Mediagazer: Interview with Ben Smith on brutal internal politics and the use of Slack at The NYT, working remotely, and the inevitable regulation of social platforms (Alex Kantrowitz/OneZero)

12:45 AM ET, October 16, 2020

Top News:

Over 100 actors, writers, and producers sign a letter to NBCUniversal and Comcast execs protesting the airing of a Trump town hall opposite a Biden event — “You are enabling the president's bad behavior while undercutting the Presidential Debate Commission and doing a disservice to the American public …

Discussion: @conanobrien, Wall Street Journal, @merrillbro, @jbflint, @brianstelter, @shakeenz, Politico, @feliciasonmez, @greenfield64, New Republic, @vivian, @yashar, Washington Post, The Wrap, @deanluk, @benyt, Los Angeles Times, @adamnagourney, @marcacaputo, The Wrap, @hodgman, TVNewser, @kylepope, Bleeding Cool, @nprinskeep, @bevysmith, @elaheizadi, @helenkennedy, @shakeenz, Washington Free Beacon, @wajahatali, @mrjoncryer, @joshsternberg, @jackischechner, @poniewozik, Breitbart, @ynb, @ericidle, Fortune, Fast Company, @joshsternberg, @owillis, @keitholbermann, @doncheadle, @billyeichner, Associated Press, @w7voa, @moorehn, @vivian, @bradleywhitford, @brithume, @blackamazon, @marmel, @herzogfan, The Hill, @bgrueskin, @ditzkoff, @brianstelter, @ericbalfour, @frances_fisher, @drdave1999, @byronyork, @jayrosen_nyu, @lollardfish, @corb_the_lesser, @warrenleighttv, @jbenton, @dandrezner, @abbydphillip, @bgrueskin, @brianstelter, @jon_allsop, @shawnhatosy, @markos, @danrather, @jenszalai, @b52malmet, @schmittnyc, The A.V. Club, The Week, @heffnera, TVLine, Page Six, The Wrap, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, IndieWire, Variety and Decider

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
NBC sources say scheduling a Trump town hall head to head with ABC's Biden event was intended to match a similar forum Biden had Oct. 5, including the time slot

Casey Newton / Platformer:

The Post hack-and-leak may remain in the right-wing conspiracy sphere if mainstream outlets treat it with the same severe skepticism Twitter and Facebook have — In a New York Post report, Facebook and Twitter smell a rat — I. — In the run-up to the 2020 election, platforms have been preparing for all manner of threats.

Vijaya Gadde / @vijaya:

[Thread] Twitter updates Hacked Materials Policy, says it won't remove content unless shared by hackers themselves and will label tweets instead of block links — Over the last 24 hours, we've received significant feedback (from critical to supportive) about how we enforced our Hacked Materials Policy yesterday. After reflecting on this feedback, we have decided to make changes to the policy and how we enforce it.

Discussion: Poynter, Axios, Politico, Engadget, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, @0xmatt, @scottnover, @bborrman, @scottnover, @bborrman, @bborrman, @stevenoverly, @lizkelley, @nedsegal, @sdkstl, @asharangappa_, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @vijaya, @ericrweinstein and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

BuzzFeed News:

Facebook limits the distribution of a New York Post story that makes disputed claims about Hunter Biden, pending fact-check, while Twitter blocks sharing — Facebook and Twitter said they will be limiting the distribution of or blocking a New York Post story making unverified claims about former vice president Joe Biden.

@twittersafety:
[Thread] Twitter clarifies why it blocked the sharing of NY Post's Biden story, saying it contained private info and violated its Hacked Materials Policy

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

The FCC has no jurisdiction over Section 230, which was explicitly written to deny the FCC any authority over websites — from the that's-not-how-any-of-this-works dept — For years, FCC Chair Ajit Pai has insisted that the thing that was most important to him was to have a “light touch” regulatory regime regarding the internet.

Discussion: @ajitpaifcc, Bloomberg, @nxthompson, Breitbart, Law & Crime and AppleInsider

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
Ajit Pai says FCC will start a rulemaking to clarify the meaning of Section 230, and social media doesn't have “special immunity denied to other media outlets”

Discussion: @jrosenworcel, @tommjohnsonjr, Engadget, CNBC, @hawleymo, @micsolana, @jaycaruso, @jisraelbalderas, CNET, @brendancarrfcc, WHDH-TV and @jisraelbalderas, more at Techmeme »

NBC News:

YouTube is now banning conspiracy theory content, such as QAnon or Pizzagate, that targets individuals and groups and is used to “justify real-world violence” — YouTube said Thursday that it would no longer allow content that targets individuals and groups with conspiracy theories …

Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:

Sources: Rupert Murdoch, semi-retired from operations at Fox News and News Corp, has told people he thinks Biden will win, as his NY Post blasts the candidate — The Australian mogul is disgusted by Trump's handling of COVID-19, remarking that the president is his own worst enemy and telling associates …

David Bauder / Associated Press:

C-SPAN suspended editor Steve Scully indefinitely after he admitted he lied about his Twitter account being hacked following his tweet to Anthony Scaramucci — NEW YORK (AP) — C-SPAN suspended its political editor Steve Scully indefinitely Thursday after he admitted to lying about his Twitter feed …

Robinson Meyer / The Atlantic:

The Atlantic launches Planet, a section devoted to climate change, and Weekly Planet, a newsletter — I've been covering climate change for The Atlantic for five years, or nearly a sixth of the time I've been alive. That's long enough to watch the world change around me.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @benyt, @billmckibben, @jshieber, @yayitsrob, @costasamaras, @jacquelyngill, @paulbisceglio, @emcollective, @slaskow, @theatlantic, @kerrymflynn, @emma_marris, @edyong209, @emmaogreen, @adriennelaf, @edyong209, @yayitsrob and @drvox

Alex Kantrowitz / OneZero:

Interview with Ben Smith on brutal internal politics and the use of Slack at The NYT, working remotely, and the inevitable regulation of social platforms — Plus, why Twitter is a double-edged sword … the Media Equation columnist at the New York Times, Ben Smith is covering an industry going through transformation and turbulence.

Discussion: @dlberes, Big Technology, @kantrowitz, @chrismegerian, @markbriggs, @niemanlab and @haleaziz

Kelsey Sutton / Adweek:

Nielsen will include ads watched on YouTube apps on CTVs in its YouTube campaign measurements, which already cover mobile and digital screens, from 2021 — First phase, arriving in 2021, comes as viewership has soared — The move will let media buyers and sellers track audiences across …

Discussion: Adweek, MediaPost, @kellyabcarian and FierceVideo

Mark Wilson / Fast Company:

YouTube TV is adding NFL Fantasy Football, its first third-party app, allowing viewers to watch a game and pull up player scores on the same screen — Starting today, real football and your fantasy team are one and the same. Tomorrow? We can only guess.

Discussion: Cord Cutters News and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:45 AM ET, October 16, 2020.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
River, which offers a customized stream of bite-sized, shareable news stories from sources like NPR, Twitter, and NYT, raises $10.4M and launches on iOS

Discussion: TechCrunch and @unclegrambo, more at Techmeme »

Laura Snapes / The Guardian:
UK to investigate the business models of major music streaming service like Spotify and Apple Music to determine their fairness toward artists

Discussion: @mrtomgray, @elliotjaystocks, Engadget, @commonsdcms and @ism_music

John Glenday / The Drum:
TikTok partners with OpenSlate to create a brand safety tool that tracks where advertiser campaigns appear and filters out inappropriate content and categories

Discussion: @gerrygdangelo

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Snapchat now lets iOS users add song clips from a catalog of music to their Snaps and Stories thanks to multiyear agreements with Warner Music Group and others

Discussion: Social Media Today, The Wrap, TechCrunch and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
WarnerMedia will shut down HBO and WB TV channels in India, Pakistan, Maldives, and Bangladesh on December 15, citing changes in the pay-TV market

Discussion: MediaNama

Jabari Young / CNBC:
DraftKings signs deal to be the exclusive sportsbook and fantasy sports provider for WarnerMedia's Turner Sports and Bleacher Report, but excludes NBA content

Discussion: Sportico.com, @ericfishersbg, @jabarijyoung, @draftkingsnews, @darrenrovell and Front Office Sports

New York Times:
Q&A with Ben Brantley, NYT's co-chief theater critic, as he retires after 27 years, on the power of the reviewer, making space for more diverse critics, more

Discussion: @nytimes, @alexisohanian, @michaelpaulson, @niemanlab and @anandwrites

David Sivak / Washington Examiner:
Washington Examiner hires Greg Wilson as its managing editor; Wilson was previously the managing editor at foxnews.com

Discussion: @dcexaminer and @jimswiftdc

From Techmeme:

Emilia David / The Verge:
Microsoft debuts Phi-3 Mini, a small 3.8B-parameter model about as capable as GPT-3.5, and plans Phi-3 Small and Phi-3 Medium models with 7B and 14B parameters

Counterpoint Research:
iPhone sales in China fell 19.1% YoY to a 15.7% share in Q1 2024; Vivo fell 0.4% YoY to 17.4%, Honor rose 11.5% YoY to 16.1%, and Huawei rose 69.7% YoY to 15.5%

Quentyn Kennemer / The Verge:
Apple announces a “special Apple Event” on May 7, where new iPads will likely be unveiled

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page