Mediagazer: Profile of Bytedance, a China-based social news and video startup that may soon surpass Uber in valuation if rumored $1.5B SoftBank investment at $75B closes (Bloomberg)

2:15 PM ET, September 29, 2018

Top News:

A comparison of the lower-third chyrons displayed on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox during the Kavanaugh-Ford hearing sheds light on how they interpreted it — As Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford gave their testimony in a hearing that spanned more than six hours on Thursday …

Discussion: @blewis2080

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Kavanaugh hearings were a rare collective civic moment as every major network suspended regular coverage and people called C-SPAN to share their reactions — The Senate testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh unspooled over nearly nine hours on Thursday …

Discussion: @chicagotribune, @cnnpolitics, Politico, CNN and Washington Post

Columbia Journalism Review:

The effects of the media pursuit of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford show the urgent need for journalists to examine their own behavior and ethics — Professor Christine Blasey Ford testifies on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)

Discussion: Poynter, PolitiFact, @bypetevernon, Vox, 89.3 KPCC, @irin, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, @crmetzler, @chrisannesmith, @fatimabsyed, @michaelsbarajas, @nausjcaa, @akdarrach, @fernandavanegas, @hsinhsuan0720, @hbcompass and @mathewi

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

Tow Center study of digital adaption in local news: Google's reach, from AMP to ads, is pervasive, 12% of outlets don't have a website, 80% have a Facebook page — So you want to support local news. But can you even find the subscribe button on the Daily Planet's clunky website to do so?

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @janebsinger, @cjr, @jesseholcomb, @niemanlab, @thelocalnewslab and @towcenter

Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:

Center for Media Engagement experiments: readers are more likely to click on links with images, links at the end of an article, and links to related content — Are you more likely to click here? — ....................................... ........................................ ...............over here?

Discussion: Center for Media Engagement, @niemanlab, @niemanlab and @taliastroud

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

SEC filing: CBS has received subpoenas from New York city and state officials regarding reports of sexual misconduct by former chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves — CBS Corp. is facing investigations by city and state officials in New York stemming from the reports of alleged sexual misconduct …

Discussion: @moryan, Broadcasting & Cable, Splinter and The Wrap

Aisha Hassan / Quartz:

Spotify confirms test where it sent emails to some of its Premium for Family users asking them to prove their home address via GPS or lose access to the plan — Spotify recently sent an email to some of its “Premium for Family” account users in the US that asked them to confirm their home address through GPS data.

Discussion: BGR, Softpedia News, Fortune, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, USA Today, Mashable, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, hypebot and 9to5Mac

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Print readers don't migrate online and read much more content than online ones, according to a study of The Independent's audience after it went online-only — A new study of The Independent's 2016 shift to online-only finds that its print readership didn't move to digital when the newspaper did.

Discussion: @markberman, Publishers Weekly and Aron Pilhofer

Bloomberg:

Profile of Bytedance, a China-based social news and video startup that may soon surpass Uber in valuation if rumored $1.5B SoftBank investment at $75B closes — - Bytedance's said to be valued at over $75 billion in new round — SoftBank is said to plan an investment of about $1.5 billion

Discussion: @wsj, Forbes, New York Times, South China Morning Post and Yahoo! Finance, more at Techmeme »

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

Interview with Ben Smith of BuzzFeed News on Facebook's reckoning with free speech, business models, and the shift from social video to long-form video content — This Q&A with BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith appears in the latest issue of Digiday magazine, a quarterly publication that is part of Digiday+.

Discussion: @seangriffey, @rasmus_kleis and @digiday

Freia Nahser / Global Editors Network:

Texas Tribune's Evan Smith and Rodney Gibbs on making the outlet sustainable: multiple revenue sources, non-partisan coverage, welcoming risk, and more — The Texas Tribune came into business to solve a problem: the insufficient coverage of public policy and politics in Texas.

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Filing: Murdochs' compensation for fiscal year soars with Disney deal; $49.2M for Rupert, up 68% YoY, $50.7M for Lachlan, up 146%, $50.3M for James, up 148% — The entertainment conglomerate, which has agreed to sell large parts to Walt Disney for $71.3 billion, shows increased stock awards …

Discussion: Variety, CNNMoney, Financial Review, Deadline, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 2:15 PM ET, September 29, 2018.

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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

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More News:

Jason Wilson / The Guardian:
Idaho neo-Nazi is sending threatening robocalls and letters to publisher of alt-weekly Sandpoint Reader and residents describing Reader journalist as a “cancer”

Discussion: @hatewatch, Boise State Public Radio, KHQ-TV and Associated Press

H.G. Watson / JSource:
Refinery29 is launching a Canadian version headquartered in Toronto in October with former Chatelaine editor-in-chief Carley Fortune as executive editor

Discussion: @shannonhodgen, @carleyfortune and Media in Canada

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Proxy statement: compensation for top executives at Meredith rises over 30% this year after company's purchase of Time Inc.

Discussion: @jeremymbarr

Lauren Johnson / Business Insider:
Skift buys 14-year-old newsletter Airline Weekly, launches its own newsletter on wellness, announces a nonprofit arm, Skift Foundation, and expands into Asia

Discussion: @raju, @rafat, MediaPost, Skift and Skift

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
A look at the many ways Apple's Shazam acquisition, the app's data on its 150M users, and its R&D team can bolster Apple Music in its fight against Spotify

more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Sources: media startup Tech In Asia, which runs a blog and events business in Southeast Asia, laid off a third of its staff in July after canceling planned ICO

Discussion: Tech in Asia

Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Facebook introduces In-Stream Reserve for companies to advertise on premium video and ThruPlay, which charges for ads only if they are viewed for 15+ seconds

Discussion: Facebook, Mashable, Marketing Dive and @jason_kint

Barbara Allen / Poynter:
The Oklahoman announces it has been sold to GateHouse Media and immediately lays off 37 staffers, with an estimate of 15 staffers from the newsroom

Discussion: @tcb, @adijoseph, @shadid13, @ginamizell, @jasonkersey, @laura_nelson, @guildempower, @cathjsweeney, @bigahickey, @dabeard and The Rural Blog

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: federal prosecutors have opened a probe into ad buying and have begun issuing subpoenas, examining practices including rebates from media outlets

Discussion: Marketing Dive, Video Ad News, BloombergQuint, @patrickcoffee, MediaPost and Publishing Executive

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Julian Assange steps down as editor of WikiLeaks but retains publisher title, appoints Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson to replace him as EIC

Discussion: Mashable, MySmartPrice, BloombergQuint, Newsweek, Fortune and Gizmodo

From Techmeme:

Kylie Robison / The Verge:
LMArena says it is updating its leaderboard policies after a Llama 4 Maverick version, which Meta said in fine print is not public, secured the number two spot

Ben Weiss / Fortune:
Internal memo: the US DOJ disbands the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit, established by Biden in 2021, as the agency is “not a digital assets regulator”

Darryn Bonthuys / GameSpot:
Nintendo says the Switch 2's Game-Key cards, which trigger a game download when loaded, are not tied to a user's account and can be resold, unlike the Switch's

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