Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, parent to Cox Communications and Cox Automotive, has announced it is purchasing digital news platform Axios in a deal that values the 5-year-old Virginia company at $525 million, according to reports. Cox, which owns newspapers and the Kelley Blue Book says the Axios acquisition will help the company expand into new markets. Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz will continue to manage day-to-day Axios operations and sit on its board, which Cox Enterprises chairman and CEO Alex Taylor joins. Continue reading Cox Enterprises to Purchase Axios News Platform for $525M

Snapchat’s new feature, Dynamic Stories, uses RSS feeds from 40 media partners to automatically generate Stories that will appear in its Discover section. Early partners include Axios, Bloomberg, CNN, Condé Nast, ESPN, The Wall Street Journal and Vice. Publishers are already seeing results, Snapchat reports, with The Washington Post reaching more than 1.1 million Snapchatters with coverage of the war in Ukraine. Using RSS automation, Snap is lowering the barrier to entry for legitimate news publishers by eliminating the need for manual updates. After their initial appearance the Stories will update in real time. Continue reading 40 Blue-Chip Media Partners Join Snapchat to Stream News

All politics may be local, but you can expect less of it to be social. As of August 31, Facebook began reducing political content that appears in its News Feed. The move comes as the social media giant attempts to beat back a barrage of criticism for spreading misinformation through the use of algorithms that appear to reward click-generating controversies over level-headed dialogue. The new content modification is “in response to common feedback from our community,” a Facebook spokesperson said. Continue reading Facebook Decides to Curtail Political Content in News Feed

Substack is home to writers who establish their own publications. Now the email newsletter startup will spend $1 million total for one-year stipends for up to 30 journalists interested in covering local news. A few writers already use Substack for subscription-based local news sites and co-founder Hamish McKenzie said there are “encouraging signs” that the model works for reporting and local news. Former Vanity Fair editor Jon Kelly is building an online newsletter where writers will share in the subscription revenue. Continue reading Startup Substack Invests $1 Million in Local News Journalism

Roku has inked a multi-year deal whereby data from Roku’s platform will be incorporated in the upcoming Nielsen ONE cross-media measurement product and Roku will acquire Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising (NAV) business, which will enable it to offer a fully addressable advertising solution for TV programmers. Under the terms of the deal, Roku will have Nielsen’s video automatic content recognition (ACR) technology and its dynamic ad insertion (DAI) system, allowing it to offer targeted, household-level advertisements. Continue reading Nielsen Sells Its Video Ad-Tech to Roku, Part of Multiyear Deal

Location-based data is key to many of the efficiencies promised in smart, AI-enabled cities. HERE Technologies got its start in location data in 1985 when, as Navteq and later Nokia, its goal was to digitize mapping and pioneer in-car navigation. In 2015, HERE was sold to a consortium of German automakers and currently has nine direct and indirect shareholders. The company now creates 3D maps and other location-based solutions. During CES, HERE senior VP development & CTO Giovanni Lanfranchi described how the company ran a hackathon in Istanbul that challenged ordinary citizens to come up with new location-based solutions. Continue reading CES 2020: Location-Based AI is Enabling an Efficient Future

Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried asked why we’re talking about 6G when 5G is just beginning to make an appearance. “Before we get into what comes after 5G, how ready are we to connect billions of devices?” she asked. She got a quick answer from Public Knowledge cybersecurity policy director Megan Stifel. “We’re getting there, but we’re not there yet,” she said. “At least we’re beginning to see companies think about ‘secure to market,’ but there is no core baseline required. This keeps me up at night.” Continue reading CES Panel: Building the Quantum Internet with 6G, Intention

Stating that it had detected a political influence campaign potentially targeting the midterm elections, Facebook removed 32 pages and fake accounts that were active around contentious issues across the political spectrum. One was a sequel to last year’s “Unite the Right” rally and another was a campaign to abolish ICE. Facebook was not able to link the pages to Russia, but officials did say that “some of the tools and techniques” were similar to those used by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency (I.R.A.). Continue reading Facebook Deletes Fake Accounts in Windup to Next Elections

“The Future of News” panel at CES 2018 drew together pundits across the political spectrum to puzzle out the difference between news and opinion, what exactly fake news is, and how to pop the partisan bubbles. A conversation led by United Talent Agency head of digital media Brent Weinstein started his challenge to define the line between news and opinion — if consumers even care. The Daily Wire editor-in-chief and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro said that the news media should not portray itself as objective. Continue reading CES: Examining the Results of the Radical Disruption of News