1:25 PM ET, September 18, 2021
September 18, 2021
1:00 PM
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Andrew Taylor, who quit as a longtime AP Capitol Hill reporter this spring, says he doubts traditional journalism can now properly cover dysfunction in Congress
12:30 PM
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Behind Andrew Neil's departure from GB News as sources say he was in a legal battle with the channel from mid-July over his contract believed to be £700K/year
September 17, 2021
6:35 PM
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox's Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch saw lower pay in 2021; Rupert's package was valued at $31.1M, down from $34M in 2020, and Lachlan's at $27.7M, down from $29.1M
5:30 PM
Angelique Jackson / Variety:
Vogue says nearly 15M viewers watched its livestream coverage of the Met Gala; Condé Nast plans to repeat the strategy for Super Bowl and Academy Awards events
4:35 PM
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Sources: Google plans to add free, ad-supported streaming TV channels to Google TV and has held talks with media companies that provide the channels
4:00 PM
Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:
The 2016 Indianapolis Star investigation of Larry Nassar, which led to the recent Senate hearings with Olympic gymnasts, shows local newspapers' enduring impact
2:55 PM
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
The dismantling of digital advertising based on personal data and cookies is reshaping revenue plans for ad and tech industries, publishers, and small companies
2:30 PM
Mercury News:
Over 20 CA journalism groups support a bill to protect journalists covering protests; it needs Gavin Newsom's signature, but he vetoed a similar bill last year
1:15 PM
Steven Perlberg / Insider:
NYT's daily newsletter The Morning has 5M+ readers on average, will launch Saturday and Sunday editions, and add two more staff for a total of eight
11:50 AM
Steven Perlberg / Insider:
Axios names Sara Kehaulani Goo as EIC, as it readies niche paid newsletters product Axios Pro; source: Axios is on track to make ~$85M in revenue this year
11:00 AM
Samuel Petrequin / Associated Press:
European Commission issues recommendations to EU states to better protect journalists, including greater cooperation between media and cybersecurity bodies
9:55 AM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WarnerMedia is offering a 50% discount for six months on the HBO Max ad-free monthly plan until September 26 as HBO subscriptions via Amazon shut down Wednesday
9:35 AM
Casey Newton / Platformer:
One year in, Casey Newton has doubled his Substack subscribers to ~50K, of which <10% convert to paid; Discord and Twitter are effective for attracting readers
September 16, 2021
9:15 PM
Politico:
DHS: American extremists used TikTok in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riots to recruit new members and share “tactical guidance” for terrorist and criminal activity
7:15 PM
Financial Times:
China is cracking down on pessimistic financial blogs and social media accounts, as well as fraudulent ones; analysts worry independent voices will be silenced
7:00 PM
Catie Keck / The Verge:
A judge has ordered the permanent shutdown of Locast, a nonprofit that streamed broadcast channels for free while frequently prompting viewers for donations
6:45 PM
BBC:
Two men have been charged in the 2019 murder of journalist Lyra McKee and are expected to appear in court on Friday
4:55 PM
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
A few people called Genius the future of journalism, but its vision of simply adding boxes for comment on others' work was emblematic of its founders' arrogance
4:20 PM
Jared Schroeder / Global Investigative …:
Report: between January 2015 and May 2021, SLAPPs were most prevalent in Latin America and Asia and were mostly tied to industries like mining and logging
3:40 PM
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
The 8th Circuit's bizarre decision greenlighting a lawsuit over a Ryan Lizza tweet about Devin Nunes sets a dangerous precedent for defamation claims
2:35 PM
Financial Times:
Since the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney, Lachlan Murdoch has overseen $6.9B in acquisitions, including TMZ; James Murdoch has overseen ~$700M in deals
1:25 PM
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
Whatnot, a livestreaming service for buying and selling collectibles, raises $150M Series C at a $1.5B valuation, its third fundraising round in 2021
1:05 PM
Mark Scott / Politico:
