Mediagazer: Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta, giving podcasters valuable listener data like age, gender, location, music taste, and episode listening duration (Ashley Carman/The Verge)

3:55 PM ET, August 13, 2019

Top News:

Sources: CBS and Viacom plan to merge in an all-stock deal, seeking greater scale to compete with rivals and tech companies; Shari Redstone to be board chair — Companies seek greater scale to survive in a media landscape dominated by major tech companies and bulked-up rivals

Discussion: Variety, New York Times, CNBC, Variety, CNN, CNBC, Variety, CNN, Business Insider, The Guardian, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, @stevekovach, Reuters, @benmullin, Engadget, 9to5Mac, @tvmojoe, @edmundlee, @techjournalist and @benmullin

Peter Kafka / Vox:

A combined CBS and Viacom will still not be big enough to compete with Netflix, Apple, and Disney, and will have to become a buyer of smaller companies — Shari Redstone controls both Viacom and CBS, and has wanted to merge them for years. Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Viacom

Discussion: TechCrunch, @ranimolla, Bloomberg, @taralach, @pkafka, Washington Post and CNN

Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:

Detailed post about Epstein's death was on 4Chan 38 minutes before officials announced it; NYC Fire Department investigating if a first responder is responsible — The New York City Fire Department is investigating whether a first responder posted about Jeffrey Epstein's death …

Discussion: Mediaite, CBS News, CNET, Gizmodo, The Hill, Business Insider, @profcarroll, Boing Boing and New York Post

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

The Twitter-fed misinformation disaster following Epstein's death makes a case for slow news consumption, where readers disengage from breaking news — If, by some crazy chance, you wanted to be well-informed these past few days about the sudden death of Jeffrey Epstein, there was a way.

Discussion: VICE, @tefomohapi, @emilybell, @mathewi, @dabeard, Fox News, The Daily Beast and PolitiFact Facebook …

CNN:

Washington Post executive editor responds to Bernie Sanders' suggestion that Bezos influences coverage, calling it a “conspiracy theory” — (CNN)The executive editor of The Washington Post hit back at Sen. Bernie Sanders' suggestion that the paper's coverage of the presidential candidate …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Wrap, Vanity Fair, Politico, Fox News, @b_fung, @rmc031, Poynter and @sulliview

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta, giving podcasters valuable listener data like age, gender, location, music taste, and episode listening duration — Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today — Spotify is going to give podcasters listener data they can't get anywhere else.

Discussion: Spotify, @ashleyrcarman and @mims, more at Techmeme »

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

Report: UK to give Ofcom new legal powers to penalize video-sharing platforms that fail to establish robust age verification checks and parental controls — European politicians have been tightening the screws on U.S. tech platforms on multiple fronts. Now, a European-wide directive …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @hadas_gold, @joshajhall, Telegraph, The Independent, BBC and CNET

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy openly threatens to fire employees engaged in union organizing, which would violate federal labor laws — Dave “El Presidente” Portnoy, founder of media company Barstool Sports, really, really hates unions. Now he's made explicit threats to fire employees …

Discussion: Fox News, @xpangler, The Daily Dot, @nyslabor, @nyslabor, @aoc and New York Post

Tom Ley / Deadspin:
The editorial staff of The Ringer announces it has formed a union with WGA East and seeks voluntary recognition from management

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @ringerunion, digitalwritersunion.org, @oneunderscore__, @kevinmdraper, @ringerunion, @rodger, @jasonschreier, @yourmandevine, @jbenton, @latguild, @onlxn, @haleymlotek and bookforum.com

New York Times:

How some of Kashmir's journalists keep publishing despite India's lockdown of online communications and imposition of travel restrictions — SRINAGAR, Kashmir — Ever since Kashmir's autonomy was suddenly revoked last week, Raja Mohi-ud-din, an editor at one of the few Kashmiri newspapers still operating …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, Foreign Policy, @cjr, @gbahadur and @mayalau

Axios:

WordPress.com owner Automattic says it will buy Tumblr from Verizon, take on ~200 staffers, and keep the porn ban; source says Automattic paid less than $10M — Verizon is set to sell the social network Tumblr to Automattic Inc, the owner of online publishing tool Wordpress.

