Mediagazer: After sweeping up politicians and dissidents, Myanmar's junta is targeting digital media figures and online creators, many of whom have fled or been jailed (Peter Guest/Rest of World)

9:25 PM ET, May 13, 2021

Top News:

Behind the online battle between notable tech figures including a16z partners and Balaji Srinivasan, and the journalists who tweet and report on the industry — Late last fall, the New York Times was preparing a bombshell article about Coinbase, a financial exchange that had become …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Jeff Blackburn, an Amazon exec who recently left after two decades, is returning as SVP of Global Media and Entertainment, reporting to Bezos, then Andy Jassy — Jeff Blackburn, a former high-level Amazon exec who just recently left after more than two decades, is coming back …

Discussion: The Wrap, @pkafka and Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Kotuby / The Streamable:

ESPN renews rights deal with MLB until 2028, including ESPN+ simulcasts but not weekday games; report: the deal cost $560M/yr, down from prior deal's $700M/yr — Disney CEO Bob Chapek dropped some big news during his company's Q2 2021 call, announcing that ESPN and Major League Baseball …

Discussion: Sportico, Variety, Awful Announcing, Adweek, MLB.com, Sports Business Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, Sports Media Watch and Cord Cutters News

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Amazon signs multi-year deal with the WNBA giving Prime Video exclusive global streaming rights to 16 regular season games and the Commissioner's Cup game — Amazon and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced a multi-year agreement giving Prime Video exclusive global streaming rights …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, WNBA.com, @caiti326, Awful Announcing, @ramonashelburne, The Verge, Engadget and The Streamable

Senator Brian Schatz / U.S. Senator Brian Schatz …:

Three US senators and a US representative reintroduce the Future of Local News Act, which would create a group to study the state of local news and offer fixes — Local News Provides Important Public Service By Covering Stories That Matter To Communities, Holding Local Governments Accountable

Discussion: @cforman, @notaaroncraig and @spj_tweets

CNBC:

Disney misses on subscriber estimates for Disney+, reaching 103.6M subscribers, below the expected 109M; revenue was $15.61B vs. $15.87B expected, down 13% YoY — - Disney reported second quarter results Thursday, posting lower-than-expected revenue and subscriber counts for its streaming service.

Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:

Substack acquires People & Company, which focuses on community building, to expand its support infrastructure for writers, including workshops and legal support — In 2014, journalist Anna Codrea-Rado, publisher of Lance, pitched a story to editors at a major news outlet …

Discussion: TechCrunch, @lennysan, @kevinhuynh, @hamishmckenzie, @substackinc, Get Together, @hamishmckenzie, @zebriez, @randybrown_, @hamishmckenzie, @blackamazon, @ewhitmore and Writers' Library

Brian Welk / The Wrap:

Sundance Film Festival will return to Utah in January 2022 for in-person events but will also remain online, after 2021's online festival saw record attendance — The Sundance Film Festival will return to Park City for 2022, setting Jan. 20-30 as the dates for next year's in-person event.

Discussion: Salt Lake Tribune, Variety and Park Record

TikTok:

TikTok launches #FactCheckYourFeed, a media literacy campaign with creators and public figures discussing recognizing fake news, balanced news diets, and more — TikTok has always been a place that inspires creativity and brings joy. Every day we are blown away by the inspirational …

Discussion: @pressgazette

Peter Guest / Rest of World:

After sweeping up politicians and dissidents, Myanmar's junta is targeting digital media figures and online creators, many of whom have fled or been jailed — The day after Thingyan, the festival of water that marks the Burmese New Year, Win Ko Ko Aung slipped across the Burmese border into Thailand …

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Slate launches an audiobook store, partnering with Penguin-Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Hachette, with titles accessible via podcast apps — Including from Penguin-Random House, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins — Slate is getting into the audiobooks business.

Discussion: @evoterra, Hot Pod News, @ashleyrcarman, Podcast Movement and Slate

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:

Discord announces Stage Discovery, a tool to help people find communities through live audio events, and says it will soon test paid, ticketed audio events — If you're new to Discord, you might be thrown off by the lack of an endless feed peppered with ads.

Discussion: @dhof, @caseynewton, @chrismessina, @mattnavarra, @tayhatmaker, @roka371 and @blitzrick, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:25 PM ET, May 13, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

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:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Pinterest says it will test livestreaming events this month through a three-day virtual event featuring sessions with around 21 top creators

Discussion: Engadget and @maxthecomrade, more at Techmeme »

Lanre Bakare / The Guardian:
UK's Channel 4, commercially funded but owned by the government, could be privatized in the next three years, the British culture secretary says

Discussion: @simonubsdell, @ali4bs and @dianehain

Paul Cheung / Knight Foundation:
Knight Foundation announces $3M initiative to help local news outlets expand AI use; it will initially fund four projects to address knowledge and skill gaps

Discussion: @jenniferpreston, @partnershipai, @knightfdn, @pcheung630, @browninstitute and @dankennedy_nu

Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Vizio says Q1 profits from its Platform+ business, which sells viewer data and ad space, hit $38.4M, up 152% YoY; profit from its hardware division was $48.2M

Discussion: @kylerankin, @karlbode, @benlikestocode, @samfbiddle, @jwgoerlich, @joshbloch and Ars Technica

Reuters:
A reporter covering protests against Myanmar coup has been jailed for three years for “incitement”, among the first guilty verdicts against media by the junta

Discussion: Japan Times, Committee to Protect … and Associated Press

Earlier Picks:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku will debut Roku Originals on the Roku Channel on May 20, starting with 30 Quibi shows

Discussion: Collider, Gizmodo, The Streamable, @scott_tobias, Light Reading, Advanced Television, The Verge, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

John General / CNN:
Profile of DeShuna Spencer, who founded the streaming service kweliTV in 2015 to focus on Black stories; kweliTV now has 43,000 users despite lack of VC funding

Discussion: @deshuna

A.D. Amorosi / Variety:
Podcaster Joe Budden fires his co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay, and the future of his eponymous six-year-old show appears uncertain

Discussion: HipHopDX News, Radio & Television …, @joebudden, @joebudden, @joebudden, Complex, The Wrap and New York Post

Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:
Former DNC finance chair Henry R. Muñoz III acquires Funny or Die from a group that includes AMC Networks, Turner Entertainment, and Sequoia Capital

Discussion: @mike_farah, @patrickcotnoir, Variety, @zeitchikwapo, @billyeichner and The Wrap

Detroit News:
Michigan GOP lawmaker introduces a bill that requires fact checkers to register with the state using a $1M fidelity bond, and levies $1K/day fine for violations

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
The FTC bans noncompete clauses that restrict job switching, the first time in 50+ years that the FTC has issued a regulation mandating an economy-wide change

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Meta rolls out multimodal AI in early access for the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, mainly to help identify objects, translate signs, and write Instagram captions

Ming-Chi Kuo:
Sources: Apple cut 2024 Vision Pro shipments to 400K-450K units, vs. a 700K+ market consensus, and US demand has “fallen sharply beyond expectations”

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