Top News:
Jonathan O'Connell / Washington Post:
Senator Chuck Schumer, troubled by Alden Capital's history, writes a letter to its president demanding it explain its plans for Gannett if a deal goes through — A firm backed by Alden Global Capital, known for sharp newsroom cuts, would acquire more than 100 daily newspapers in the deal.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and @news_guild
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Digiday:
Digiday Research survey of 100 ad buyers: 14% don't expect the YouTube crisis to have an impact on long-term spending; ~33% said cutbacks would be temporary — As a number of major brands, including Disney, Nestle, McDonald's, AT&T and Epic Games, are pulling their ads from YouTube due …
Discussion:
AdExchanger
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CNBC:
AT&T says it is pulling all advertising from YouTube after reports of pedophiles openly using the platform; Nestle and Epic Games have also pulled ads
Discussion:
Ad Age, NPR, CNBC, MediaPost, Reuters, Tubefilter, Gizmodo, WIRED UK, Beyond Search, @cnbc, @winnersusedrugs, The Wrap, @danielmadison78, @mattbinder, @bmorrissey, Engadget, Boing Boing, The Verge, The Verge, Adweek, The Verge, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, Fortune, Tubefilter, TechCrunch, Engadget, Variety and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Pinterest has stopped returning results for searches on vaccinations, differentiating between freedom of speech and freedom of reach — Programming note: The Interface will be off Thursday as I finish up a project that I will share with you next week. — Since the reckoning …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Roku reports Q4 revenue of $275.7M, up 46% YoY and vs. $262.11M est., says it has 27.1M active accounts, up 40% YoY; revenue for 2018 grew 45% to $742.5M — Roku wants to become a billion-dollar company in 2019. The streaming device maker told investors Thursday that it projects …
Discussion:
Digiday, MediaPost, Roku Investor Relations, @jank0, @digiday, @jank0 and AdExchanger, more at Techmeme »
Maureen Farrell / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Pinterest has confidentially filed for an IPO, seeking a valuation of at least $12B — Online-image search company is expected to seek a valuation of at least $12 billion — Pinterest Inc. has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission …
Discussion:
Fortune, CNBC, New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Fortune, Fast Company, Business Insider, TechCrunch and AOL, more at Techmeme »
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Report details how Tribune Publishing, The Guardian, and Slate got their most engaged readers to contribute by focusing on quality content, podcasts, and more — Reader revenue, reader revenue, reader revenue. It's much easier said than done, but these two case studies from Tribune Publishing …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Ira Boudway / Bloomberg:
Chernin Group's Action Network, a sports betting media startup, raises $17.5M Series B led by Fertitta Capital — - Peter Chernin's Action Network closed $17.5 million funding — Investors include owners from MLB, NBA, NHL, Ultimate Fighting — Action Network Inc. …
Discussion:
Action Network and Reuters
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
CNN hiring Sarah Isgur is puzzling given her reported loyalty pledge to Trump's anti-press agenda and numerous critical tweets of CNN, reporters, and Democrats — Sarah Isgur has spent her young career in the public square. She did communications work for the Republican National Committee …
Discussion:
@atrupar, @jdawsey1, @samstein, @neontaster, @jayrosen_nyu, @espiers, @ericschultz, @parkermolloy, @becketadams, @juddlegum, @parkermolloy, @nytimes, @ewerickson, @simonmaloy, @matthewwolfff, @irin, @maxwelltani, @matthewwolfff, @erikwemple, @ericschultz, @blackamazon, @atrupar, @simonmaloy, Media Matters for America, Vox, @dabeard and @tripgabriel
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
How New York-area cable news station News 12 is working with ProPublica's Documenting Hate database to track local hate crimes — “Getting things on air will reach the audience you're looking to reach. Getting things online is important so people can find the work later."
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Women's Media Center report: female representation in newsrooms and bylines continues to disappoint; ~69% of AP and Reuters bylines go to men — The dismal factoids in a new report released Thursday by the Women's Media Center go on and on. And on. — While women outnumber men …
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Michael Jackson's estate sues HBO for violating a 1992 non-disparagement clause by agreeing to air “Leaving Neverland”, which accuses Jackson of sexual abuse — The estate of Michael Jackson sued HBO on Thursday, accusing the cable channel of violating a non-disparagement clause …
Discussion:
/Film, Billboard, Daily Mail, ScreenRant, Metro.co.uk, Esquire, CNBC, CNN, Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, Fortune, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Deadline, USA Today, The Daily Caller and Just Jared
Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times:
Investigation finds Facebook still lets users target ads based around interest in neo-Nazis; Facebook says it will remove the seldom-used audience groupings — Facebook makes money by charging advertisers to reach just the right audience for their message — even when that audience …
Discussion:
Memex 1.1, MediaNama, @cshalby, @katzish, @juliacarriew, @jmbooyah, @russellbrandom, @jmbooyah, @juliaturner, @jmbooyah, Gizmodo, Adweek and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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