Mediagazer: Chinese state media reporters will have to pass an exam testing knowledge of President Xi's philosophy to get press cards; ~10K to take pilot exams in October (William Zheng/South China Morning Post)

10:00 PM ET, September 20, 2019

Top News:

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

YouTube reverses course, says channels with verification badges will keep them without appeal and channels that reach 100k subs can still apply for verification — A day after announcing significant changes to its verification program, YouTube announced Friday afternoon that it won't be de-verifying existing creators after all.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Magazine, @taylorlorenz, @fwiz, @rolyungashaa, @pixelade, @rhymestyle, @mightykeef, @schmittastic, @martinsfp, @susanwojcicki, @emzoticofficial, @susanwojcicki, The Verge, @itsfangs and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

YouTube CEO apologizes to creators and users over the company's decision to revoke verification statuses and says it is working to address creator concerns — Updates are expected to come — YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has just apologized to the creator community over the company's decision …

Discussion: @susanwojcicki, Business Insider, Fast Company, Mashable, @mattnavarra, @martinsfp and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Disney and AT&T reach a deal that will keep ABC, ESPN, The Disney Channel, and more on DirecTV, U-verse, and AT&T TV Now — The Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement in principle on a new retransmission consent and carriage deal with AT&T that would keep networks including ABC …

Discussion: PR Newswire, Awful Announcing, Deadline and Cord Cutters News

Hadas Gold / CNN:

Twitter suspends account of a former Saudi royal court adviser suspected of involvement in Khashoggi murder and six accounts linked to Saudi state media — London (CNN Business)Twitter has suspended or removed thousands of accounts linked to governments in the Middle East …

Discussion: Twitter, NPR, @securedemocracy, ABC News, @brian_whit, Boing Boing, BleepingComputer, @jrug and @samuelwoolley

Patrick Shanley / Hollywood Reporter:

NBCU announces it is shutting down its gaming division, formed in 2017, and laying off 5% of staff in its cable division, which includes E!, Oxygen, Bravo — Universal Games and Digital Platforms, formed in 2017, will no longer publish mobile titles as part of a restructuring plan at the company …

Discussion: Fox Business, Variety, MediaPost, @pshanley88, Polygon, TVWeek.com and The Wrap

William Zheng / South China Morning Post:

Chinese state media reporters will have to pass an exam testing knowledge of President Xi's philosophy to get press cards; ~10K to take pilot exams in October — About 10,000 reporters and editors in Beijing are expected to take ‘pilot tests’ next month using Xuexi Qiangguo mobile app Nationwide exams …

Discussion: @suilee, @zhengwei75, @annafifield and The Guardian

Reuters:

Reuters hires Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams as its first newsroom diversity editor — Reuters today announced that Joyce Adeluwoye-Adams has been appointed Editor, Newsroom Diversity. — Reporting to Simon Robinson, Global Managing Editor, Newsroom, Adeluwoye-Adams will lead Reuters efforts …

Discussion: Press Gazette, @iron_emu and Poynter

Richard Middleton / TBI Vision:

At TV conference, Reed Hastings says Netflix has spent £400M in the UK in 2019 and plans a “big increase” next year — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said the streamer will spend £400m ($500m) on UK programming this year and added that there would be a “big increase” …

Discussion: Forbes, Variety, Multichannel News, MacRumors, @alexgiess, Barron's Online, @ivan_brussels, Reuters and The Guardian

Financial Times:
Amid rising competition and a dramatic fall in US subscribers during Q2, doubts arise over the sustainability of Netflix's debt-driven business model

Discussion: TBI Vision, @shiraovide, @generalboles and @mattgarrahan

Ann-Christine Diaz / Ad Age:

A former chief creative officer of The Martin Agency is suing Adweek, a former editor, and the anonymous Instagram account Diet Madison Avenue for defamation — Suit seeks $25 million; attorney says plaintiff plans to also take legal action against his former employer and parent Interpublic Group

Discussion: @moorehn

Jason Schott / Fox Business:

Roku study: 2M people in the US moved from traditional pay TV to streaming in 2019; up to 60M US households will exclusively use streaming in the next 5 years — Television viewing has gradually expanded into streaming, and a new study from Roku makes a dramatic prediction about how people will consume video in the years to come.

