanatrbm, @film_girl, @dnvolz, @alex, @film_girl, @karlbode, @rafat, @kitoconnell, @doubleeph, The Wrap, @genepark, @jamesrbuk, @fawfulfan, @mmasnick, @samir_madani, @stephennellis, @ourobororoboruo, @selenalarson, @mradamtaylor, @owillis, @jenwunder, @jeffjarvis, @alexweprin, @realbengilbert, The Verge, New York Post, MediaPost, Mediaite, Variety and The Hill
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Crypto-focused media startup The Block says it has bought out all non-employee shareholders as it wants “to be disentangled” from VCs to cover them without bias — The Block, a cryptocurrency-focused media startup, tells Axios that it has bought out its non-employee shareholders …
Discussion:
@danprimack, @dogetoshi, @alex, @mayazi, @bobbyong, @cmsholdings, @jameswester, @matt_odell, @tanayamac, @dj and @ryan_browne_
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
LA Times is launching a daily podcast, The Times, starting May 3, joining a slew of other outlets; it is also adding subscriber-only feeds to some podcasts — When the Los Angeles Times debuts “The Times: Daily News from the L.A. Times” next month, the newspaper publisher will be far …
Discussion:
@gustavoarellano, @steakscience, @niemanlab and Hot Pod News
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
As news outlets grapple with whether to show the video of Adam Toledo's shooting, Block Club Chicago chose to run one version of the story with and one without — Body camera footage showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo was released on Thursday.
Discussion:
@rhodes_dawn, Vanity Fair, @niemanlab, @awalkerinla, @eedugdale, @markberman, Block Club Chicago and WGN Radio 720
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:
Interview with journalism professor Nikki Usher on the return of partisan news outlets, how big news organizations are increasingly by and for elites, and more — In this episode of our podcast, we look at challenges around equity, diversity and sustainability with the help of Nikki Usher
Discussion:
reutersinstitute …, @sharmasupriya, @nikkiusher, @fedecherubini, @averyholton, @rasmus_kleis and American Press Institute
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:
A look at the rise of independent media in Afghanistan, mostly owned and led by young people, under the threat of constant violence and a return to darker times — Under the threat of constant violence and a return to darker times, young editors and reporters refuse to give up, Raksha Kumar reports
Discussion:
@rasmus_kleis, @dangillmor and Poynter
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
ViacomCBS combines CBS News and local stations in a single unit to be led by former ABC stations chief Wendy McMahon and former Hearst exec Neeraj Khemlani — Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon have been named to lead a new unit that combines CBS News and CBS local stations …