Mediagazer: Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof says he has fled the country to Europe, after an Iranian court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies (Emma Bubola/New York Times)

9:40 AM ET, May 14, 2024

Top News:

Josh Ye / Reuters:

Tencent reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to ~$22.1B and online ad revenue up 26% YoY to ~$3.66B driven by upgraded ad infrastructure and WeChat Video Accounts — China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) posted a 6% rise in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, beating analyst expectations …

Discussion: Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Seeking Alpha, CNBC, Tech in Asia, @pandawatch88, @davideborall, @thetranscript_, @byjoshye, The Information, Bloomberg and Tencent

Priyanka.G / Reuters:

Tencent Music reports Q1 revenue down 3.4% YoY to $937M, profit up 27.5% YoY to $212M, music subscription revenue up 39.2% YoY to $501M, and 113.5M paying users — China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698.HK), beat first-quarter revenue estimates on Monday, helped by steady growth …

Discussion: Tencent Music, Music Ally, Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, Billboard and Variety

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says Comcast will launch StreamSaver, a bundle with Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+, later this month at a “vastly discounted price” — Get ready for the next cable-like streaming bundle: Comcast later this month will launch a three-way bundle …

Discussion: CNBC, The Wrap, The Streamable, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku gets exclusive multiyear rights for MLB's Sunday Leadoff live games, starting May 19, a package previously held by NBCUniversal's Peacock — Starting May 19, Roku will stream Sunday MLB games for free on the Roku Channel. The company also will launch a new MLB Zone to help baseball fans find live …

Washington Post:

Some publishers worry about the impact of AI summaries in Google's Search Generative Experience; Raptive estimates some may lose up to 60% of their traffic — The tech giant is rolling out AI-generated answers that displace links to human-written websites, threatening millions of creators

Discussion: @jake_boly, @anyasipa, @bgrueskin, @carnage4life, @sarahhbickerton@mastodon.nz, @acdha@code4lib.social and @joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org, more at Techmeme »

Emma Bubola / New York Times:

Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof says he has fled the country to Europe, after an Iranian court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies — Mohammad Rasoulof, known for the award-winning “There Is No Evil,” had been barred from leaving Iran after his work criticized Iran's authoritarian rule.

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The New Yorker confirms blocking readers in the UK from reading an article about convicted child serial killer Lucy Letby, to comply with a UK court order — Witnesses in the case were unusually given anonymity without reasons of national security or a risk to life.

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Sony Pictures reports Q4 revenue up 1.1% YoY to ~$2.74B, profit up 75% YoY to $208M, and FY 2023 revenue up 1.7% YoY to ~$10.31B, weighed down by the strikes — Sony Pictures Entertainment has seen operating income fall nearly 10% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Sarah Basford Canales / The Guardian:

An Australian court sentences ex-army lawyer David McBride to five years and eight months for stealing Afghanistan war docs and leaking them to Australia's ABC — McBride, who pleaded guilty to stealing commonwealth information and passing it to the ABC, receives non-parole jail term of 27 months

New York Magazine:

Q&A with Walt Mossberg and YouTuber Marques Brownlee on tech reviews, handling pushback, YouTube, the issues with paid content, earning people's trust, and more — The two titans of tech reviewing talk shop with Kara Swisher. — Despite being two of the most influential tech reviewers ever …

Discussion: @karaswisher@threads.net, @mossbergwalt@threads.net and @mossbergwalt@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Lawyer: the BBC will pay “substantial” compensation to Princess Diana's ex-chauffeur over “serious and unfounded” allegations made by Martin Bashir in 1995 — Martin Bashir told Princess Diana and her brother that Steve Davies “feeds Today newspaper”.

