Mediagazer: Pirates are using Facebook's Watch Party group video-streaming feature to host movie marathons and TV watch parties, sometimes for thousands of viewers (Rob Price/Business Insider)

Joseph Kieta / @josephkieta:

[Thread] Fresno Bee and McClatchy say lawsuit by Nunes is an attack on local journalism and a “misuse of the judicial system”, claim CA is proper venue for suit — Statement from @FresnoBee and @mcclatchy:We understand that @devinnunes filed a lawsuit yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia, claiming defamation against McClatchy, based on a story published by his hometown news source, The Fresno Bee. A thread ...

Discussion: @brianstelter, Washington Examiner, @dangillmor, @senyorreporter, Fox News Insider, Mediaite, Mediaite and The Week

Claire Atkinson / NBC News:

Former 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan will start a three-month assignment on May 1 as a special correspondent for Sinclair covering the US-Mexico border — Logan's hiring adds to recent moves by Sinclair that hint at the company's national news ambitions outside of the journalism produced by its local TV stations.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Raw Story, Contemptor, RealClearPolitics, TVNewser and Mediaite

Ted Johnson / Variety:

YouTube has disabled comments on a livestream of the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on hate crimes because it was generating too much hate speech — WASHINGTON — YouTube has disabled the commenting function on a livestream of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes …

Discussion: Washington Post, @donie, YouTube, @oneunderscore__, @jjmacnab, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, @mehdirhasan, @tonyromm, FOX 61, The Verge and The Daily Beast

Megha Rajagopalan / BuzzFeed News:

A profile of The Whistle, the only fact-checking organization in Israel working with Facebook, which has just five staffers and a handful of student volunteers — The only Israeli organization working with Facebook to fact-check news ahead of Israel's elections started last week, just days before voters go to the polls.

Discussion: @buzzfeednews, @miriamelder and The Verge

Discussion: Poynter

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Amazon is rolling out an Alexa feature in the US that provides radio-like long-form news from Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, Newsy, and NPR — Hey, owners of an Amazon Echo! (Or hell, owners of that voice-controlled Amazon microwave!) Ever ask Alexa for some news?

Discussion: @jbenton, @jbenton, TechCrunch, Engadget and Mashable

Mike Fleming / Deadline:

Sources: Netflix is in talks to buy the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, which would be its first brick and mortar theater acquisition — EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is in preliminary talks with American Cinematheque to buy the venerable Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Discussion: Bloomberg, @uhnet, @laurasmiscmovie, CNBC, @theflitecast, @r2b2walton, @davidscottjaffe, New York Post, @functionalnerd, @thathagengrrl, The Week, The A.V. Club, The Playlist, /Film and TVWeek.com

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

YouTube says it will begin developing choose-your-own-adventure-style shows under a new unit, following the success of Netflix's “Bandersnatch” and others — - Video site is steering program dollars into new technology — Company to announce new slate of shows next month in New York

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Gizmodo, The Wrap and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Quah / Nieman Lab:

Luminary, a paid audio content app, plans to roll out on April 23, will cost $8/month with its exclusive shows being ad-free — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 203, published April 9, 2019. — Luminary to launch at the end of the month.

Discussion: Hot Pod News

Itay Hod / The Wrap:

Kate Ward, Bustle Digital Group's founding editor in chief, announces she's leaving the company after six years — Bustle founder and editor-in-chief Kate Ward is leaving the company after six years. — “In 2013, I joined a start-up in the hopes of creating a new digital publication …

Discussion: @katewardbustle

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

A study of 11 California newspapers and 46 municipalities shows that cities with sharp declines in newsroom staffing had reduced competition in mayoral races — “In a well-functioning system, citizens need to be actively engaged in their government and aware of decisions made by their elected representatives.

Discussion: SAGE Journals, @newsbyschmidt, @jbenton and @marcusgilmer

Rob Price / Business Insider:

Pirates are using Facebook's Watch Party group video-streaming feature to host movie marathons and TV watch parties, sometimes for thousands of viewers — - Facebook's new group-video-watching feature, Watch Party, is proving wildly popular with pirates. It's designed to let Facebook users watch …

Discussion: @profcarroll, @robaeprice, @whatthebit and @robaeprice, more at Techmeme »

Andrew McCormick / Columbia Journalism Review:

Brooklyn-based online news site Bklyner is producing a free print compilation of its best stories about once a month, supported in part by local advertisers — Last Thursday, at 8:30am in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, Liena Zagare, editor of the hyperlocal news site Bklyner …

Discussion: @bklyner

Fast Company:

Q&A with J.J Abrams on his deal with Apple and his production company Bad Robot, which is exploring storytelling through films, TV, movie-related games, more — J.J. Abrams, one of Hollywood's most successful and prolific TV creators and filmmakers (Lost, Alias, Cloverfield, Star Trek) …

Discussion: io9, IndieWire, /Film and The Playlist

Zheping Huang / South China Morning Post:

Tencent leads game streaming in China after Panda TV shuts down; China's streaming market, the world's biggest, is expected to reach $16.5B in revenues by 2022 — China is home to the world's biggest live streaming user base, with industry revenue expected to grow to US$16.5 billion by 2022 …

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:

At CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week, movie distributors and theater owners alike said streaming services like Netflix were not impacting theater ticket sales — - At CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week, movie distributors and theater owners alike say there is little to fear from a growing population of streaming services.

Discussion: IndieWire, @ckrewson and @cnbc

Louise Story / Nieman Lab:

The Wall Street Journal has redesigned its comments section, renaming it “Conversations”, in an attempt to engage readers who do not comment often — Our readers this week will see a lot of changes built around the goal of elevating the quality of community discourse on WSJ.com.

Discussion: @toddjolmstead, @janebsinger, @erikholmwsj, @laurakusisto, @niemanlab, @sarahnassauer, @womenatdj, @coralproject, @gvipers, @ismaelnafria, @laurahazardowen and Talking Biz News