Mediagazer: Amazon launches miniTV, an ad-supported free video streaming service that is available within the Amazon shopping app in India (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

11:40 PM ET, May 15, 2021

Top News:

Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise in Gaza City that housed offices of AP and Al-Jazeera, after the military warned people to evacuate the building — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Definitive Source, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, @idf, Committee to Protect …, @presssec, @ajenglish, New York Times, @jpacedc, The Daily Beast, @w7voa, Washington Post, Associated Press, NPR, @wesleylowery, Variety, @tomgara, @eylonalevy, New York Post, The Guardian, CNN, @snowden, The Independent, @jimlaporta, @gchikermane, Newser, @jimlaporta, @brianstelter, @johncardillo, National Press Club, @raniakhalek, @lsarsour, @misstessowen, @cbsnews, Common Dreams, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, @ostrov_a, @tomgara, @jongambrellap, @wesleylowery, @mattmcbradley, Mediaite, @nytimes, The Times of Israel, @adamjohnsonnyc, The Week, @golan_yarden, @karenattiah, @kenroth, Snopes.com, @jerrydunleavy, @naveedajamali, @ajenglish, @brandondarby, @mitchellreports, @imtiaztyab, @ajenglish, @johnmdonnelly, @ap, @margbrennan, @dloesch, @alexcrawfordsky, @ranaayyub, nexttv.com, KRON4, @eylonalevy, @piersmorgan, @seldeeb, @mirza9, @kredo0, @rssliam, @dillonreedrose, Slate, Reuters, @ap, Politico, @jpacedc, @redsteeze, @ajenglish, @sdkstl, @snowden, @ztsamudzi, @harryslaststand, @mirza9, @phillipsian, @jasonrantz, @iamumer1, @alastairmca30, @berniceking, @mrglenn, @ggreenwald, Agence France-Presse, The Straits Times, Daily Sabah, NBC10 Philadelphia, Insider and The Wrap

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

IDF spokesman is suspected of misleading the international press on a ground invasion in Gaza to dupe Hamas, which was mistakenly reported by NYT and others — A spokesman led the international media to believe that Israeli forces had entered Gaza. They hadn't. But the army wanted Hamas to think they had.

Committee to Protect Journalists:
IDF destroyed two buildings in Gaza City housing 12+ media outlets; IDF says the buildings were targeted as sites of Hamas' intelligence and military offices

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @richardgrenell, The Daily Beast, @bendepear, @emilygorcenski, @briannawu, @winter, @ase, The Hill, @mtracey, @gregpinelo, @agnescallamard, @shahidforchange and Columbia Journalism Review

Jack Crosbie / Discourse Blog:

In internal meeting, CEO Meredith Levien defended NYT's refusal to voluntarily recognize The NYT Tech Guild, saying its members are tech people, not journalists — In a meeting with staffers, Meredith Levien had several reasons for why she's fighting her paper's newest organizing effort.

Paul Volpe / Politico:

Why WaPo likely looked outside its own ranks to hire a female EIC, including a shrinking newsroom before Bezos' takeover, plus structural and cultural issues — When the Washington Post on Tuesday named Sally Buzbee of the Associated Press as its next executive editor—the first woman to have the role …

The Intercept:

The Intercept stands by its reporting on Gab and “Riot Squad”, after it was accused of doxxing conservative journalists, says its reporters have been harassed — Over the past several days, wild and unfounded accusations have been hurled at The Intercept.

Discussion: @jeremyscahill, @jeremyscahill, @maassp, @richiemcginniss, @jasonrantz, @mehdirhasan, @gpingersoll, @elijahschaffer, @ggreenwald, @malcolmnance, @jason_kint, @shoq, @jeremyscahill, @ijbailey, Fox News, The Intercept, Mediaite and Fox News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Amazon launches miniTV, an ad-supported free video streaming service that is available within the Amazon shopping app in India — Amazon has long maintained that its video streaming service, Prime Video, helps drive more sales on the shopping app. Now the e-commerce giant is testing …

Discussion: Hindustan Times, Livemint, NDTV Gadgets 360, Engadget, The Economic Times, @yourstoryco, @amazonin, @sub8u, BGR India, The Indian Express, IN Day One Blog, India Today and @8ap, more at Techmeme »

Julia Alexander / IGN:

Nickelodeon is a primary reason people are signing up for and watching streaming service Paramount+, says ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish — Nickelodeon is key to Paramount+'s success — Between 2010 and 2020, Nickelodeon lost more than 60% of its audience. — Snapped up by Netflix, YouTube …

Discussion: @ign, @danimichaeli1, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia and @loudmouthjulia

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Jason Kilar says he expects no long-term negative effects of releasing 2021 movies on HBO Max; sources: Warner Bros. paid $200M+ to appease talent — WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar fired the streaming service's top brass, blew up the movie business and angered Hollywood royalty. He says it's a recipe for success.

