Mediagazer: Discord announces Stage Discovery, a tool to help people find communities through live audio events, and says it will soon test paid, ticketed audio events (Taylor Hatmaker/TechCrunch)

4:50 PM ET, May 13, 2021

Top News:

Behind the online battle between notable tech figures including a16z partners and Balaji Srinivasan, and the journalists who tweet and report on the industry — Late last fall, the New York Times was preparing a bombshell article about Coinbase, a financial exchange that had become …

Discussion: @nickconfessore, @rmac18, @paulbradleycarr, @josheidelson, @harrymccracken, @jeffjarvis, @micsolana, @nbj914, @markskrikorian, @yudhanjaya, @mgsiegler, @matthaber, @intelligencer, @riceid, @dskok and @tomgara, more at Techmeme »

TikTok:

TikTok launches #FactCheckYourFeed, a media literacy campaign with creators and public figures discussing recognizing fake news, balanced news diets, and more — TikTok has always been a place that inspires creativity and brings joy. Every day we are blown away by the inspirational …

Discussion: @pressgazette

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Amazon signs multi-year deal with the WNBA giving Prime Video exclusive global streaming rights to 16 regular season games and the Commissioner's Cup game — Amazon and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced a multi-year agreement giving Prime Video exclusive global streaming rights …

Discussion: WNBA.com, @caiti326, @ramonashelburne, The Verge, Engadget, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News

Reuters:

A reporter covering protests against Myanmar coup has been jailed for three years for “incitement”, among the first guilty verdicts against media by the junta — (Reuters) - A journalist who reported on protests against this year's coup in Myanmar has been jailed for three years for incitement …

Discussion: Associated Press and Committee to Protect …

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:

Discord announces Stage Discovery, a tool to help people find communities through live audio events, and says it will soon test paid, ticketed audio events — If you're new to Discord, you might be thrown off by the lack of an endless feed peppered with ads.

Discussion: @tayhatmaker, @chrismessina, @blitzrick, @dhof, @caseynewton and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »

Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:

Substack acquires People & Company, which focuses on community building, to expand its support infrastructure for writers, including workshops and legal support — In 2014, journalist Anna Codrea-Rado, publisher of Lance, pitched a story to editors at a major news outlet …

Discussion: @substackinc, @hamishmckenzie, @hamishmckenzie, @zebriez, @hamishmckenzie and Writers' Library

CNBC:

Disney misses on subscriber estimates for Disney+, reaching 103.6M subscribers, below the expected 109M; revenue was $15.61B vs. $15.87B expected, down 13% YoY — - Disney reported second quarter results Thursday, posting lower-than-expected revenue and subscriber counts for its streaming service.

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, @techjournalist, @cnbcnow, @xpangler and The Walt Disney Company

Lanre Bakare / The Guardian:

UK's Channel 4, commercially funded but owned by the government, could be privatized in the next three years, the British culture secretary says — Culture secretary repeats view that Tory sell-off of public broadcaster before next election is not ‘ruled out’

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku will debut Roku Originals on the Roku Channel on May 20, starting with 30 Quibi shows — Quibi is coming back from the dead next week... sort of. — On May 20, Roku will debut the first batch of Roku Originals — a collection of 30 shows originally produced for Quibi …

Discussion: Gizmodo, The Wrap, TechCrunch, The Streamable, Light Reading, The Verge, Advanced Television, Cord Cutters News and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

John General / CNN:

Profile of DeShuna Spencer, who founded the streaming service kweliTV in 2015 to focus on Black stories; kweliTV now has 43,000 users despite lack of VC funding — New York (CNN Business)When DeShuna Spencer sat in front of her TV to scroll through her options, she noticed a glaring problem …

Discussion: @deshuna

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Slate launches an audiobook store, partnering with Penguin-Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Hachette, with titles accessible via podcast apps — Including from Penguin-Random House, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins — Slate is getting into the audiobooks business.

Discussion: Hot Pod News, Podcast Movement and Slate

Paul Cheung / Knight Foundation:

Knight Foundation announces $3M initiative to help local news outlets expand AI use; it will initially fund four projects to address knowledge and skill gaps — A new, $3 million Knight initiative will help local news organizations harness the power of artificial intelligence to drive success.

Discussion: @partnershipai, @pcheung630, @knightfdn, @browninstitute and @dankennedy_nu

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:50 PM ET, May 13, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Commissioning Editor - Practical Law — Reuters

Energy Markets Reporter, London — WSJ

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

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:

Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Vizio says Q1 profits from its Platform+ business, which sells viewer data and ad space, hit $38.4M, up 152% YoY; profit from its hardware division was $48.2M

Discussion: @kylerankin, @karlbode, @benlikestocode, @samfbiddle, @joshbloch and Ars Technica

A.D. Amorosi / Variety:
Podcaster Joe Budden fires his co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay, and the future of his eponymous six-year-old show appears uncertain

Discussion: HipHopDX News, @joebudden, @joebudden, @joebudden, Complex, The Wrap and New York Post

Erika Kinetz / Associated Press:
Investigation: an army of bots covertly amplify Chinese propaganda on Twitter by retweeting posts from diplomats and state media tens of thousands of times

Discussion: @kenroth and @jojjeols

Earlier Picks:

Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:
Former DNC finance chair Henry R. Muñoz III acquires Funny or Die from a group that includes AMC Networks, Turner Entertainment, and Sequoia Capital

Discussion: Variety, @patrickcotnoir, @zeitchikwapo, @billyeichner and The Wrap

Detroit News:
Michigan GOP lawmaker introduces a bill that requires fact checkers to register with the state using a $1M fidelity bond, and levies $1K/day fine for violations

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+

Jibin Joseph / PCMag:
UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 creates Daisy, an AI-generated “scambaiter” tool that mimics the voice of an elderly woman to waste scammers' time

Decrypt:
Eighteen GOP state AGs sue the SEC and its commissioners, including Gary Gensler, alleging crypto regulatory overreach without Congressional authorization

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