Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s round-up of media stories from the week.
REUTERS | JESSICA DINAPOLI
Didit makes $1.1 million offer for defunct gossip website Gawker
Didit — a digital advertising and marketing firm — has offered an initial proposal of $1.1 million in a bankruptcy auction to purchase the news gossip website, Gawker. If Didit were to acquire Gawker, it plans to re-brand the site as “Gawker For Good,” which would report positive news in entertainment, sports, gaming, and celebrity content. Reuters reports that it also plans to “channel 50 percent of net advertising revenue to non-profits selected by readers and the creators of the content on the site.” Didit has been interested in acquiring Gawker since January and other interested bidders have until July 9 to place an offer.
A bidding war may be a possibility: Gawker.com assets could go to Mineola marketing firm in auction
THE VERGE | RUSSELL BRANDOM
Facebook and Google hit with $8.8 billion in lawsuits on day one of GDPR
When the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, Facebook and Google immediately were hit with lawsuits accusing the two companies of coercing users into sharing personal data. The lawsuits, filed by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, seek to fine Facebook 3.9 billion euro and Google 3.7 billion euro — roughly $8.8 billion combined in US dollars. Even though Facebook and Google rolled out new policies and products to comply with GDPR, Schrems argues that those policies aren’t enough. “Both companies have disputed the charges, arguing that existing measures were adequate to meet GDPR requirements,” The Verge reports.
ICYMI: Everything you need to know about GDPR
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT | ELISHA SAUERS, KIMBERLY PIERCEALL AND ROBYN SIDERSKY
After more than a century, Norfolk family sells The Virginian-Pilot for $34 million
The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, which has been owned by the Batten family for more than a century, was sold to Chicago-based media conglomerate Tronc for $34 million. Tronc — a publicly-traded newspaper print and online media publishing company — owns the Daily Press in Newport News, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and The Orlando Sentinel, among other media outlets nationwide. The article states that employees did not find out about the sale until a news release issued by Tronc was released this past Tuesday morning just before the stock market opened. In an effort to reduce spending, the company already has downsized by cutting about 100 employees since May 2017.
Related: Tronc recognizes Chicago Tribune newsroom union
DIGIDAY | MAX WILLENS
How The New York Times plans new subscription products
The New York Times recently announced plans to develop a subscription product primarily geared toward parents.
Unlike other recent product launches that were built on archives of content, like the Cooking and Crossword apps, the parenting product will not be based on a massive library of parenting content. Instead, the goal of the parenting product is for it to be habit-forming and mostly subscription-based. Before settling on parenting, the Times used qualitative and quantitative data to assess and decide on new product ideas. After realizing the market opportunity for parenting coverage, the next step was to conduct focus groups and one-on-one interviews about things like what parents need, which will help develop a prototype product to be released later this year.
In an effort to combat fake news: Hillary Clinton urges Yale class to buy newspaper subscriptions
NIEMANLAB |
NPR is getting rid of some of its news blogs (with more blog “changes” to come)
NPR has announced its decision to get rid of five of its news blogs, with more blog changes coming over the next few months. The blogs that will be discontinued include: International news blog Parallels, education blog NPR Ed, music news blog The Record, All Tech Considered, and breaking news blog The Two-Way. NPR isn’t the first to recognize that blogs in 2018 are confusing to readers. Other news organizations, such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, have shut down many of their standalone blogs as well. In a post written by NPR public editor Elizabeth Jensen, NPR has been reviewing the blogs in recent months and decided that by discontinuing some of them will help make it easier for readers to find content on NPR.org.
Read the full NPR announcement here: NPR Bids Adieu To 5 News Blogs
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Joanna Giannell is a Senior Customer Content Specialist with PR Newswire. She is also an animal lover and music enthusiast. Tune into her insights as a social curator at @PRNpets.
