Top News:
Casey Egan / S&P Global:
During its Q4 earnings call, Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said that he believes the merger between DirecTV and Dish is “probably inevitable” — DISH Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen believes it is “probably inevitable” that DISH and AT&T Inc.'s DIRECTV, as the two largest U.S. satellite pay TV providers, should merge.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Multichannel News and The Streamable
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Report: traditional pay TV operators in the US lost ~6M subscribers in 2019, a decline of 7% YoY, dropping to about 83M by the year's end — The U.S. satellite and cable TV business declined at an unprecedented rate last year — with traditional pay-TV providers dropping a staggering 6 million customers, a 7% decline year-over-year.
Discussion:
@mcproulx
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Dish's Sling TV now has 2.5M subscribers, losing 94,000 in Q4, the first time it lost subscribers since its 2015 launch; Dish revenue dropped 2.1% YoY to $3.2B
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Multichannel News, @valleyshook, The Verge, The Streamable, MediaPost and Broadcasting & Cable, more at Techmeme »
The New York Times Company:
NYT announces it has added a breaking news team in London, expanding its Express Desk; the team of five editors and reporters will be led by NYT's Erin McCann — The New York Times continues to strengthen its presence in the U.K. with the addition of a breaking news team in London to expand The Times's Express Desk.
Wall Street Journal:
China revokes press credentials of three WSJ reporters, ordering them to leave the country within five days as punishment for a recent opinion piece in the WSJ — China's Foreign Ministry says move was punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the Journal
Discussion:
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The Hill:
The Hill posts its review of 14 John Solomon columns, says in some cases the sources were his own attorneys and he should have been labeled an opinion columnist — On Nov. 18, 2019, The Hill announced it was reviewing John Solomon's opinion columns on Ukraine after State Department diplomats …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, @owillis, @jayrosen_nyu, @buhhhhlieevmeee, @froomkin, @mattgertz, @jonahfisherbbc, @cjcmichel, @msmacb, @djlavoie, @urbanachievr, VICE, @oliverdarcy, @dandrezner, @jettgoldsmith, @froomkin, @bradmossesq, @markhertling, @zacharybasu, @digiphile, @digiphile, @b52malmet, @natashabertrand, @20committee, @nycsouthpaw, @kyledcheney, @elwasson, @drnikkimartinez, @froomkin, CNN, Politico and Mediaite
New York Times:
E. Jean Carroll, the Elle magazine advice columnist who last year accused Trump of rape, says she was fired because of Trump's repeated insults against her — The longtime columnist blamed Donald J. Trump for her departure from the magazine, saying in a defamation lawsuit he had damaged her reputation by calling her a liar.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @ejeancarroll, VICE, CNN, Talking Points Memo, @jeffjarvis, Vox, @rachelbitecofer, Mediaite, @felicianista, Boing Boing, Hollywood Reporter and The Hill
Cameron Wilson / BuzzFeed:
Facebook has 17M users in Australia but just seven fact checkers, from AFP and Australian Associated Press, who completed 220 fact checks since April 2019 — “It's incredible the sheer speed at which lies travel, particularly when they're targeted at groups," one fact checker said.
Discussion:
@firstdraftnews, @rmac18, @cdibona, @mantzarlis, @mikeisaac, @broderick, @mhbergen, @tonyromm, @anguslivingston, @jesselehrich and @ryandeto, more at Techmeme »
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Polk Award winners announced, including The Wichita Eagle, The Baltimore Sun, WaPo's The Afghanistan Papers, and a special award for NYT's The 1619 Project — The New York Times received four George Polk Awards on Wednesday, the most of any news organization, including one for The 1619 Project …
The Markup:
The Markup says it will begin publishing on February 25 and announces its board of directors — The Markup, a nonpartisan and nonprofit newsroom investigating how powerful institutions are using technology in ways that impact society, today announced its Board of Directors ahead of its February 25th launch.
Discussion:
@raju, @juliaangwin, @paulohm, @simko_bednarski, @mharrisperry, @sashak, @mharrisperry, @themarkup and @danielpmcdermot
Laura Wagner / VICE:
Vox claims it owns a SB Nation blogger's Twitter account with ~10K followers after an exec took over the contractor's account and changed login credentials — On Friday, Feb. 14, a senior executive from Vox Media managed to break into a sports blogger's Twitter account and change the login credentials …
Discussion:
@motherboard, @goldenblogs, @derektmead, @jordansarge, @blazersbysagar, @timmarchman, @anchorlines, @mikeisaac, @felixsalmon, @drewmcweeny, @dan_cancian, Reclaim The Net, @laurawags, @vice, @cristela9, @annathebold, @_ben_clemens, @linzsports, @jasonrenker, @therealbradg, @gregotto, @derektmead, The Wrap and @yoda
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Study: in Germany, news was the top genre on Apple Podcasts at 23.5% but on Spotify it was the fifth most popular genre at 8.36%, behind comedy and sports — We've written a lot (well, Nick Quah has written a lot) about Spotify's efforts to move in on Apple's 15-year position as the undisputed No. 1 platform for podcasts.
Discussion:
Podnews press releases, @jbenton, @jbenton, @niemanreports and @niemanlab
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
German publisher Spiegel introduces Spiegel Pur, which offers content without ads and tracking for €4.99/mo for non-subscribers, €1.99/mo extra for subscribers — As privacy regulations and internet browsers tighten up, anti-tracking options emerge from publishers.
Discussion:
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