Mediagazer: A year after Facebook launched podcasts and other audio tools for creators, sources say Meta has shifted its focus to metaverse events and online shopping (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)

5:40 AM ET, April 15, 2022

Top News:

Quartz CEO Zach Seward says the outlet is dropping its paywall after three years to focus on “the right kind of subscription”; Quartz has ~25K subscribers — Co-founder Zach Seward says site will focus on ‘right kind of subscription’ as it tries to build traffic and influence

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Kate Cox / The Counter:

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Axios:

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Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

A year after Facebook launched podcasts and other audio tools for creators, sources say Meta has shifted its focus to metaverse events and online shopping — Facebook's interest in podcasts is fading, barely a year after it began. — Last April, during a hot market for audio …

Discussion: Protocol, @mattnavarra, @ashleyrcarman, @lucas_shaw, @emilyrpeck, @evoterra, @jimprosser and @mgsiegler, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Sources: a consortium led by radio industry veteran Jeff Warshaw offers to acquire Cumulus Media for close to $1.2B including debt; the stock closes up 39.86% — A consortium led by U.S. radio station industry veteran Jeff Warshaw has offered to acquire Cumulus Media Inc (CMLS.O) …

Discussion: insideradio.com and Radio & Television …

Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:

A look at Fox News Books, an effort to “transcend” the news; the marketing department develops the book ideas and matches them with on-air talent for promotion — Shannon Bream, an anchor on Fox News, doesn't get into the kinds of noise-making controversies that propel the careers …

Discussion: @shannonbream and @johnnydollar01

Mia Sato / The Verge:

YouTube Shorts now lets creators splice in 1- to 5-second clips from eligible long-form videos and Shorts; previously, creators could only add short audio clips — Creators can use clips from YouTube's billions of videos in their own content — Creators making YouTube Shorts will now be able …

Discussion: Mashable, TechCrunch, @lavrusik, Tubefilter and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:

MLB renews its YouTube deal to stream 15 baseball games this season; the league has streaming deals with Apple TV+ for Friday games and Peacock for Monday games — The site will be home to 15 games in the 2022 season as MLB continues to cast a wide net with streamers.

Discussion: The Streamable, Awful Announcing, @lucas_shaw, The Verge, @ericfishersbg and CNET

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

The Texas Tribune plans to hire reporters outside of big Texas cities, including its first Report for America position, to broaden perspectives on state policy — Texas, as you might have heard, is quite big. Even a semi-recent transplant, the Texas Tribune's editor-in-chief Sewell Chan …

Discussion: @fahrenthold, @davidmcswane, @amzam, @rebekahallen, @lerdody, @sewellchan, @chriscookttu and American Press Institute

Dave Cantor / Poynter:

Vox Media signs ad partnerships with Gastropod and The Longform Podcast and is considering subscription audio, where paying listeners get bonus content — Digitally-focused media companies are consolidating brands. What benefits will be reaped from those actions remain to be seen.

Discussion: @poynter and @poynter

Josh Funk / Associated Press:

Hedge fund Cannell Capital announced this week it increased its stake in Lee Enterprises to 9.1%; Cannell's head says Lee needs new, digitally savvy leadership — OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is facing renewed pressure from a hedge fund to speed up its transition …

Discussion: @2xaught7, @suarez_cm, @lvernonsparks and @juwanthewriter

Bobby Ghosh / Bloomberg:

Q&A with Saad Mohseni, founder and CEO of Moby Group, which owns Afghanistan's TOLO TV, on hosting debates between Taliban factions, hiring more women, and more — This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve the world's most pressing policy challenges.

Discussion: @cpeterkessler, @astronoodlecat, @bopinion, @omsamad, @dearzari, @khalilnoori, @heatherbarr1, @kathygannon and @bbcyaldahakim

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China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

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Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Wikipedia editors vote 232 to 94 to request that the Wikimedia Foundation stop accepting crypto donations; the foundation is not legally bound by the proposal

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Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
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Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
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The Washington Post Guild:
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The Markup:
The Markup names former Reuters EIC Stephen J. Adler as interim EIC, replacing founder Julia Angwin as she transitions into editor-at-large and board adviser

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Amanda Meade / The Guardian:
Memo: News Corp Australasia's executive chairman says there is “no one News Corp view” about the upcoming election and editors can choose which party to endorse

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Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Amazon will rebrand IMDb TV as Amazon Freevee starting on April 27 and plans to grow the ad-supported streaming service's slate of originals by 70% in 2022

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From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Tech stocks fall after President Trump announced new global tariffs: Amazon drops as much as ~6%, Meta drops ~5%, Nvidia ~6%, Alphabet ~3%, and Microsoft ~3%

New York Times:
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Jay Peters / The Verge:
Nintendo shares Switch 2 details: a 7.9", 120fps, 1080p display, 4K at 60fps when docked, a custom Nvidia processor, 256GB of storage, and a new Pro Controller

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