Mediagazer: Sources: WaPo is nearing 3M digital subscribers, up 50% YoY; NYT has tripled digital-only subscribers since 2016 to 6.1M (Sara Fischer/Axios)

10:00 AM ET, November 25, 2020

Top News:

Michael Isikoff / Yahoo News:

Sources: Fox agreed to a 7-figure payout to Seth Rich's family in a deal made in time for Fox News President Jay Wallace and Sean Hannity to avoid depositions — WASHINGTON — Just as star anchor Sean Hannity and other high-profile Fox News figures were due to be deposed about their promotion …

Discussion: @bradmossesq, @kimmasters, @jeremymbarr, @davidfolkenflik, The Week, @mikebutcher, @isikoff, @bgrueskin, @mikeisaac and Washington Post

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Fox News has settled a suit by the family of DNC staff member Seth Rich, over a 2017 story that claimed Rich had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks before his death — Fox News has settled a lawsuit filed by the family of Seth Rich, the former Democratic National Committee staffer who was at the center …

Discussion: NPR, @erikwemple, @donnabrazile, @erikwemple, The Week, @brandyzadrozny, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, Washington Post, Law & Crime, Business Insider, CNN, Forbes, TVNewser and Hollywood Reporter

Ashley Gold / Axios:

YouTube says it barred OANN from posting videos for a week and demonetized its content following a video promoting a phony cure for COVID-19 — YouTube has barred One America News Network from posting new videos for a week and stripped it of its ability to make money off existing content …

The Daily Beast:

OANN host Christina Bobb has been helping Trump's legal team in its effort to overturn the election results, and she has not disclosed this work on her show — Cable-news host Christina Bobb, a lawyer by trade, is actively working with Trump's counsel as it seeks to overturn the 2020 election.

Discussion: @mattsheffield, @rolandsmartin, @swin24, TechCrunch, CNBC, The Guardian, Daring Fireball, CNN, Fox News and Boing Boing

New York Times:

Sources: after the election, Zuckerberg agreed to temporarily tweak Facebook's algorithm to make authoritative news like CNN and NYT appear more prominently — Employees and executives are battling over how to reduce misinformation and hate speech without hurting the company's bottom line.

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

ViacomCBS to sell publisher Simon & Schuster to Bertelsmann, owner of Penguin Random House, for $2.175B in cash — Bertelsmann, owner of publishing giant Penguin Random House, was seen as a logical contender for Simon & Schuster. ViacomCBS announced its intent to sell the publishing arm …

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: WaPo is nearing 3M digital subscribers, up 50% YoY; NYT has tripled digital-only subscribers since 2016 to 6.1M — The New York Times and The Washington Post have very different strategies for building the subscription news company of the future. — The big picture …

Discussion: The Rebooting, Columbia Journalism Review, American Press Institute, @annemariebridy, @elanazak, @joshsternberg, @nathanwurtzel, @sub8u, @mikebrestdc, @mathewi, Business Insider, @dubois, @sarafischer, @ylichterman and @kerrymflynn, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter says it will relaunch account verifications in early 2021 for news; journalists will need to provide at least three recent bylines in qualifying outlets — Twitter announced today it's planning to relaunch its verification system in 2021, and will now begin the process …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

TheLi.st, a 10-year-old social network for women cofounded by Rachel Sklar and Glynnis MacNicol, has been sold to New Power Media, headed by Ann Shoket — TheLi.st — an oddly named, 10-year-old social network that has been linking successful women with up and comers — has been sold to New Power Media …

Discussion: @rachelsklar, @annshoket, @rachelsklar, @rachelsklar and @batnib

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

Q&A with Newsmax's CEO on conservative media's role in Trump's opinions and in sowing doubt about the election: “At the end of the day, it's great for news” — Even as Fox News acknowledges that Joe Biden is the President-elect, Newsmax Media—a conservative multimedia company …

Can Duruk / Margins:

Substack's value to writers is clear but is a bit muddier for readers, with problems like poor discovery and reliance on email — Hi. It's Can, on Substack about Substack. — It's been around a year and a half since Ranjan and I started this Substack.