A look at EU Reporter, which portrays itself as an independent media organization while regularly failing to add disclosures to paid-for content
12:25 PM
Wenxin Fan / Wall Street Journal:
China erased Zhao Wei, its biggest movie star who had 86M Weibo followers, from its internet on August 26, amid a clampdown on its entertainment industry
11:20 AM
Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:
Music-annotating startup Genius sells its assets to MediaLab for $80M; MediaLab says it will cut some jobs in original content production teams
9:25 AM
News UK:
Piers Morgan is joining News Corp and Fox News, where he will have a TV show in early 2022, and will also be a columnist at The Sun and the New York Post
8:30 AM
News UK:
News UK announces the launch of talkTV, a linear and OTT channel featuring news, opinion, and sports shows, in early 2022
September 15, 2021
10:55 PM
Matthew Keys / FierceVideo:
Next month, Fox News will formally launch Fox Weather, a free streaming weather network with a website and mobile apps; Sharri Berg will serve as president
9:25 PM
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google News Showcase is launching in Japan and signs partnerships with more than 40 national, regional and local news organizations
8:15 PM
Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
Top newsrooms won't acknowledge the straight line from the Iraq War to January 6 riot because it would involve admitting decades of poor coverage of GOP's lies
4:15 PM
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Sources: LeBron James' SpringHill is in advanced talks for an investment from Fenway Sports Group, RedBird Capital, and Nike, valuing it around $650M-$700M
3:25 PM
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A look at National Trust for Local News, which plans to sell local news bonds and build a $300M fund to help local news outlets
3:00 PM
A.J. Katz / TVNewser:
E.W. Scripps will relaunch national news network Newsy on Oct. 1, broadcasting over the air and OTT and led by Kate O'Brian, formerly of ABC News and Al Jazeera
2:20 PM
The New York Times Company:
NYT names a new interdepartmental team to help leadership build audience trust, working closely with the newsroom's Standards department
1:20 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Quibi settles its legal battle with interactive video company Eko, as part of which Eko will get the IP for the Turnstyle mobile-video viewing feature
12:30 PM
Manori Ravindran / Variety:
Nadine Dorries appointed as UK culture secretary, replacing Oliver Dowden hours before he was due to make a speech about proposed Channel 4 privatization
12:15 PM
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Appeals court rejects Devin Nunes' defamation suit over a 2018 Esquire article, but says he may have been libeled when a reporter tweeted out the story in 2019
11:40 AM
Brian Welk / The Wrap:
National Association of Broadcasters cancels next month's convention in Las Vegas amid a COVID-19 surge and says it hopes to hold the next event in April 2022
11:30 AM
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
ViacomCBS launches BET Studios, offering Black creatives an equity stake to produce content for outlets within and outside the media conglomerate
11:05 AM
Emma Kelly / Metro.co.uk:
BBC confirms that ex-HuffPost UK EIC Jess Brammar has been appointed to a new role overseeing the BBC's domestic and international news channels
10:55 AM
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Clubhouse hires Nina Gregory, senior editor for NPR's Arts Desk, as its first head of news and media publishers
10:25 AM
Elias Leight / Rolling Stone:
Sleep Fruits Music, which plays 30-second clips of rain sounds, has ~10M Spotify streams/day, diminishing the money available for artists recording actual songs
9:40 AM
Sahil Patel / The Information:
Sources: Reddit is on track for more than $350M in ad revenue this year, at least double what it earned in 2020
9:30 AM
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
In a lawsuit, a GMA producer claims ABC News retaliated against her after she filed a complaint earlier this year alleging sexual assault by Michael Corn
8:55 AM
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
In a memo, Fox Corp. says around 90% of its employees are vaccinated and it will soon introduce daily COVID-19 testing for those who are not vaccinated
8:00 AM
Corrie Driebusch / Wall Street Journal:
SmartNews, a news aggregation app that shows users articles on the same topic with labels on their political bent, raises $230M at a ~$2B valuation
September 14, 2021
10:20 PM
