Mediagazer: John Thornton, founder of The Texas Tribune, co-founder of the American Journalism Project, and venture capitalist, has died at age 59 (American Journalism Project)

3:25 PM ET, April 1, 2025

Top News:

Newsmax shares jump more than 100% a day after their debut on the NYSE, when they spiked more than 700% and closed at $83.51 — Shares of conservative cable channel Newsmax soared more than 40% in early trading Tuesday, a day after the stock's dizzying debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

Discussion: Deadline, CNN, Forbes, Benzinga, Mediaite, Yahoo Finance, Axios, Bloomberg, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @followtheh.bsky.social, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @sellingtheta.bsky.social, Reuters, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @followtheh.bsky.social, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, WBUR and Fast Company

American Journalism Project:

John Thornton, founder of The Texas Tribune, co-founder of the American Journalism Project, and venture capitalist, has died at age 59 — It is with great sadness that we share the news that John Thornton, co-founder of the American Journalism Project and Elsewhere Partners …

Discussion: Newmark J-School, Columbia Journalism Review, Anna Nirmala on LinkedIn, Patty Pina Slutsky on LinkedIn, Elizabeth Green on LinkedIn, Michael Ouimette on LinkedIn, @tlangford.bsky.social, The Texas Tribune, @dicktofel.bsky.social and @jeffjarvis.bsky.social

Bari Weiss / The Free Press:

The Free Press announces Tyler Cowen, Jed Rubenfeld, Matthew Continetti, and Batya Ungar-Sargon as new columnists, with Coleman Hughes bringing his podcast — Bari Weiss on some great news from our newsroom. — Upgrade to Listen — How do you build something that lasts?

Discussion: Axios, @margiconklin, @thefp, @bungarsargon, The Free Press, @thefp, @continetti, @bariweiss, @thefp, @jtlonsdale and @bariweiss

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Sun reports revenue down 3% YoY to £296.3M and an £18M loss in the year to 30 June 2024; The Times reports revenue down 0.6% to £383.4M and a £61M profit — Hacking costs down for News Group Newspapers in year to 30 June 2024. — Revenues fell at both The Times …

Discussion: Telegraph and City A.M.

Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:

Steve Kornacki signs a deal with NBC News and NBC Sports and departs from MSNBC, which Comcast is spinning off into a new corporate entity — MSNBC viewers have seen the last of Steve Kornacki's big board. — The popular data maven has signed a deal with NBC that will expand his presence across …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, New York Post, TVNewsCheck, Variety, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, The US Sun, Deadline, Just Jared and The Hollywood Reporter

Andreas Wiseman / Deadline:

Ketchup Entertainment buys Coyote vs. Acme from WBD, which shelved it in November 2023 as a cost-cutting measure; the movie is expected in theaters in 2026 — Ketchup Entertainment today confirmed their completed deal for worldwide rights to the live-action/animated hybrid film …

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

YouTube suspends two major fake movie trailer channels from its partner program, following Deadline's report on studios earning ad revenue from the trailers — The Google-owned video-hosting giant has turned off ad revenue on Screen Culture and KH Studio trailers after a Deadline investigation chronicled …

Discussion: 9to5Google, Tubefilter, Engadget, The Verge and Daily Star

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

TikTok is shutting down its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, on May 8, directing users to Lemon8, a similar ByteDance-owned app — TikTok is shutting down its Instagram competitor, TikTok Notes, on May 8. The photo-sharing app launched in testing in Canada, Australia, and Vietnam last year.

Sportico:

Sources: the NHL has reached an agreement with Rogers on a new 12-year Canadian TV deal that will pay the league about $7.7B, starting with the 2026-27 season — The NHL has reached an agreement with Rogers Communications on a new 12-year Canadian TV deal that will pay the league about $7.7 billion …

Oliver Darcy / Status:

The Daily Wire's communications chief, Alyssa Cordova, departs as the company frames co-CEO Jeremy Boreing's demotion as his own choice and lays off some staff — The Daily Wire's Woes The Daily Wire once vowed to take on Disney with a $100 million+ investment to build an entertainment empire …

