Mediagazer: Challenger, Gray & Christmas: of the 30,000 media jobs lost in 2020 in the US, 16,000 were in digital, print, and broadcast newsrooms (Sara Fischer/Axios)

10:10 PM ET, December 8, 2020

Top News:

Pew: 11% of US adults report using Google News often, and 24% say they use it sometimes; 3% saying they get news from Apple News often and 10% do so sometimes — One major challenge researchers may encounter in designing surveys about news consumption: Does the U.S. public understand the range …

Discussion: Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, @cstrauber, @pewmethods, @pewresearch, @rasmus_kleis, @pewjournalism, @markcoddington, @kirsten_worden, @pewjournalism, @asmitch and @parismartineau

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Q&A with Substack CEO Chris Best on why it is not a media company, content moderation, making a reader app for users to easily read their newsletters, and more — On today's episode of Decoder, I'm talking to Chris Best, co-founder and CEO of Substack, the subscription newsletter startup that's taken …

Discussion: @reckless, @reckless, @studyhallxyz, @reckless, @mvzelenks, @joshsternberg, @mathewi, @loudmouthjulia, @alex, @reckless and @gustaf, more at Techmeme »

Michael J. Socolow / Nieman Lab:

Substack isn't a new model for journalism, but it's better than the “tip jar” financing model and might help retrain readers to pay for good journalism — Since 2017, Substack has provided aspiring web pundits with a one-stop service for distributing their work and collecting fees from readers.

Discussion: @robinsreport, @niemanreports, @mathewi, @raju, @gbbranstetter, @chris_journo, @kerrymflynn, @jeanlucr, @vwpickard and @michaelsocolow

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

AT&T CEO says HBO Max now has 12.6M subscribers in the US, up from 8.6M at the end of Q3; ~30% of HBO subscribers have exercised their right to access HBO Max — HBO Max, which closed the third quarter at 8.6 million activated subscribers in the U.S., has added another four million …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, CNBC, The Streamable, @geeksgamerscom, /Film, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @tvgrimreaper, MediaPost, nexttv.com and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
WarnerMedia's decision to debut 2021 films on HBO Max had blindsided creatives and their reps; sources: Warner Bros. COO Carolyn Blackwood came up with the plan

Discussion: Entertainment Tonight, New York Times, CNN, ScreenRant, @edmundlee, @matthewstoller, @markberman, The Playlist, @aaroncouch, @joshuatopolsky, Los Angeles Times, ComingSoon.net, IndieWire, /Film, @fuckmarrywill, Innovalab Weekly, Light Reading, Adweek, TechCrunch, @lafamiliafilm, @matthewstoller, Business Insider, Forbes, Collider, @filmbayona, New York Times, @uberkryptonian, Observer, Variety, The Streamable, @edmachina, @snoodit, @patrickcotnoir, @filmupdates, @filmupdates, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Week, The Wrap, @nytimesbusiness, The Verge, Axios, @thr, @etnow, Digital TV Europe, @sgoood, @variety, @tannertrue, @ryanlawler, @benedictevans, Cord Cutters News, @mikeyface, @williambibbiani, @firstadopter, @davidlsims, @kimmasters, @geeksgamerscom, @eriqgardner, @lucas_shaw, @aaroncouch, @johnnysobczak, @steele131, @davidlsims, @reckless, @mousterpiece, Scroll.in, @discussingfilm, @tinycamcorder, Context is King, @johnnysobczak, Engadget, Deadline, The A.V. Club, Mediaite, Heroic Hollywood, The Playlist, Variety, IndieWire, Collider, The Wrap and Variety

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Sources: USAGM head Michael Pack has instructed associates not to discuss the agency's operations, budget, and personnel with Biden's transition team — A Trump appointee with a short but controversial record of overseeing Voice of America and other federally funded news agencies has declined …

Discussion: @earlofenough, @karaswisher, @marktlive, Tangle, @benlabolt, @vivian, Snopes.com, @noahbookbinder, @markszaidesq, @christopherjm, Fox News, Daily Herald and Associated Press

David Folkenflik / NPR:
Sources: Michael Pack has reassigned acting VOA Director Elez Biberaj and intends to replace him with Robert Reilly, who has criticized Islam and gay rights

Discussion: Washington Post, @davidfolkenflik, New York Times, @npr, @davidfolkenflik, @jilliancyork, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidakaye, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik and @blackamazon

Sam Kille / Report for America:

Report for America expands to 200+ newsrooms that will host 300+ journalists next year; 33%+ of beats cover communities of color, 50% of outlets are nonprofits — Report for America unveils more than sixty new newsroom partners—including a doubling of Black and Hispanic owned media—and opens the application window for new reporters

Sara Fischer / Axios:

STAT hit $10M+ in revenue this year, up 66% YoY, plans to grow staff ~40% in 2021, and has 6M MAUs, up from ~1.5M pre-pandemic; ad deal volume rose 33% YoY — STAT News is planning a big expansion next year, thanks in part to explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussion: @stephaniesimon_, @saranayeem, @jasonukman, @erbrod, @carlquintanilla, @zbiotech, @alissa_ambrose, @rickberke, @sentivcapital, @seangriffey, @chrissyfarr, @dereklowe and @adamfeuerstein

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Scroll, which offers ad-free browsing at 300+ sites, partners with McClatchy to bundle Scroll membership with McClatchy subscriptions at 8 McClatchy news sites — A little less than a year after launch, Scroll is partnering with McClatchy to experiment with bundling subscriptions to its ad-free network.

