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12:45 PM ET, December 17, 2019

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Kali Hays / WWD:
Media holding company Attention Capital buys Sophia Amoruso's Girlboss, which was valued at $13M in 2018; Amoruso will remain CEO  —  It's the first acquisition for recently founded Attention and the start of a new phase for Girlboss.  —  Girlboss founder and ceo Sophia Amoruso at the 2018 Girlboss Rally.
Sara Jerde / Adweek:
Bustle Digital Group launches Input, a consumer tech news site, with no advertisers and a custom CMS that it says will be used across its brands by June 2020  —  Why BDG thinks its new CMS will draw readers and entice advertisers  —  Bustle Digital Group has a reputation of swooping …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook is funding a free 45-minute online Reuters course for journalists on spotting and handling manipulated media, now in English, French, Spanish, Arabic  —  Facebook is spending six figures to fund a course on manipulated media and deepfakes for newsrooms, executives tell Axios.
CNBC:
Vox Media to end contracts of hundreds of freelancers to comply with CA's new AB5 law, which will forbid non-employees from submitting over 35 articles a year  —  - Hundreds of Vox Media freelancers will lose their jobs in the coming months.  — Vox Media is preparing for a California law …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Audible announces founder Dan Katz will step down from CEO role on January 2, to be replaced by former Dun & Bradstreet executive Bob Carrigan  —  Audible, the Amazon-owned seller and producer of audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment, hired media and publishing veteran Bob Carrigan as CEO.
Discussion: Publishers Weekly and RAIN News
Agence France-Presse:
Reporters Without Borders: 49 journalists killed in 2019, the lowest death toll since 2003; ~389 imprisoned, up 12% YoY; and 57 are being held hostage  —  Belfast residents pass a mural featuring murdered journalist Lyra McKee, whose death sparked a new round of political talks chaired by the British and Irish Governments, in May 2019
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix shares detailed overseas subscriber numbers for the first time in a filing, and says 90% of total subscriber growth came from outside the US since 2017  —  Streaming service is disclosing detailed subscriber information by region for operations outside of the U.S. for the first time
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Luminary now lets Alexa users subscribe to its podcast service or start a free trial via simple voice commands and pay using Alexa payments  —  Premium podcast service Luminary has started to enlist Amazon's Alexa to facilitate subscription sales: Owners of Amazon's Echo smart speakers …
Mónica Marie Zorrilla / Adweek:
Stuart Emmrich, who spent ~17 years as The New York Times' Styles editor, named editor of Vogue.com, a newly created role that reports to Anna Wintour  —  He will oversee digital content and report directly to Anna Wintour  —  Condé Nast said today it has named Stuart Emmrich as Vogue.com's first editor.
Discussion: @stuartemmrich, The Cut, Fashionista and WWD
Tom Balmforth / Reuters:
Maria Butina, who was convicted of being a foreign agent in the US and deported to Moscow, has been hired by RT to host an online show  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian woman jailed in the United States for working as a foreign agent and deported to Moscow has been hired by Russia's state-funded RT television …
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:
Even as Netflix resists ads, it's finding ways to work with brands, such as partnerships, where no money changes hands, that aim to create interest in its shows  —  Tide Pod shout-outs onscreen.  Flirtatious exchanges with companies on Twitter.  Netflix may not run ads, but it has become a coveted marketing platform.
 
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 More News: 
James Poniewozik / New York Times:
The success of The Mandalorian's “Baby Yoda” shows it's possible for TV to become as franchise-dominated as film, where Disney makes billions building on old IP
Davey Alba / New York Times:
Campaign staff and researchers say almost all political campaigns, including presidential ones, lack teams for spotting and pushing back on disinformation
The Guardian:
UK Treasury Minister Rishi Sunak confirms PM Boris Johnson has instructed people to look at whether non-payment of the BBC license fee should be decriminalized
 Earlier Picks: 
Emily Bell / The Guardian:
Local news, with its ever-shrinking resources, cannot adequately counter “phantom local news” sites, which are set up to repeat talking points or disinformation
Ursula Perano / Axios:
The Hallmark Channel reverses course and says it will work with Zola.com to reinstate the online wedding registry's ads that show two lesbian brides kissing
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
Alphabet closes above a $2T market cap for the first time, reaching a valuation of $2.15T after rising 10% on April 26, its biggest one-day jump since July 2015

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

 
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