Mediagazer: Audio, which struggled for decades as a media category, is breaking out now, as tech enables new content formats as well as new monetization and delivery models (Matthew Ball/MatthewBall.vc)

9:20 AM ET, October 19, 2020

Top News:

A look at a pay-for-play network of ~1,300 sites and some papers that fills a local news void in the US with propaganda ordered by GOP and corporate PR groups — A nationwide operation of 1,300 local sites publishes coverage that is ordered up by Republican groups and corporate P.R. firms.

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Sources: NY Post's article about Hunter Biden was written mostly by Bruce Golding, who did not allow his byline to be used amid doubts in the tabloid's newsroom — Some reporters withheld their bylines and questioned the credibility of an article that made the tabloid's front page on Wednesday.

New York Times:

Twitter says it is now letting the NY Post link be shared because the info had spread so widely that it can no longer be considered private — The latest change underlined how rapidly social media platforms are shifting their positions in the days leading up to the election.

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

Discussion: USA Today, @jack, The Starting Block, @anibundel, @lorenraedej, @vijaya, @b_fung, @lukeobrien, @freedomofpress and @reciaimthenet, more at Techmeme »

The Markup:

The Markup announces The Citizen Browser Project, an initiative with The NYT to analyze how the algorithms of Facebook and YouTube serve content to users — The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how the world's most powerful institutions use technology to reshape society …

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Mark Burnett, the TV producer behind Survivor, Trump's The Apprentice, and The Voice, is facing his own string of flops and a cultural disconnect, for now — Mark Burnett helped turn Donald Trump into a national figure with “The Apprentice.” But since 2016, his impact “has kind of gone bust.”

Discussion: @rstephens, @markberman, @yashar, @elongreen, @thrasherxy, @fmanjoo, @alexmleo, @rowaenthe, @felixsalmon, @chrismegerian, @nycsouthpaw and Wall Street Journal

Online Journalism Awards:

2020 Online Journalism Awards announced: winners include South China Morning Post, The 1619 Project, Reuters, Star Tribune for coverage of George Floyd's death — Finalists for the 2020 OJAs have been announced and are listed below! Winners will be announced at virtual awards events throughout ONA20 Everywhere, Oct. 1-16.

Discussion: @ona, @washpostpr, @ona, The Marshall Project, @ona, @ona, @froomkin and @inn

Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.vc:

Audio, which struggled for decades as a media category, is breaking out now, as tech enables new content formats as well as new monetization and delivery models — As most of the major media categories — music, video and video games — have existed for decades, we tend to forget that media is technology.

Discussion: @ballmatthew, @adamsinger, @patrick_oshag and @pkafka, more at Techmeme »

Dave McNary / Variety:

Study: women made up 38% of directors and 35% of writers of indie narrative features and docs from 2019-2020, with female directors doubling in the last decade — The percentages of women working as directors and writers on independent films reached recent highs in 2019-2020, according to a report released Thursday.

Daniel Cooper / Engadget:

Virtual studios, where the filmmaking takes place in front of a halo of flat screen displays connected to PCs, are offering a real alternative to green screens — For as long as filmmaking has existed, there has been a need to build fantastic worlds in front of cameras.

more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: as Facebook curbed political news in 2017, Zuckerberg OK'ed tweaks affecting sites like Mother Jones after some execs worried about impact on the right — Facebook's chief, once uninterested, has transformed himself into an active political operator in the Trump era

Discussion: @clarajeffery, Ad Age, @zephyrteachout, @maxkennerly, The Verge, @richarddeitsch, @deggans, @ukskies, @carolecadwalla, Gizmodo, @leakthompson, @juddlegum, @erikwemple, @suehalpernvt, @jason_kint, @felienne, @su4ita, @patrickclaybon, @monikabauerlein, @brooklynmarie, @pomeranian99, @grady_booch, @davidcorndc, @_cingraham, @_cingraham, @scobleizer, @brianbeutler, @jason_kint, @dlind, @migueldeicaza, @bendreyfuss, @davidfolkenflik, @mondoweiss, @alex_abads, @nickmartin, @emilybell, @govhowarddean, @jameswest2010, @khanoisseur, @nabihasyed, @juddlegum, @slhamlet, @davidcorndc, @dethveggie, @becketadams, @professorisin, @maxberger, @bgrueskin, @andreabellemare, @alxthomp, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @monikabauerlein, @juddlegum, @slpng_giants, @lindsayschrupp, @lindsayschrupp, @lindsayschrupp, @mccarthyryanj, @lindsayschrupp, @steven_strauss, @jason_kint, @taraemcg, @leavittalone, @taraemcg, @anthony and @mathewi, more at Techmeme »

