Top News:
Katherine Chiglinsky / Bloomberg:
Berkshire Hathaway to sell its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers to St. Louis Post-Dispatch publisher Lee Enterprises for $140M in cash — Warren Buffett is getting out of the newspaper business. — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Associated Press, The Buffalo News, MediaPost, The Wrap, Lee Enterprises, @raju, @froomkin, @brockvergakis, @will_bunch, @imillhiser, @keithboykin, @allisonprang, @abgutman, @maxabelson, @lisaabramowicz1, @dianabhenriques, @gerryfsmith, @ginger_clark, @ljkawa, @buffaloscribe, @colindabkowski, @k_chiglinsky, @specnewsbuffalo, @dankennedy_nu, @hadas_gold, @davidjoachim, @pwthornton, @markpoloncarz and @nickreisman
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Casino operator Penn National Gaming buying 36% stake in Barstool Sports; deal values Barstool at $450M and lets Penn National buy a controlling stake later — Barstool Sports co-founder Dave Portnoy in 2018 | Penn National Gaming is buying the online publisher — which can thank sports betting, and the Supreme Court for the deal.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Awful Announcing, Adweek, CNN, RAIN News, The Wrap, Variety, Axios, @jimmweber, Fortune, Penn National Gaming, Business Insider, @carlhendy, @alexweprin, @onlyinbos, @joemilord, @pkafka, @alexweprin, @claytravis, @tomkrazit, @darrenrovell, @pkafka, @m_sunderland, @pkafka, @alexweprin and @jgsiegel
Mary Louise Kelly / New York Times:
Journalists don't interview senior government officials to score political points, but rather to share the answers to tough questions when the stakes are high — Journalists are supposed to ask tough questions, then share the answers — or lack thereof — with the world.
Discussion:
NPR, Newser, @nprextra, @nprkelly, @tomdreisbach, @dmrider, @ericampeterson, Politico, @caseyriankelly, @janearraf, @nytopinion, @johnlansing, @ailsachang and @soledadobrien
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Bill Chappell / NPR:
NPR's CEO announces the outlet is asking the State Department to explain why it denied credentials for an NPR reporter to travel with Mike Pompeo to Europe
NPR's CEO announces the outlet is asking the State Department to explain why it denied credentials for an NPR reporter to travel with Mike Pompeo to Europe
Discussion:
@nickschifrin, @jeremylittau, @npr and @rcmcbride
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Trump praises Pompeo for his behavior with NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly: “That was very impressive....I think you did a good job on her, actually.”
Trump praises Pompeo for his behavior with NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly: “That was very impressive....I think you did a good job on her, actually.”
Discussion:
@thekatiecoop, @atrupar, @anniekarni, Alternet.org, @evanmcmurry, @mehdirhasan, @npr, @mimirocah1, @nancycbarnes, @csymrl, New York Times and @jayrosen_nyu
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
WaPo reinstates reporter Felicia Sonmez after her suspension following her tweets about a rape allegation against Kobe Bryant and her response to backlash — The Washington Post said it has reinstated political reporter Felicia Sonmez, who was suspended for a series of tweets about Kobe Bryant …
Discussion:
@feliciasonmez, Columbia Journalism Review, @postguild, Washington Post, @dabeard, @mlcalderone, @feliciasonmez, Press Pass, The Daily Caller, New York Times, @soledadobrien, @lollardfish, @mathewi, @_cingraham, @feliciasonmez, @fenitn, @lainnafader, @thewrap, @maxwelltani, @jon_allsop, @politicussarah, @soledadobrien, @blackamazon and @zachdcarter
Dylan Byers / NBC News:
EIC Ben Smith is leaving BuzzFeed in early March to join NYT to write the Media Equation column made famous by David Carr — Smith will serve as the writer of the publication's “Media Equation” column, which became a must-read for media industry insiders under the David Carr, who died in 2015.
Discussion:
@buzzfeedben, @yayitsrob, Vanity Fair, Press Gazette, @raju, @ggreenwald, @peretti, Politico, @chanders, @erinleecarr, Poynter, bookforum.com, @goldietaylor, @bernstein, @josh_emerson, @rmac18, @austinhunt and @gaberivera
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Peter Kafka / Vox:
Jonah Peretti says he expects BuzzFeed to turn a profit this year, but BuzzFeed News would still be operating in the red: “We don't need news to be profitable” — What Ben Smith's move to the paper of record says about digital media in 2020. — Ben Smith spent eight years …
Discussion:
@michellemanafy, @mattmittenthal, @pkafka and @dcnorg
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Ben Smith turned BuzzFeed News, once seen as a clickbait factory, into an outlet that was twice a Pulitzer finalist and a winner of the George Polk Award
Ben Smith turned BuzzFeed News, once seen as a clickbait factory, into an outlet that was twice a Pulitzer finalist and a winner of the George Polk Award
Discussion:
@sulliview, @pkafka, @carolinemoss, @jayrosen_nyu, @matthewkeyslive, @pkafka and @organizingpower
News Corp:
News Corp launches Knewz, a news aggregation platform covering more than 400 publishers that uses AI and human editors, available on the web, iOS, and Android — Groundbreaking News Platform Free of Filter Bubbles Launches in Beta; — Features Headlines from Publishers Large & Small, Left & Right, Here, There & Everywhere
Discussion:
Variety, @hardin, @sokane1, TVNewser, @sarafischer, @isaacdovere, @rachellarris, @jpbrammer, @ginnymarvin, @jaredbkeller, @onceupona, @thenikkibus, @dgisserious, @drewcurtis, @drewcurtis, @jillkrajewski, @variety, @_cooper, @jaycaruso, @abeaujon, @drewharwell, @backlon, @markdistef, @raju, @alexweprin and @pkafka
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The Guardian says it will no longer accept ads from companies that extract fossil fuels, becoming the first major news organization to institute such a ban — Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisis — The Guardian will no longer accept advertising …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T lost 219K AT&T Now customers and 945K premium TV subscribers in Q4, and reports revenues of $8.9B, down 3.3% YoY — AT&T's top line was stung by its investment in HBO Max in the fourth quarter of 2019 to the tune of $1.2 billion in “foregone licensing revenues.”
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Multichannel News, TechCrunch, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, The Streamable, Fast Company, The Wrap, @great_katzby and @alexweprin
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
Investigation: in 2019 Trump spent ~$20M on 218K+ Facebook ads, with the media and its “fake news” the top topic mentioned at 18.25%, followed by immigration — A Guardian investigation of 218,100 ads reveals how the campaign's sophisticated social media machine targets conservative voters
BBC:
BBC News to cut around 450 jobs as part of plans to reach its £80M savings target by 2022 — Around 450 jobs will be cut from BBC News under plans to complete its £80m savings target by 2022. — There will be a reduction in the number of films produced by Newsnight …
Discussion:
Financial Times, Press Gazette, Variety, Press Gazette, CNN, @jimwaterson, @hadas_gold, @w7voa, @andycomfort, @katebevan, @prospect_clark, @guyadams, @hzbrandenburg, @jamesaalongman, @damiancollins, @sport_simon, @carljackmiller, @charliebeckett, @markdistef, @jimwaterson, @brianstelter and @markdistef
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Investigative Editing Corps, a project to pair investigative editors with local newsrooms, launched last week, after a pilot with two newsrooms in 2017 — Like many people, Rose Ciotta has watched national news thrive while local news suffered. But Ciotta turned her worries into something that might help.
Discussion:
Investigative Editing Corps, @kristenhare and @lebassett