Mediagazer: PortalOne raises $15M seed from Atari, Founders Fund, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, and others for its hybrid gaming/TV show app, coming out of closed beta soon (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

3:30 PM ET, May 3, 2021

Top News:

Steve Kovach / CNBC:

Verizon says it will sell Yahoo and AOL to PE firm Apollo Global Management for $5B, keeping a 10% stake in the company, which will be rebranded as just “Yahoo” — - Verizon will sell its media group, which includes brands from AOL and Yahoo, to private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

Discussion: Verizon, New York Times, Nieman Lab, Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch, Financial Times, CNN, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Ad Age, Axios, CNBC, Variety, The Desk, TechCrunch, Financial Times, Protocol, @sarafischer, @karaswisher, Tubefilter, Fast Company, New York Post, Gizmodo, AdExchanger, Adweek, The Wrap, The Verge, Associated Press, @joshsteimle, @matthewkeyslive, @noisyhuevos, @m4tt, @jonrussell, @stevekovach, The Desk, @carlquintanilla, @evleaks, @pkafka, @alex, @sherman4949, @milwaukeebonds, The Under60 Daily, @craigcalcaterra, @taralach, @lanceulanoff, @martinsfp, @jshieber, @ronandunnevz, Insider, Ad Age, @tomwarren, @megreenwald, @alex, @ashkan, @paulandstorm, @yaserbi, @hamburger, @ceciliakang, @briangaar, @annaforflorida, @zjemptv, @dailydirtnap, WWD, @dannycrichton, @sarafischer, @davidclinchnews, @harrymccracken, @devindra, Protocol, @evleaks, @digitalshields, FierceVideo, @smashdawg, @joshsternberg, @mattsmithkiro7, @profcarroll, @amykremer, PRWeek, TV Technology, The Hill and AllAccess.com, more at Techmeme »

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times names Kevin Merida as its executive editor; Merida has previously been the EIC of ESPN's Undefeated — The Los Angeles Times has named veteran journalist Kevin Merida as its top editor and tasked him with transforming the storied 139-year-old newspaper into a digital powerhouse that thrives for decades to come.

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Twitter to launch ad campaign to promote local journalism, starting with 28 full-page ads in local papers across the Gannett/USA Today and McClatchy networks — Twitter on Monday will launch a major advertising and social media campaign urging people to follow local journalists and support their work.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @sarafischer, @vermontgmg, @ericzuck, @kerrymflynn, @wolfejosh, @scottnover, @thischrishorne, @raju, @parkermolloy, @evelyndouek, @mollybeck, @ofirahy, @niketa, @stphnfwlr, @larakate, @donlday, @kerryleary and Insider

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Upstart digital news site The Colorado Sun says it acquired 24 suburban newspapers around Denver, with the backing of the National Trust for Local News — group of disheartened former Denver Post editors and reporters launched an upstart news site two-and-a-half years ago, called it The Colorado Sun …

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

WaPo, NYT, and NBC News issue significant corrections, retracting earlier reporting that said Giuliani and OAN had been warned by the FBI about Russian disinfo — New York (CNN Business)The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC News on Saturday issued significant corrections …

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon strikes deal for exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football starting in 2022, one year earlier than first planned, buying out games set to air on Fox — Fox will drop ‘Thursday Night Football’ starting in 2022, with the tech giant set to take over exclusive video rights.

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Gray Television says it will acquire Meredith's local media group for $2.7B in cash; Meredith's National Media Group will be spun out as a standalone company — Atlanta-based Gray Television has reached a deal with Meredith Corp. to acquire 17 TV stations for $2.7 billion.

Discussion: MediaPost, TVSpy, Bloomberg, GlobeNewswire News Room, Radio & Television …, The Streamable, The Wrap, The Hill, @sarafischer, Bloomberg, @dangriffinwlwt, @greta, @variety_cynthia, TV Technology and TheStreet

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Fox's free streaming service Tubi says it will launch 140 hours of original programming in the fall, and its total view time in Q1 grew by 54% YoY — Tubi, Fox Corp.'s free, ad-supported streaming service, will enter the original programming arena this fall.

Discussion: Variety, @loudmouthjulia, @animatedplus, @richlightshed, @xpangler, @thecartooncrave and Hollywood Reporter

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

As big Sunday news shows continue to invite Republicans who tried to overturn the election, some local outlets regularly remind their audience during news items — The journalists at WITF, an all-news public radio station in Harrisburg, Pa., made a perfectly reasonable decision a few months ago.