Discussion: Curious Futures, @internetryan, @chaykak, @mdudas and @readmargins

Steven Levy / Wired:
As more writers join Substack, subscription fatigue and the pressure to deliver continuous value to paying readers may push many back to traditional pubs

Discussion: @ahoving, @jaredbkeller, @gettingsome, Simon Owens's Tech …, @sandraupson, @lanceulanoff and @ggreenwald

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

HuffPost India and HuffPost Brasil shut down today; in internal message, Jonah Peretti says they weren't allowed to take them on for differing legal reasons — HuffPost is becoming part of BuzzFeed, but HuffPost India and HuffPost Brasil will not be making the transition — both sites are shutting down today.

Discussion: @amannama, @maxwelltani, @indranibasu88, @adrijabose, @glenngabe, @gopalsathe, @r_gov11, @ranaayyub, @craigsilverman, @felixsalmon, @jessbrammar, @lpolgreen, @nirali_ss, @mnshap, @nicdawes, @nicdawes, @nicdawes, @masalabai and HuffPost

Ruth S. Barrett / Medium:

Ruth Shalit Barrett addresses concerns raised by WaPo's Erik Wemple following the publication and subsequent retraction of an article she wrote for The Atlantic — On October 24th, Erik Wemple of The Washington Post wrote a column criticizing The Atlantic for its decision to publish my article …

Discussion: @jdavidsonnyc, @michaelsocolow, @abdallah_fayyad, @karenkho, @shaya_in_la, @lailaalarian, @hannahgais and @erikwemple

Casey Newton / Platformer:

Snap's Spotlight daily payout breaks from TikTok's model, focusing on paying a large number of creators rather than nurturing primarily big-follower accounts — Today, let's talk about the deceptively bold way in which Snapchat has reimagined TikTok as part of its new feature, Spotlight.

Discussion: @caseynewton, @codybrown, @zoescaman, @joshuajcohen, @ahmed, @abbyreutzelwork, Truffle Season de …, What's New in Publishing, The Indian Express, TechCrunch and ScreenRant, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Snap announces Spotlight, a vertically scrollable TikTok-like feed inside Snapchat, and will pay $1M every day to users who create the top Snaps through 2020

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:00 AM ET, November 25, 2020.

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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

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More News:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK publisher Future is acquiring GoCo Group, owner of price comparison site Go Compare, for £594M, and says it had pre-tax profit of £52M in 2020, up 309% YoY

Amanda Meade / The Guardian:
Draft of Australia's news code now includes public broadcasters ABC and SBS, allowing them to recieve payments from Google and Facebook for using their content

Discussion: @quentindempster, @fabiochiusi, @benoquist, @rasmus_kleis, @withmeaa, @osbornep and ZDNet

openDemocracy:
New UK report finds Michael Gove's office has slowed or obstructed Freedom of Information requests; official accuses office of “blacklisting” journalists

Discussion: @dn_campbell, @smaurizi, @liamodelluk, @smaurizi, @smaurizi, @editorsuk, @albertonardelli, @carolinelucas, @jolyonmaugham, Press Gazette and The Guardian

Pew Research Center:
Survey: 30% of Americans turned mostly to cable TV after polls closed on Election Day, 24% to news websites and apps, 22% to network TV, and 9% to social media

Discussion: @spj_tweets, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @pewjournalism and American Press Institute

Earlier Picks:

Will Thorne / Variety:
HBO will release the final five episodes of Industry all at once on HBO Max, a first, while linear showings will continue on a weekly basis

Discussion: @elena_neira, @dfriend and @koviebiakolo

The Atlantic:
The Atlantic partners with WNYC to launch a longform podcast The Experiment in January about the myths and ideas underpinning the US as a nation

Discussion: @samdolnick, @katlwells, @traciehunte and CNN

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
WarnerMedia releasing Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max alongside theaters signals the importance of streaming to studios and represents an emerging industry norm

Discussion: @sarahmegant, @tobyking101, @nyindieguy, @kennethturan, @tedhope, @soundnvision, @mynette, @nytimes, @profgalloway and @samitsarkar

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony is in the early stages of developing a portable console for PS5 games, building on the PlayStation Portal, although its debut is likely years away

James Hunt / The Block:
MicroStrategy bought 55,500 bitcoin for ~$5.4B cash at an average price of $97,862 between November 18 and November 24, taking its holdings to ~386,700 bitcoin

Financial Times:
The EU says Bluesky breaches its rules for not disclosing key details about itself, and has asked 27 governments to see “if they can find any trace of Bluesky”

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