Discussion: Mediaite

Luke Harding / The Guardian:

An interview with the Kyiv Independent ex-Defense Correspondent Illia Ponomarenko about his new book on Russia's Ukraine invasion, social media, and more — Ahead of the publication of his raw account of the Russian invasion, the reporter talks about capturing the conflict in real time - and when the war will come to an end

Discussion: Associated Press

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:40 AM ET, May 14, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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:

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Lionsgate Studios, the company's film and TV studio business separated from Starz, will begin trading on the NASDAQ via SPAC on May 14, expecting to raise $350M

Discussion: @lavacreekvos and Lionsgate Studios

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Rumble sues Google, saying Google owes Rumble $1B+ in damages for lost ad revenue and for exploiting its ad tech dominance to hamper Rumble's ability to compete

Discussion: @sarafischer, @chrispavlovski, Reclaim The Net and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Alexander Martin / The Record:
Hundreds of local and regional newspaper websites run by the UK's Newsquest were defaced on May 13 by a group calling itself “first-class Russian hackers”

Discussion: Alexander Martin on LinkedIn

Amber Neely / AppleInsider:
Apple News+ gets Offline Mode, which automatically downloads recent, personalized content for offline reading, and a new spelling game called Quartiles

Discussion: Engadget, 9to5Mac, @beep_roadrunner, @mattcassinelli, @baekdal and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
WGA East asks Vox Media to let employees at The Dodo and Thrillist merge into the Vox Media Union; Vox bought The Dodo and Thrillist parent Group Nine in 2021

Discussion: @jayasax, @maevedunigan, @jmrivera02 and @opheligarcia

Neal Mohan / The Hollywood Reporter:
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan argues that creators should be eligible for Emmys, as the awards “should reflect what viewers are actually watching on their TV screens”

Discussion: Ad Age, @davemorgannyc, Danielle Brown on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, @tracytran, Michelle Goad on LinkedIn, @alexweprin, @jimstenman, Tubefilter and Fede Goldenberg on LinkedIn

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Le Monde in English, which makes up 10% of new Le Monde subscribers, hopes Paris Olympics and the US election will help reach 1M subscribers by the end of 2025

Earlier Picks:

Santul Nerkar / New York Times:
Many student protesters say they value Al Jazeera's on-the-ground coverage, as many major Western media outlets have struggled to gain access to Gaza

Discussion: @dannassif, @mouradteyeb, @ednamohamed_, @structstories, @jpmarthoz, @anealla, @tonykaron, @joey_allaham, @thehowie, @hajiramirza, @dlepeska, @denniscearl, The New Arab, Foreign Policy and SPLICETODAY.com

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Ian Hislop, editor of UK satirical and investigative magazine Private Eye for 38 years, on the privilege of editing as a job, being committed to print, and more

Max Tani / Semafor:
Hunterbrook Media's publisher failed to disclose its ownership stake in a rival to a company that was recently the subject of a critical Hunterbrook article

Discussion: Rich Jaroslovsky on LinkedIn, The Overspill, @maxwelltani, Columbia Journalism Review and Talking Biz News

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has met with Hollywood talent representatives to propose a new performance-based compensation regime, as Amazon and Netflix work on similar plans

Discussion: @markashtonlund, The Desk, Jin Ishimoto on LinkedIn, Avi Hakhamanesh on LinkedIn, @carnage4life, IndieWire, @plonf, @chordia22, @kellycwi, @lucas_shaw, The Wrap, The Streamable, 9to5Mac, The Information, @carnage4life@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net and @lucas_shaw@threads.net

Financial Times:
In a letter, the UK's News Media Association warns Apple that imposing a “web eraser” tool to block ads would threaten journalism's financial sustainability

Discussion: The Register, AppleInsider, Owen Meredith on LinkedIn, @LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social, @popsarah and @parismarx@mastodon.online

Georgetown University:
Gabe Fleisher, the 22-year-old who has been writing the Wake Up To Politics newsletter since 2011, plans to expand his business after graduating from college

Discussion: Media Voices and @andria.bsky.social

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
Editors from four independent student newspapers discuss how they have approached covering US campus protests under immense pressure and a national spotlight

Discussion: Media Voices, Originally Reported …, Media Nation, @hannahpthacker, @zeynep, @vonklevi, @zeynep, @s_peppered, @editorrag, @spj_tweets, @s_peppered, @niemanlab, National Journal and Editor and Publisher

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Thoughts on Apple TV's history and future; sources: a larger-than-usual number of features scheduled for iOS 19 have been postponed to iOS 19.4 in spring 2026

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Cantor Fitzgerald agreed to invest as much as $600M in Tether for about a 5% stake in the past year; Cantor holds most of Tether's $134B in assets

Wall Street Journal:
How Tim Cook developed a personal relationship with Donald Trump, in part by zeroing in on areas of mutual interest between Apple and Trump's agenda

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