Top News:
Ellen Cranley / INSIDER:
A lack of black reporters in an announcement about CBS journalists covering the 2020 election sparked debate on Twitter from writers, politicians, and others — - “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were among Twitter users who criticized CBS for seemingly …
Discussion:
@hotlinejosh, @hotlinejosh, @bfmitchell, Variety, @aoc, @aoc, @hotlinejosh, CBS News, @aoc, @kathygriffin, @sifill_ldf, @rolandsmartin, The Hill, The Independent, @jelani9, @errollouis, @slaughteram, @rgay, @thisisinsider, @karenattiah, News One, @rgay, @ericka4cmsboard, Yahoo, @emarvelous, @senatormgraham, @asteadwesley and @aoc
CNN:
NBC and Megyn Kelly have officially parted ways; sources say NBC will pay Kelly the remaining sum of her contract, believed to total about $30M — (CNN)Two years after she signed with the network amid much fanfare, Megyn Kelly and NBC have officially parted ways.
Discussion:
@sebastian_lk, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, TMZ.com, Newser, Mashable, @levinejonathan, @slpng_giants, NBC News, Decider, Vanity Fair, @niallstanage, @wajahatali, @garylegum, @amyotto8, @efmoriarty, @larryoconnor, @bluechoochoo, @brianstelter, @oliverdarcy, @koblin, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, TVNewser, The A.V. Club, Mediaite, The Wrap, Adweek and The Daily Caller
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Viacom is in talks to sell a majority share in its channel brands, such as MTV and Nickelodeon, in China — Media company is among other multinational corporations facing hurdles in the country — Media giant Viacom Inc. VIAB .38% is in talks to sell a majority stake …
Discussion:
@missiwhite4 and Bloomberg
Marcela Kunova / Journalism.co.uk:
Quartz's AI Studio has developed bots to help journalists with data analysis tasks, using machine learning to identify patterns in records and more — The US publisher offers reporters with no coding skills a set of free tools to help them write better data-driven stories
Discussion:
VentureBeat
Sinclair Target / Motherboard:
A look back at the evolution of RSS and why it lost out to centralized information silos on the web controlled by corporations, despite being an open format — Before the internet was consolidated into centralized information silos, RSS imagined a better way to let users control their online personas.
Discussion:
@leanderwattig, @pkedrosky, @drvox, @dangillmor, @jeremiahtolbert, @andrewbatson, @baekdal, Ad Age and TVWeek.com
Manish Singh / VentureBeat:
Wikimedia announces the integration of Google Translate into Wikipedia's content translation tool used by editors, which now supports 121 total languages — For years, Wikipedia has been working on making its eponymous encyclopedia support more languages. But the nonprofit's effort has been slow …
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Barstool Sports says it has 10K+ subscribers to its new membership service since its launch on January 8, with 81% signing up for the $100 annual subscription — Barstool Sports says it already has more than 10,000 paid subscribers to its new membership service, Barstool Gold …
Discussion:
@stoolpresidente, @brianfitz_14, @ironhead334, @digiday and Awful Announcing
The Information:
Sources: Viacom in talks to acquire Tubi TV, an ad-supported streaming service partly owned by MGM and Lionsgate; one source estimated a cost of around $300M — Nearly every major media company in recent years has launched video streaming services that cost viewers a few dollars a month and don't carry ads …
Discussion:
@cityofthetown
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify outlines its strategy for podcasts that includes bringing talent in-house or exclusively licensing content and selling ads within its podcasts — Having established itself as a top streaming service with now over 200 million users, Spotify this year is preparing to focus more of its attention on podcasts.
Discussion:
@niemanlab and hypebot
Financial Times:
A look at how data brokers identify people and how much personal information they sell as IDC forecasts data vendor sales will triple to $10.1B by 2022 — There are many personal details that Paul-Olivier Dehaye is willing to share online, but the behaviour of his bladder is not one of them.
Peter Lawrence Kane / SFWeekly:
The East Bay Express has laid off four core members of its editorial staff and is moving to an all-freelance model; editor Robert Gammon remains — Four people at the 40-year-old alt-weekly lost their jobs. — UPDATE: Robert Gammon, the EBX's editor, has supplied a comment.
Discussion:
@loisbeckett, New York Times, @redwoodgirl, @sulliview, Mercury News, @frannydink, @sfweekly, @loisbeckett, @loisbeckett, @caseyriankelly, @berkeleyside, @markeortega, @byrosenberg, @janellebitker, @chroniclesofazu, @chroniclesofazu, @nananastia, @nananastia, @juliacarriew, @janellebitker and @chroniclesofazu
Joshua Fruhlinger / Thinknum Media:
Job openings at Vox are up 100% since September 2018, but many are freelance or contract positions, possibly to sidestep the union or adapt to seasonal content — Normally an uptick in hiring at a new media company like Vox Media ($VOXMEDIA) is a good sign. It means that the company is reinvesting in talent.
Discussion:
@rafat
Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed News:
Ex-staffers of Freedom Daily say Brian Kolfage, who raised $20M via a GoFundMe campaign for Trump's wall, pushed them to fabricate stories for his website — “He never wanted the truth. It was all just for clicks, and the more inflammatory, the better," a former employee said.
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