Clio Chang / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at Teen Vogue's political transformation, its place within Condé Nast, and the tension between its socialist politics and the ads that finance it
8:10 PM
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
A slate of candidates for WGAE union leadership that supports more digital newsroom organizing won election Tuesday, after internal debate on the union's focus
6:25 PM
David Folkenflik / NPR:
A deep look at Salem Media, owner of Townhall, RedState, and 100+ radio stations, as well as employer and backer of California governor's candidate Larry Elder
5:45 PM
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Thanks to remote hiring, Quartz says people of color make up 42% of employees, up from 31% last year, and Fortune has hired 22 new people, half outside NY
5:10 PM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Payload, a new media startup focused on business and policy of space that currently publishes a weekly newsletter, raises $650K seed round
4:55 PM
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
GB News is looking to hire more of Nigel Farage's former Brexit party colleagues; Farage's program leads channel ratings, with 80,000 viewers of his latest show
4:35 PM
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Sources: Comcast has struck a partnership with TV manufacturer Hisense to sell two smart TV models under the brand XClass, using Comcast's X1 operating system
3:40 PM
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Stephen Curry and his Unanimous Media production label have signed a deal with Comcast NBCUniversal; sources value the deal in the high eight-figure range
2:10 PM
Norimitsu Onishi / New York Times:
Profile of CNews, France's top news network, modeled after Fox News, with a focus on opinion that covers incendiary topics like immigration, crime, and Islam
1:00 PM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
GovExec buys Market Connections, a government research and insights company, its ninth acquisition since spinning off from Atlantic Media in March 2020
12:35 PM
Wikimedia Foundation:
Wikimedia Foundation names Maryana Iskander as CEO, starting January 2022; Iskander previously led a South African non-profit focused on youth unemployment
12:15 PM
Erin Overbey / @erinoverbey:
[Thread] New Yorker's archive editor compiles contributor and editor diversity numbers for the magazine: people of color and women are very poorly represented
11:55 AM
Selome Hailu / Variety:
Survey: in the last TV season, streaming shows had more female major characters and more female creators, directors, and editors than broadcast network shows
10:30 AM
Lisa Tozzi / @lisatozzi:
Lisa Tozzi, formerly of the NYT and BuzzFeed News, is Rolling Stone's new digital director, overseeing RollingStone.com and its daily news operation
10:10 AM
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Philly Inquirer refuses to call GOP investigation of PA's election results an audit, an example of an outlet using language that serves the public's interests
9:05 AM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Breakthrough Energy, a climate advocacy network created by Bill Gates, is funding Cipher, a new, editorially independent outlet dedicated to the climate crisis
8:15 AM
Elaine Yu / Wall Street Journal:
Chinese podcasting and audio platform Ximalaya files for a Hong Kong IPO after scrapping plans to list in New York
7:40 AM
Ian Burrell / New Statesman:
Channel 4 News staff say there is deep anxiety in the newsroom as the loss of senior figures coincides with plans by the UK government to privatize Channel 4
September 13, 2021
8:00 PM
Sharif Hassan / New York Times:
Local journalists say Afghanistan's free press, a point of pride, is threatened by the Taliban, leading to self-censorship and a dwindling journalist population
5:00 PM
Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Intuit says it has agreed to acquire Mailchimp for $12B in cash and stock
4:18 PM
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Corp. buys TMZ from WarnerMedia, source says for less than $50M; Harvey Levin has signed a multi-year contract to keep running the gossip brand
3:55 PM
Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:
Instagram says Saint Hoax, an influencer with 2.8M+ followers, will livestream from this year's Met Gala red carpet as its first-ever Meme Correspondent
3:20 PM
Bennett Madison / Gawker:
A young adult novelist confesses to writing fake letters to Slate's advice column and duping Tucker Carlson into discussing an obviously phony scenario on air