Discussion: @danprimack, @danprimack, Tumblr, American Press Institute, The Verge, Crunchbase News, @marcoarment, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, NME, Ad Age, BetaNews, @beigeshiba, The Next Web, Marketing Land, The Week, @mathewi, @__apf__, The Guardian, Know Your Meme Blog, @numbersmuncher, @brooklynmarie, @mcmansionhell, @nycsouthpaw, @yashar, @mmasnick, @ericajoy, @hello_tailor, @dansinker, @workforfood, @jacknicas, @juliaferraioli, @blackamazon, @danprimack, @jnadeau, MacDailyNews, Silicon Republic, @loudmouthjulia, @reckless, @chillmage, @whatthebit, @chronotope, @alicegoldfuss, @hunterwalk, @mathewi, @gaberivera, @photomatt, @mikeisaac, @anthony, @karlbode, @markarms, @bluechoochoo, @stevekovach, @stevekovach, @shiraovide, @stephgwhiteside, @danprimack, Fortune, Engadget, Adweek, The Wrap, Fast Company, Boing Boing, Consequence of Sound, Variety, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, CNET and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Memo: Facebook is funding two new BuzzFeed shows, including a daily news roundup, as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch — Facebook is funding 2 new BuzzFeed shows as a part of its effort to bolster news video on Watch, according to an internal memo by BuzzFeed editor …

Discussion: Journalism.co.uk

Lily Kuo / The Guardian:

Chinese state media outlets went from near silence and blanket censorship on the protests in Hong Kong to actively pushing propaganda, over the past two months — China's media used to ignore the turmoil. Now the state is waging a campaign that could pave the way for intervention

Discussion: Politico and PEN America

Jessica Davies / Digiday:

Content compensation company Sourcepoint releases a consent-authentication tool that eliminates the need for pubs to use third-party cookies — Some publishers, anxious to reduce their reliance on third-party cookies while still meeting data-privacy law requirements, are considering …

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More News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
In Australia, after recent raids on media organizations, new government directive adds some protections for journalists, but not for sources and whistleblowers

Discussion: Associated Press, The Conversation and The Conversation

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Spectator, which has been published in the UK since 1828, is launching a US monthly print version in October, after starting a US digital presence last year

Discussion: @jason_pontin

Matt Lopez / The Wrap:
FuboTV launches its ad-supported Fubo Sports Network on Roku's streaming service, The Roku Channel, and plans its first foray into original content soon

Discussion: The Streamable and Multichannel News

Sara Fischer / Axios:
This fall, Group Nine Media will begin to launch podcasts across its four brands (NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker, and Thrillist) in an exclusive iHeartMedia deal

Discussion: Yahoo Finance and @groupninemedia

Earlier Picks:

Emine Saner / The Guardian:
Susan Wojcicki talks about the crises that have engulfed YouTube recently, the power of its platform, and being a working parent of five

Discussion: @marconav, The Verge and Business Insider

Maryam Saleh / The Intercept:
Arab “sahafiyat”, women reporters in the Middle East and North Africa, reflect on producing journalism in and for their home countries and for Western audiences

Jeremy Littau / @jeremylittau:
[Thread] A bleak prognosis for the future of journalism education in the US amid demographic changes, declines in student enrollment and newspaper readership

Discussion: @rafat, @timschreiner, @markcoddington, @vekstra, @dkiesow, @lauracastaneda, @kellyfincham and @emilybell

New York Times:
How YouTube radicalized Brazil, diverting users to conspiracy and far-right channels, elevating Bolsonaro's party, and possibly creating a public health crisis

Discussion: @max_fisher, @kenroth, @dcurtis, @derekwillis, New York Times, @katestarbird, @lutherlowe, @youtubeinsider, @youtubeinsider, @max_fisher, @max_fisher, @max_fisher, @ggreenwald and Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China's muted response to TikTok bill reflects the view that TikTok is of less strategic value than Huawei; China prefers TikTok US closure to sale

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Apple removes three AI image generation apps from the App Store after a 404 Media probe found the apps advertised being able to create nonconsensual nude images

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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