Top News:
Charlotte Alter / TIME:
A profile of WSJ's Evan Gershkovich, with interviews with his family, friends, and US officials, as negotiations to free him from Russia have not made progress — Growing up in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s, Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman learned to be careful.
Discussion:
Fox News, @rebeccaballhaus, @jsibo, @maxseddon, @jaketapper, @natalieandrews, @charlottealter and Talking Biz News
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Temu became Meta's top advertiser by revenue in 2023 by spending nearly $2B on ads, and became one of Google's top five advertisers by spending in 2023 — The e-commerce platform spent nearly $2 billion at Meta and was a top advertiser at Google — Meta Platforms' top advertiser …
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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Reach, Women in Journalism, and RSF propose a four-point plan for the UK police to help improve the safety of women journalists against rising online violence — Four-point safety plan proposed for women journalists in the UK. — More than 100 journalists and media industry leaders …
Addie Morfoot / Variety:
How Netflix's stand-up specials, COVID, and rise of platforms like TikTok and YouTube have transformed the comedy business, broadening comedians' reach — Netflix, COVID and social media have been game changers for the comedy business, with the pandemic accelerating shifts already underway across the media landscape.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
X announces Articles, a feature to write and share long-form content with a basic text-editing interface, for verified organizations and Premium+ subscribers — Long-winded VCs on X now have a new way to be exhausting on main. — Journalists, creators and long-winded VCs on X now have a new way to be exhausting on main.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @techchelle, @guar47, @karissabe, @ptraughber, @iuliabaltoi, @lindayax, @efarraro, @techaltar@threads.net, @write, The Verge, Social Media Today and @liuyuxxd, more at Techmeme »
Nieman Lab:
Q&A with former BuzzFeed News' royal correspondent Ellie Hall on Kate Middleton's “disappearance” coverage, royal press offices rarely going on the record, more — “I cannot emphasize enough how out of character it is that a royal press team went on the record in response to what is essentially gossip.”
Discussion:
@katienotopoulos, @ellievhall, @abughazalehkat and Melissa Ryan on LinkedIn
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
An interview with Pivot Fund CEO Tracie Powell on the organization's work and approach, its US Midwest expansion, news landscape analysis, Press Forward, more — “If we really want to serve communities that are increasingly tuning us out, increasingly unsubscribing, increasingly looking the other way …
Discussion:
@niemanlab@mastodon.social
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Warner Bros. Discovery plans to overhaul its TruTV cable network with a new nightly block of sports programming, including a show focused on betting — The media company intends to create a new nightly sports block for TruTV, the reality-series cable network that has largely been left …
Reuters:
Spotify plans to raise its prices in France due to a new tax law that adds a 1.2% tax on streaming companies' revenue to help finance local music creation — Swedish streaming service Spotify (SPOT.N) on Thursday said it would increase its prices in France due to a new tax, which it argued would fail to accomplish its intended goal.
Discussion:
Spotify, Billboard, RAIN News, Digital Music News, Engadget, CMU, TechCrunch, Music Business Worldwide and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »
Committee to Protect Journalists:
A joint report by CPJ and Amnesty International finds that Mexico's journalist protection program fails to adequately evaluate risks faced by journalists — Become a Supporter — Contact Us — CPJ is a 501(c)3 non-profit. — Our EIN is 13-3081500. — Committee to Protect Journalists
Discussion:
Amnesty International
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
FT executive Alexandra Calinikos says FT Ventures plans to make £30M in initial deployments, investing £500K to £5M in “information, intelligence, media” firms — FT becomes strategic investor in growing media companies. — FT Ventures, the recently-announced venture arm …
Discussion:
@pressgazette and Talking Biz News
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Reuters:
Russian news outlet RusNews says its reporter Roman Ivanov was sentenced to seven years in prison for articles about alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine — A reporter for an independent Russian news outlet was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday for articles he wrote …
Discussion:
@globalfreemedia, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Committee to Protect …
Jem Aswad / Variety:
In a letter to members, the National Music Publishers Association says it doesn't expect to renew its TikTok license when the deal expires on April 30 — The standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok took another turn on Wednesday when the trade group National Music Publishers Association sent …