Discussion: @sulliview, @pamelabrowncnn, @tvietor08, @timelywriter, @scottdetrow, @jayrosen_nyu, @jaketapper, @jayrosen_nyu, @blackamazon, @oliverdarcy, @kristoncapps, @soledadobrien, @jonfavs, @dangillmor, @soledadobrien, @pamelabrowncnn and @brfreed

Variety:

A look at compensation for CEOs and key decision-makers at Comcast, Disney, Netflix, Fox, and AT&T in 2020, after splashy announcements of pandemic pay cuts — Do media barons believe in shared sacrifice? When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, several CEOs made headlines …

Discussion: @variety, @variety, @variety and Digiday

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Roku's ad sales boss Alison Levin on how the company steered through the pandemic, seeing mass cancellations at first but then rebounding with a record quarter — - Roku saw a massive hit with cancellations in March at the beginning of the pandemic, letting businesses out of deals as they saw fit.

Discussion: @megancgraham, @chalozin, @digitalshields, The PARQOR Substack, Protocol, AdExchanger and @megancgraham

Chris Young / The Reporters Committee …:

RCFP's 2020 US Press Freedom report: police were responsible for 80% of assaults at protests, affecting 324 reporters, with 195+ seemingly deliberately targeted — The fourth annual report reveals the startling extent of police violence against journalists during a year of protest.

Discussion: Twitter, @rcfp, @joshuahol, @froomkin, @uspresstracker, @pressfreedom, euronews, @freedomofpress, GOV.UK, @rcfp, @digiphile, @elizlanders, @digiphile and South China Morning Post

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More News:

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
PortalOne raises $15M seed from Atari, Founders Fund, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, and others for its hybrid gaming/TV show app, coming out of closed beta soon

Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Grammys governing body voted on Friday to drop anonymous nominating committees, after backlash; The Weeknd applauds the change but will not lift his boycott

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, @nytimesmusic, @mehpatrol, @nytimesmusic, @coopnytimes, @tedgioia, @nytimesmusic, Rolling Stone, Just Jared and Vanity Fair

James Hale / Tubefilter:
YouTube says it will begin withholding US federal income tax from all creator revenue generated by US-based viewers, due to changes to US Internal Revenue Code

Danielle Kilgo / Columbia Journalism Review:
Analysis of BLM news coverage demonstrates the “protest paradigm”, where protesters' grievances are delegitimized by a press that favors spectacle and conflict

Discussion: @froomkin, @danikathleen, @sjjphd and @bloosemore

Joel Simon / Columbia Journalism Review:
Of the 60+ journalists CPJ and RSF helped evacuate from Daraa, Syria, only ~6 remain in journalism, including 4 who started Spain's first refugee-run news site

Discussion: @raju, @pressfreedom, Committee to Protect …, @joelcpj, @pressfreedom and @cpjmena

Rachel Del Valle / Nieman Lab:
A look at the Mountain West News Bureau, a consortium of NPR stations in seven states, whose six embedded reporters collaborate with local stations and papers

Discussion: @lukerunyon and @niemanfdn

Earlier Picks:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK publishers and broadcasters, including Sun, Guardian, and Sky Sports, join four-day social media boycott led by English football to protest online racism

Discussion: @domponsford and @pressgazette

Cathy Burke / New York Daily News:
Workers at the New York Daily News voted on Friday to join The NewsGuild of New York in an election verified by the NLRB with a vote of 55-3

Discussion: @benjamindictor, @c_sommerfeldt, @johnannese, @bill_goldschlag and @nydnunion

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
WNYC lays off 14 staff members, including Gothamist EIC, saying a 27% plunge in sponsorship funding during the pandemic had left it with “a sizeable deficit”

Discussion: @raju, @ryeh, @carolinedraws, @carolinedraws, @traciehunte, @wperiyasamy, @jangelooff, @stu_rush, @wyszniewski, @wyszniewski, @jangelooff, @annietodd96, @joshnathankazis and @christrobbins

Bente Birkeland / Colorado Public Radio:
Newsmax settles with a Dominion Voting Systems staffer after airing false claims of voting machine manipulation, issuing an apology; the staffer dropped suit

Dorany Pineda / Los Angeles Times:
Joshua Wolf Shenk resigns as EIC of The Believer magazine and from Black Mountain Institute posts, saying he made a dumb choice about attire for a Zoom meeting

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: T-Mobile's network was among the systems hacked by the China-linked Salt Typhoon group, and some foreign telecommunications firms were also compromised

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300B as part of a recent buyback offer, one of its highest valuations ever

Gavin Anderegg / anderegg.ca:
Bluesky is working to become fully decentralized but it could take years amid financial concerns as it makes money only by selling domains for usernames

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