Discussion: MediaPost, @roku, @whatthebit, @raju, Roku and Cord Cutters News

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Kavanaugh book authors say the reason they couldn't agree to terms to interview Kavanaugh was because he wanted them to lie and say he hadn't been interviewed — Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, the New York Times reporters behind the book “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and @erikwemple

Ana Lomtadze / Global Editors Network:

Interview with Google News VP Richard Gingras on the algorithm change to spotlight original reporting, the difficulty of defining the term, raters, and more — Google's VP of News explains the wider implications of the new search algorithm. — Last week, Google said it had made changes …

Discussion: @mhbergen, ZDNet, @chrismoranuk, @mattrosoff, @mathewi, @spj_tweets and @mattrosoff, more at Techmeme »

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

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More News:

BBC:
UN report discusses Iran's harassment and persecution of BBC Persian journalists and their families after BBC's formal complaint to UNHRC in February

Discussion: @bbcnewspr and Press Gazette

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Sources: Tinder will release a six-episode choose-your-own-adventure series in October and intends to use viewers' choices to make matches

Discussion: Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Adweek and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:
The trial of two Bloomberg journalists, along with 36 other defendants, has begun in Turkey, where they're accused of trying to undermine its economic stability

Discussion: Financial Times

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Stephen Brown has been named editor-in-chief of Politico Europe

Leo Barraclough / Variety:
Viacom joins Britbox, the BBC and ITV joint venture, making Comedy Central's UK productions as well as Channel 5 shows available on the platform

Discussion: Reuters and Broadband TV News

Greg Dool / Folio:
Q&A with Andy Cohn, president and publisher of 20-year-old music magazine The Fader, on diversifying while remaining committed to the growing print magazine

Discussion: @brittany0925, @foliomag and @foliomag

Earlier Picks:

Steven Zeitchik / Washington Post:
Experts say the enormous amounts spent on old shows like Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory ignore a key point: we have no way of knowing how much shows are worth

Discussion: @alexgiess, @alexgiess and @jeffjarvis

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Roku OS 9.2 will feature Roku Zones, which aggregate content from particular genres, sorting it according to whether it's free, available for rental or purchase

Discussion: @chriswelch, 9to5Google, Roku Online Newsroom, TechCrunch, Variety, Multichannel News and The Streamable

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism:
Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund makes first grants: $5.25M to three Philadelphia recipients to support new models for local journalism

Discussion: @lenfestinst, @pilhofer, Inquirer.com, @swischnowski, @schmalie, @pkerkstra, @tylrfishr, @kimfox, @billy_penn, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @tylrfishr, @shanbow, @jroxann, @lenfestinst and Talking Biz News

Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
Google is investing “several million dollars” in Project Neon, a three-year partnership with UK news publisher Archant, which will launch three local news sites

Discussion: @mjenkins, Press Gazette, Nieman Lab, @mattlcapon, @updatesneon and Talking Biz News

Hilary Russ / Reuters:
DAZN reaches distribution deal with Comcast, its first in North America; Xfinity Flex box users will have access to DAZN starting today

From Techmeme:

Sheldon Reback / CoinDesk:
US and Japanese law enforcement say North Korean hackers were responsible for stealing 4,502.9 bitcoin, worth $308M, from Japanese exchange DMM in May 2024

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Donald Trump announces Scott Kupor, a managing partner at a16z, will serve as director of OPM, and Michael Kratsios will serve as the White House OSTP director

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
The US FTC orders Marriott and Starwood to implement a robust customer data security scheme after Starwood's 2014 to 2018 breaches and Marriott's 2018 breach

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