Here’s the top media industry stories we’re following this week:
The Big News: Bloomberg News announced layoffs this week, totaling 55 (POLITICO NY); Horror film legend Wes Craven passed away (The Hollywood Reporter); Rebekah Brooks will return to News Corp. UK as CEO as scandal fades (Fishbowl NY); NPR celebrates ten years of podcasting (NPR); Twitter is still a top source for breaking news (New York Observer); and ‘Force Friday’ excites fans with a new wave of Star Wars merchandise at midnight store openings in the build up to December’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (The New York Times)
Scooptastic: Check out some of Cision Blog‘s top scoops for this week, such as new additions like Jean Bentley at E!; Maria Elena Fernandez at New York and Vulture; and Aaron Couch at People; or departures like Brian Westover at PC Magazine; Dawnie Dalton at Essence; and Kristine Henry at The Baltimore Sun.
Let’s Get Legal: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) files complaint against Time Inc. (POLITICO New York); The Daily Mail Online is suing Gawker over interview with disgruntled employee (The Washington Post); Three Vice journalists faced terrorism charges in Turkey (TheWrap), with two later freed (AP); Sony may be nearing a settlement following class-action suit due to last year’s hacking (Deadline); and a FOX News anchor Harris Faulkner is suing a toy company over a plastic hamster (TVNewser)
Upgrades: Hulu offers an ad-free subscription (Wired); while Alibaba released its own streaming service (TechInAsia); Amazon Prime Instant Video enables offline iOS/Android capabilites (The Hollywood Reporter) as Amazon also acquires video converting company Elemental Technologies to enhance video offerings on various devices (The Wall Street Journal); AOL acquires Millennial Media to up mobile advertising efforts (TechCrunch); and Google refreshes its logo and redefines company goals (USA Today), also releasing a new feature for Chrome to handle auto-play video content (VentureBeat)
Change is Coming: Tech industry heavyweights like Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft working on next-gen video (TechCrunch); Samsung is developing its own exclusive news curation app (Engadget); Money.net may give Bloomberg and Reuters a run for their money (Talking Biz News); Apple is looking at original programming (FishbowlNY), amassing publishers for forthcoming News app (Re/code) and releases details for the new Apple TV (BuzzFeed)
Image courtesy of alicejamieson on flickr