Discussion: @jbflint, @brooksbarnesnyt, @wsj, @drewfitzgerald, The Information and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

Ben Munson / FierceVideo:

TiVo buys MobiTV's assets for $18.5M, including its live and on-demand video delivery offerings to launch app-based streaming TV services — TiVo emerged as the winner on day 2 of an auction for MobiTV's assets after fending off several raised bids from Amino in conjunction with Roku and RPX, a patent portfolio company.

Discussion: @davezatz, PR Newswire, Light Reading, Media Play News and MediaPost

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:

A look at Spotify-exclusive “music and talk” podcasts, which let hosts avoid music licensing fees and fair-use legal fights via free access to Spotify catalog — Music-filled — and Spotify-exclusive — shows like “Black Girl Songbook” and “60 Songs That Explain the '90s” dance around copyright constraints.

Discussion: @producertd, @nytimesmusic, @donthatebehated, @danamo, @blackamazon, @dada_drummer, @justintinsley, @danamo, @feliciapride, @loganmmurdock, @lpolgreen, @ringer, @tonyamosley, @nicktheandersen and @harvilla, more at Techmeme »

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

A new Biden executive order revokes a Trump-era EO that targeted protections for social media platforms and asked the FCC to conduct a review of Section 230 — President Biden revoked the Trump-era executive order on “preventing online censorship,” which a source told Protocol last summer …

Discussion: The White House, Engadget, Reclaim The Net, @brendancarrfcc, @evan_greer, @johnhendel, @aclu, @cendemtech, @jameeljaffer, @issielapowsky, @davidgreene, @davidgreene, The Verge, Al Jazeera, NPR and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Les Moonves and ViacomCBS settle dispute over his payout; a contractor will pay a sum to Moonves, which he'll donate to charity, and $120M reverts to ViacomCBS — Broadcasting giant CBS and former Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, who was ousted from the company in 2018 …

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, ViacomCBS Inc., @megjameslat, New York Times, The Hill, Newser, nexttv.com, Reuters, The Wrap, New York Post and Bloomberg

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 11:40 PM ET, May 15, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

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:

RFE / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
RFE/RL's bank accounts in Russia have been frozen; Russia's media monitor has imposed fines on the news outlet for failing to label itself as a foreign agent

Discussion: @soychicka, @gladstein, @roachaugustine, @damelya_hrw, @anneapplebaum, @rferl, NPR and USAGM

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Southern Theatres follows Alamo Drafthouse and AMC, launching a service to let subscribers rent films after their theatrical run and before they're on streaming

Discussion: @eshap

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Ad agency Dentsu has created a division aimed at helping minority-owned media businesses grow and connect with ad buyers

RTDNA:
Among 1,762 non-satellite TV stations, a record 1,116 aired local news in 2020, up 18 from the 2019 high; 29.3% report budget cuts vs. 9.1% in 2019

Discussion: @rtdna and The Streamable

Peter Guest / Rest of World:
After sweeping up politicians and dissidents, Myanmar's junta is targeting digital media figures and online creators, many of whom have fled or been jailed

Discussion: @restofworld, @longreads, @restofworld, @womenofburma, @restofworld, @kenroth and @kyawhsanhlaing1

Earlier Picks:

Jeff Kotuby / The Streamable:
ESPN renews rights deal with MLB until 2028, including ESPN+ simulcasts but not weekday games; report: the deal cost $560M/yr, down from prior deal's $700M/yr

Discussion: nexttv.com, MediaPost, @keitholbermann, Advanced Television, MLB.com, Sports Business Journal, Awful Announcing, Chicago Sun-Times, Variety, Sports Media Watch, Sportico, Cord Cutters News and Adweek

Senator Brian Schatz / U.S. Senator Brian Schatz …:
Three US senators and a US representative reintroduce the Future of Local News Act, which would create a group to study the state of local news and offer fixes

Discussion: American Press Institute, @cforman, @notaaroncraig and @spj_tweets

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

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

Discussion: The Information, @roka371, @tayhatmaker, @chrismessina, @blitzrick, @mattnavarra, Vincos Newsletter, @dhof and @caseynewton

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

Joanna Nelius / The Verge:
Qualcomm details its Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite chips; benchmarks from a demo suggest the chips match Apple's M3, Intel's Core Ultra 9, and AMD's Ryzen 9

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