Top News:
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
French shipping billionaire Rodolphe Saadé agrees to buy Patrick Drahi's Altice Media, including French news channel BFM TV, in a deal valued at €1.55B — - Altice Media includes French news channel BFM TV, RMC radio — Deal with Saadé family could help Drahi cut debt pile
Discussion:
Dow Jones Newswires, LinkedIn, Politico, Deadline, Financial Times, Reuters, Broadband TV News and Advanced Television
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Two British YouTubers dupe Tucker Carlson into interviewing a fake Kensington Palace whistleblower about Kate Middleton's doctored image — Tucker Carlson has been pranked over Kate Middleton's infamous edited photo. — The former Fox News anchor was duped by British YouTubers Josh & Archie …
Financial Times:
Sources: TikTok's US revenue hit a record $16B in 2023 while ByteDance saw revenue grow ~40% YoY to $120B in 2023 and recorded a $28B net profit — Parent company ByteDance on track to become world's biggest social media group with $120bn in global sales — TikTok has hit $16bn in sales in the US …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Gumroad, an e-commerce company for creators, updates its rules to more strictly limit NSFW content, citing policies of payment processors like Stripe and PayPal — Gumroad, an e-commerce company for creators, updated its rules to more strictly limit NSFW content, citing restrictions from payment processors like Stripe and PayPal.
Houston Landing:
Houston Landing CEO Peter Bhatia names Austin-American Statesman Executive Editor Manny García as new editor in chief and Angel Rodríguez as managing editor — - Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) … Manny García is the new editor in chief of Houston Landing …
Discussion:
@samuelgaytan, @ladyviii, @kherman, @cristymsilva, @fidmart85, @tplohetski, @sewellchan, @hou_landing and @ajrod
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
Local news website The Guildford Dragon News has become the UK's first charitable public interest news provider and can now benefit from a range of tax breaks — Guildford Dragon will be able to benefit from tax breaks after becoming UK's first charitable public interest news provider
Discussion:
Tom Murdoch on LinkedIn, @keithpp and Jonathan Heawood on LinkedIn
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Amid its proxy fight, Disney reveals the return on investment for its franchises: 9.9x for Frozen, 5.5x for Toy Story, 3.3x for Marvel, and 2.3x for Star Wars — The tentpoles have generated $11.6 billion and $13.2 billion in value, respectively, since their $4 billion acquisitions in 2009 and 2012
Discussion:
@dwaynephillips, @johnspurlock, The Walt Disney Company, UPROXX and The Hollywood Reporter
David Folkenflik / NPR:
The family of slain Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova files a wrongful death suit against Fox News, saying Fox didn't adequately protect the team — On the second anniversary of a young journalist's killing in Ukraine, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Fox News …
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, Deadline, Columbia Journalism Review, CNN and Fox News
Washington Post:
The TikTok bill likely will spur a battle over the First Amendment and national security if it becomes law; TikTok's CEO vows to use the company's legal rights — The forced-sale measure has reinvigorated a debate over speech, national security and government power.
Discussion:
The Verge, Techdirt, New York Times, @kevinroose@threads.net, @the.book.lush@threads.net, @scottinsf@threads.net, @drewharwell@threads.net, @zerochillfactor@threads.net, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Hill, New York Times, @tiktokpolicy, New York Magazine, @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social, Media Nation, BGR, Observer, Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, NPR, Ars Technica, @drewharwell@mastodon.social, New York Post, 9to5Mac and Music Ally
RELATED:
Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Twitch plans to remove Prime Video Watch Party from April 2, 2024; Watch Party launched in 2020, allowing streamers to broadcast Prime Video content to viewers — Apparently people aren't too nostalgic for the days of hiding inside. — If you're one of the — apparently few …
Discussion:
@mrjmetz, Twitch Support, PCMag, Dot Esports and Tubefilter, more at Techmeme »
Committee to Protect Journalists:
CPJ calls on Pakistan authorities to release journalist Asad Ali Toor, return his devices, and cease harassing him for his work; he was arrested February 26 — Pakistan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release independent journalist Asad Ali Toor, return his devices …
Discussion:
@pressmediax, @iadnanaamir, @khushal_khattak, @iadnanaamir and Voice of America
Ernie Smith / Tedium:
Deadspin's new owner, Lineup Publishing, shares an IP address with a Finnish casino spam blog and is hosted in Malta, which is known as an online gambling haven — I am so obsessed with trying to figure out who Deadspin's new owners are that it led me to some late night spam-blog sleuthing.
Russell Contreras / Axios:
Latino leaders including former HUD Secretary Julián Castro write to LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to object to recent layoffs that hit Latinos hard — - The paper's new Latino vertical, De Los, was significantly affected. … - “(We are) deeply troubled by the recent decision …
Discussion:
@christianarana, Anthony Perez on LinkedIn, Valentina Pereda on LinkedIn and New York Times