Media Insider: Snapchat Partners With Newsrooms, WarnerMedia and Discovery Merge

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of media stories from the week.

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Snapchat partners with 40+ newsrooms on new automated product
Axios | Sara Fischer

Snapchat is rolling out a new product that aims to make it easier for news publishers to upload their content in real time as stories break. The update dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for news publishers — especially at the local level — to publish on Snapchat. More than 40 news publishers from around the world will begin using a new feature called Dynamic Stories that lets them publish stories to Snapchat using RSS feeds. Examples of experimental news partners in the U.S. include CNN, ESPN, Insider, Axios, The New York Post, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TMZ, Vice and more. Snap will also sell vertical video ads on the new Dynamic Stories product and share some of the revenue with publishers.

Also from Axios: Big cuts are coming to CNN+ after a slow start.

Elon Musk makes hostile offer to buy Twitter
New York Times | Eshe Nelson

Elon Musk has a launched a hostile bid to take over Twitter, a move that could have broad implications for a social network where world leaders, lawmakers, celebrities and more than 217 million other users conduct daily public discourse. The bid came just weeks after Musk became the company’s largest shareholder (though his holdings appear to have been eclipsed since then by the investment management giant Vanguard). He offered $54.20 a share, valuing the company at roughly $43 billion. Musk, a Twitter power user with nearly 82 million followers, has repeatedly criticized Twitter for moderating its platform too restrictively. He previously floated the notion of radically shifting the power in social networking to users and away from behemoth companies.

Speaking of Twitter, The New York Times issued new guidelines for its journalists on how they should use the social network.

Top American newspaper and magazine trade associations have tentatively agreed to merge
Poynter | Rick Edmonds

The News Media Alliance will absorb the MPA – The Association of Magazine Media under a merger agreement awaiting NMA member approval. The partnership will put together the historically distinct cultures of two arms of the legacy print industry with a particular emphasis on shared lobbying goals, including postal regulations and dealing with the big platform companies. Terms of the agreement were emailed to the full membership of NMA, who will be asked to ratify it at a Zoom meeting May 6.

Read next: New Jersey Hills Media Group converts to nonprofit ownership.

WarnerMedia, Discovery complete merger, become Warner Bros. Discovery
CNBC | Staff

AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit and Discovery have completed their merger. The combined company, Warner Bros Discovery Inc, started trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “WBD.” In May last year, the companies set out to merge and become a standalone media business, with AT&T aiming to focus more on its wireless ambitions and Discovery looking to beef up its content library. A top priority for David Zaslav, the long-time Discovery veteran leading the combined entity, is to make streaming video as profitable as the old TV business, analysts said.

Another interesting read: Local newspapers see a bright future in meteorology.

All-female newsroom launched in Somalia to widen media’s scope
The Guardian | Isabel Choat

The first all-women media house in Somalia has been launched, creating a rare opportunity for female journalists in the country to research and publish stories they want to tell. Led by one of the few female senior news producers in the country, the team of six will produce content for TV, radio, and online media on issues such as gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs. Crucially, they will have the autonomy to make editorial decisions. “We want to cover these issues and challenge societal beliefs that women should stay at home,” said Editor-in-Chief Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim, who has worked as a journalist for 12 years and is a founding member of the Somali Women Journalist Organisation.

ICYMI: Bitch Media comes to a close.

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Maria Perez is director of web operations at Cision. In her spare time, she enjoys gaming, watching too much TV, and chasing squirrels with her dog Molly.