Top News:
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.
Discussion:
Digiday, What's New in Publishing, Adweek, @mccanner, @moorehn, @stanfordc and @adweek
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, The Streamable and Multichannel News
RELATED:
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 »
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 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, @froomkin, @msmacb, @bradheath, @dandrezner, @jettgoldsmith, @digiphile, @digiphile, @b52malmet, @natashabertrand, @20committee, @drnikkimartinez, @mattgertz, @buhhhhlieevmeee, @djlavoie, @markhertling, @froomkin, @nycsouthpaw, @jonahfisherbbc, @urbanachievr, @froomkin, @cjcmichel, @bradmossesq, @kyledcheney, @elwasson, @zacharybasu, @oliverdarcy, VICE, 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:
@ejeancarroll, Bloomberg, VICE, @thekjohnston, @jeffjarvis, Vox, CNN, @rachelbitecofer, @felicianista, Boing Boing, Talking Points Memo, Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite and The Hill
Journalism.co.uk:
Study: 18 to 34 year-olds spent just over a minute a day reading news during the 2019 UK election, compared to more than three minutes a day that over-35s read — With the under-35s spending less than eight minutes a week reading news, the media need to rethink the news agendas …
Discussion:
@themurdochtimes, @niemanreports and @spj_tweets
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, @mikeisaac, @mhbergen, @tonyromm, @jesselehrich, @rmac18, @cdibona, @mantzarlis, @broderick, @anguslivingston and @ryandeto, more at Techmeme »
Peter Winter / A Life of Fiction:
How distribution monopolies, unchecked power to hike ad rates, and owner families using newspapers as personal cash machines led to bankruptcies like McClatchy — Why McClatchy Newspapers went under, and other local newspapers will too — In ancient Greece there was an official called the “Remembrancer.”
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
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:
@secpompeo, New York Times, @wsjpr, @brianstelter, CNN, Axios, CNBC, @sentomcotton, @gillianwong, @scoopercooper, @ericcolumbus, Breitbart, @simon_nixon, @atrupar, @nytimesbusiness, @nytimesbusiness, @dylanbyers, @billpascrell, @isaacstonefish, @panphil, @ewong, Foreign Policy, @ourobororoboruo, @edwardlucas, @felixsalmon, ABC17NEWS, @gillianwong, @arifleischer, The Week, @ramyinocencio, @crtejada, @suzannenossel, @kenroth, @erinhale, @danielflitton, @jennystrasburg, @cassvinograd, @davidpaulk, @janisfrayer, @georgikantchev, @meghara, @georgikantchev, @theresaafallon, @davidramli, @katmyu, @birdyword, @ananthkrishnan, Mediaite, Committee to Protect …, The Wrap, The Hill, International Press Institute, VICE, globaltimes.cn, National Review, New York Post, Fast Company, Newser and Talking Biz News
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, @yoda and The Wrap
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
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