Ben Dreyfuss / Mother Jones:
Mother Jones' growth director recalls a sharp drop in Facebook reach in 2017 and '18, after WSJ reveals that algorithmic changes were made with politics in mind

Reese Oxner / NPR:

Disney+ has updated the disclaimer appearing before some of its classic films with stronger language acknowledging the “harmful impact” of racist stereotypes — Many people have long said certain Disney classics like Peter Pan, Dumbo and The Aristocats contain racist stereotypes and overtones.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Wrap, Gizmodo, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Collider, IGN, Digital Spy, What's On Disney Plus, Forbes, Reuters, Comic Book, Animation Magazine, Upworthy, BBC, CNN, IndieWire, Cord Cutters News, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, The A.V. Club and CNET

Kendall Baker / Axios:

Voting rights group More Than A Vote, led by LeBron James and others, debuts new series NBA 2KTV, featuring interviews about voting, within NBA 2K21 video game — In an attempt to reach young Black voters where they already consume media, More Than A Vote — the voting rights group led …

Discussion: @michaelwtyler and @axios

Laura Wagner / VICE:

NYT AME Carolyn Ryan told staff that columnists have wide latitude to criticize colleagues' work, in contrast to a policy against criticism on Twitter or Slack — After Bret Stephens regurgitated criticisms of his colleagues' 1619 Project, NYT brass held a meeting to clarify who at the paper can write about what.

Jake Silverstein / New York Times:
A defense of the editing changes in summaries of The 1619 Project, following new criticisms from people including NYT columnist Bret Stephens

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:20 AM ET, October 19, 2020.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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:

Katherine Jacobsen / Committee to Protect Journalists:
Interviews with three foreign reporters on their experiences covering the US now, visa issues, safety concerns they have when going out into the field, and more

Lauren Harris / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with the director of the NewStart initiative, which aims to connect people interested in newspaper ownership with owners looking to sell

Discussion: @jskstanford, @tothevictor and @cjr

Paul O'Donnell / Dallas Morning News:
Journalists at The Dallas Morning News and Al Día have voted 84-28 in favor of a union, in an election overseen by the NLRB

Discussion: @dallasnewsguild, @deadlinederek, @aemccarthy, @owhguild, @james_barragan, @jengraffunder, @chronsnyder and @davidmcswane

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal and some PE firms approached Disney earlier this year about acquiring Hulu or operating it as a partnership, but were rebuffed

Discussion: The Desk, Gizmodo, @business, @technology, @modestproposal1, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @digitalshields, @lucas_shaw, @masasoncap, @entstrategyguy, @masasoncap, @theericgoldman, @theericgoldman, @johnjedwards3 and @theericgoldman

Earlier Picks:

Lauren Katzenberg / New York Times:
NYT Magazine is winding down its At War project, a forum for exploring the experiences and costs of war, including the weekly Afghan casualty report

Discussion: @meekwire, @nytimesatwar, @nytimesatwar, @meslackman, @grayconnolly, @cucumbermarg, @seamushughes, @patriciakime and @grayconnolly

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Nielsen: Joe Biden's ABC town hall averaged 13.9M viewers, while Trump's NBC town hall averaged 10.6M; MSNBC and CNBC simulcasts of Trump brought total to 13M

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU data protection authority finds IAB Europe's GDPR consent framework, adopted by Google and others, fails to meet required legal standards of data protection

Discussion: IAB Europe, @robinberjon, @iccltweet, @mikarv, @johnnyryan, @jason_kint, MediaNama, @moonalice, @johnnyryan, @robinberjon, @globalprivctrl, @laurakalbag and @profcarroll

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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