Top News:
John Koblin / New York Times:
Richard Plepler, former CEO of HBO, signs a five-year deal with Apple through his company Eden Productions to produce films and shows exclusively for Apple TV+ — Ten months after he chafed under AT&T's takeover of the network, he reboots himself as a producer in a five-year deal with Apple TV Plus.
Discussion:
Axios, The Streamable, Variety, MediaPost, @koblin, @sherman4949, The Wrap, MACお宝 …, @grynbaum, @ericjackson, Broadcasting & Cable, @taralach, @therealdvorak, @9to5mac, New York Post, @mgsiegler, Engadget, CNN, @jimwindolf, @pkafka, @tedgioia, @film_girl, @hshaban, @kimmasters, @lucas_shaw, Bloomberg, Always Be Watching, Axios, @jasonhirschhorn, @joan_e, @greta, @samsifton, @mgsiegler, @garrett_oh, @ischafer, @jonesonthenba, @waltmossberg, Wired, @jakelahut, @dfriend, @felixgillette, @mgsiegler, @mgsiegler, @nicsperling, @richlightshed, The Verge and 9to5Mac
Hamilton Nolan / The Guardian:
A retrospective look at a decade in journalism, from a Gawker alum who reported on media and is now unemployed after Splinter's closure — You won't make much money, your best stories will be forgotten, and you'll be doomed to constant disappointment and despair. I recommend it highly
Discussion:
@ruthservensmith, @ninabernstein1, bookforum.com, @alanenglish9, @jackshafer, @jaysunsilver, @davidsirota, @patrickcoffee, @micahuetricht, @scottwamplerbmd, @annakareninaxx, @beervana, @lindakinstler, @gabrielsnyder, @thejewishdream, @stephengutowski, @picardonhealth, @elanazak, @rightaboutbeer, @beervana, @cecilenguerin, @jackshafer, @lukeoneil47, @rightaboutbeer, @mathewi and @danielmarans
Charlie Nash / Mediaite:
NYT deletes a tweet calling Eddie Gallagher a “retired” Navy SEAL with a new apparel line while failing to mention his court martial and clemency from Trump — The New York Times on Thursday deleted a Twitter post which characterized Eddie Gallagher, who was charged …
Brent Lang / Variety:
Study: 10.6% of 2019's 100 highest-grossing films were from female directors, up from 4.5% in '18; women co-directed 2 of top 10 most successful global releases — Hollywood's glass ceiling may not be shattered, but it's showing some cracks. — The number of top-grossing films directed …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Wrap, @inclusionists, @thr, VICE, @ckcinephile, @amydiehl, @inclusionists, @moorehn, @apentertainment, Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, ScreenRant, The Playlist and Axios
Rainesford Stauffer / Teen Vogue:
Student journalists are filling news gaps, pushing for student reporters' rights, launching outlets on social media, and focusing on diverse representation — Representation is everything. — In late September, news broke that Kurt Volker, the United States' special envoy for Ukraine …
Discussion:
@loganaimone, @tess_townsend, @emmahhall1, @rebeccahmac, @dariansymone, @franklomonte, @rainesford and Teen Vogue
Tony Bizjak / Sacramento Bee:
CFO says McClatchy will stop paying some executive pension benefits, affecting 100+ people, as it keeps talking with a federal agency about its pension plan — The McClatchy Co., owner of 30 newspapers including the Sacramento Bee, disclosed Thursday that it will stop paying supplemental or non-qualified executive retirement benefits.
Discussion:
@saemin4655, Bloomberg, McClatchy Co and Wall Street Journal
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Q&A with Jimmy Iovine about music industry's reconciliation with tech in the last decade, why streaming music services are like utilities with low margins, more — The record executive who made the leap to Silicon Valley looks back on the decade in the music business, and sees a major problem on the horizon.
Discussion:
Business Insider, @mattrosoff, @jszanchi, @aservais1, 9to5Mac, @drgonzo123, @trengriffin, @theprophetpizza, @yangcliu, @alecstapp, @ineverglow and @ballmatthew, more at Techmeme »
Variety:
Comscore: Disney earned 33% of domestic box office grosses in 2019, the first time since 1999 that one studio had such a high revenue share in US/Canada — At the start of the decade, Disney's film business was enfeebled. The studio ran perpetually last or nearly last for domestic market share …
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, IndieWire, @deusexcinema, Associated Press, @adambvary and @lucas_shaw
Alex Barker / Financial Times:
Group M: spending on outdoor ads to overtake newspaper ad sales in 2020 for the first time, with $40.6B spent on outdoor ads, ~$4B more than on newspapers — Spending on outdoor advertising is set to overtake newspaper ad sales in 2020 for the first time since records began …
Discussion:
@robertalanward and @alecmacgillis
Ailsa Chang / NPR:
Billboard to start including YouTube streams on January 3 to determine chart ranking — The question of how Billboard determines the most popular music in the country has gotten a lot harder in the digital age. It used to be a simple question of which album sold the most physical copies …
Aliya Iftikhar / Committee to Protect Journalists:
Journalists in Nepal speak of pressure from officials to censor reporting and threats to constitutional guarantees of press freedom due to new restrictive bills — Last year, when Raju Basnet was covering landgrabs in the Nepali city of Lalitpur, he knew he was playing with fire.
Discussion:
@aaschapiro and @deepakadk
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
With coverage of Suleimani's death, cable news outlets have again shown they're “hard-wired” to support war, promoting military and government perspectives — In the early hours of the morning, local time, state media in Iraq reported that Qassem Suleimani …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and @gaywonk
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