Discussion: The Bulwark, @scottmgreer, @willsommer, @mattortega.com, @rvbdrm.com, @cheetah.bsky.social, @status.news and @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

Kendra Barnett / Adweek:

Google is bringing its immersive Rewarded Video ads to Roblox, letting users watch ads in exchange for in-game benefits like virtual currency or power-ups — Advertisers can buy Rewarded Video ads on Roblox via Google Ad Manager, the company announced Tuesday

Discussion: TechCrunch, Barron's Online, Benzinga, Ad Age, Investing.com, Marketing Brew, MediaPost, Roblox Corporate, Variety, Reuters, Google and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Kendra Barnett / Adweek:

Leaked docs: Omnicom offered clients who didn't spend on X in 2024 an added value of 50%, up to $200K, for buying X ads during Q1 2025, among other incentives — Omnicom has sweetened the pot to get its clients to buy ads on X, according to two internal documents obtained by ADWEEK.

Discussion: The Ankler, Kendra Barnett on LinkedIn, Bradley Keefer on LinkedIn, @timhanlon.bsky.social and @kendrabarnett.bsky.social

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:25 PM ET, April 1, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, London — FT

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:

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
In a new strategy, Amazon plans to release 14 to 16 movies per year in theaters, rivaling other major studios, with most running for 45 days before streaming

Discussion: Engadget, Media Play News, Deadline, Axios and The Ankler, more at Techmeme »

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
How JioHotstar became India's most popular paid streaming service, with 100M+ paying less than $1/month on average, via a freemium model, micro dramas, and more

Discussion: Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, @sarthakgh, @lucas_shaw and @samidhas

Ben Smith / Semafor:
An interview with blogger Larry C. Johnson, once valued for his disagreements with the status quo, on his trip to Russia, his present marginal status, and more

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik and @semaforben

Neel Dhanesha / Nieman Lab:
ProPublica is using ads on a LED billboard truck to attract sources in the federal government as DOGE dismantles USAID and other agencies

Discussion: @charlesornstein.bsky.social, @cengizyar.com, @tealtan.bsky.social and @sarahscire.com

Sewell Chan / Columbia Journalism Review:
The Center for Public Integrity has ceased publishing after 36 years, and is in talks to turn over its archives to the Project on Government Oversight

Discussion: @dwillis.bsky.social, Charles Sennott on LinkedIn, @phoebepetrovic.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, Sewell Chan on LinkedIn, @dangillmor@mastodon.social and @margotsusca.bsky.social

Earlier Picks:

Yuki Furukawa / Bloomberg:
An independent investigation finds that Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV fostered a culture of sexual harassment; its chair and TV head resigned in January 2025

Discussion: The Japan Times, Associated Press, Nikkei Asia, The Japan Times, The Japan Times, Bloomberg and Kyodo News+

Wall Street Journal:
WBD adds Anton Levy, former co-president of PE firm General Atlantic, to its board, a source says due to pressure from activist shareholder Sessa Capital

Discussion: Advanced Television, Variety, TVNewsCheck, Reuters, Deadline, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Pew Research Center:
Survey: 36% of Americans say they hear a lot about Trump's relationship with the media, down from 72% in 2017; 71% follow Trump administration news closely

Discussion: Poynter, Fox News, @sarahscire, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, Nieman Lab, @johngramlich.bsky.social and Columbia Journalism Review

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
MoffettNathanson: YouTube will surpass Disney in 2025 to become the largest media company by revenue, after generating $54.2B in 2024, just $5.5B behind Disney

Discussion: Bloomberg, Ian Schafer on LinkedIn, Tubefilter, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, @pkafka, Deadline, TVNewsCheck, MediaPost and The Wrap

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
NBC Sports hires Betsy Riley, an NBC Sports veteran who recently led some Amazon sports offerings, to oversee production of its primetime Olympics program

Discussion: TVNewsCheck and Associated Press

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
In backing Trump, effective accelerationists like Musk and Andreessen got a “Decel-in-Chief”, who instigated a brain drain and tariffs that hurt tech companies

TechCrunch:
SensorTower: users in India have spent $8M on ChatGPT subscriptions through IAP since 2023, not including web app purchases, versus ~$330M spent by US users

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