Discussion: Scroll Blog, @mcclatchy, @tryscroll, @tryscroll, @tryscroll, @tryscroll, @mariarodale, @arctictony, @tryscroll, @shanbow, @tryscroll, @thebryandavis, @arctictony, @tryscroll, @tryscroll, @tryscroll, @peterbale, @tryscroll, @raleighreporter and @tryscroll

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

Sources: FTC and 40+ state AGs to file antitrust suits against Facebook Wednesday, saying Instagram and WhatsApp buys helped it amass power, traffic, and ads — More than 40 attorneys general and the U.S. government are preparing to file antitrust lawsuits against Facebook on Wednesday …

Discussion: @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »

Jason Lynch / Adweek:

Nielsen introduces Nielsen One, a video analytics tool that will measure total video consumption across linear and digital platforms, to debut in Q4 2022 — But the new solution, Nielsen One, won't be ready until late 2022 — Farewell, Total Audience Measurement. Hello, Nielsen One.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Insights - Nielsen, Variety, MediaPost, Forbes, @mattnavarra, @bruceanderson, Engadget, Radio & Television … and The Desk

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Challenger, Gray & Christmas: of the 30,000 media jobs lost in 2020 in the US, 16,000 were in digital, print, and broadcast newsrooms — Data: Challenger, Gray & Christmas; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. Newsroom jobs include jobs in digital, print and broadcast.

Discussion: @ron_miller, @sjvn, @geoffgrammer, @thebradmielke and On my Om

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

YouTube says fans watched over 100B hours of gaming content in 2020, about double 2019, with live streams accounting for 10% of watch time — The year is just about over, and perhaps the only things worth celebrating about 2020 are the memories of the hot videos on YouTube Gaming.

Discussion: ScreenRant, Context is King, @jasonhirschhorn, The Verge and 9to5Google

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:10 PM ET, December 8, 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 Writer, CA — Hollywood Reporter

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:

Kelsey Sutton / Adweek:
AMC Networks' UMC, a streaming service that focuses on Black television and cinema, is rebranding to AllBlk in January

Discussion: Variety and Hollywood Reporter

Karl Bode / VICE:
Senate votes 49-47 to appoint Trump ally Nathan Simington to the FCC for a five-year term, which could mire the FCC in partisan gridlock

Discussion: Variety, The Register, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Politico, CNBC, @jason_koebler, @karlbode, @rob_sheridan, @tummler10, Engadget, @haroldfeld, Free Press and AllAccess.com, more at Techmeme »

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Neil Young drops his lawsuit against Trump that alleged use of two of his songs at a campaign rally without a performance license

Discussion: Vulture, Mediaite, Plagiarism Today, Complete Music Update, New York Post, The Guardian, The A.V. Club and The Wrap

Jon Porter / The Verge:
YouTube expands HDR support to live streams; HDR lets videos show a wider range of colors and brightness

Discussion: TechCrunch, Adweek, @anniecushing and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Adweek:
Adweek promotes Lisa Granatstein to chief content officer, overseeing editorial and events, and Stephanie Pateric to editor-in-chief

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
Aides say Biden's media diet includes the Atlantic, NYT, WaPo, WSJ, Philly Inquirer, Delaware News-Journal; he watches some MSNBC and Fox News, uses Apple News

Discussion: @robertwrighter, @risj_oxford, @benyt, @alxthomp, @ryanlizza and @politico

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Howard Stern signs a five-year deal with SiriusXM, which has also licensed his show's archive for seven years

Discussion: Variety, @siriusxm, Yahoo Entertainment, New York Daily News, The Wrap, Forbes, @matthewkeyslive, New York Post, That Eric Alper, Deadline, The Desk, RadioInsight and Reuters

Brian Braiker / Brooklyn Magazine:
Brooklyn Magazine relaunches under EIC Brian Braiker, former Ad Age EIC; Braiker and a partner bought the outlet and The L Magazine from Northside Media Group

Discussion: @slarkpope, @brooklynmag, @mikerugnetta, @jarroddicker, @juliannthrax, @alexmleo, @merrillbro, @slarkpope, @alexmleo, @slarkpope, @pjsauer and @bmorrissey

Earlier Picks:

BBC:
Australian bill forcing Google and Facebook to pay news outlets for featuring their journalism will be introduced into parliament on Wednesday

Discussion: Bloomberg, Daily Herald, @corinne_podger, ABC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and Reuters

Elise Goldstein / Lenfest Institute for Journalism:
A look at TAPinto, a franchised network of 85 local news sites across the US that are free to read and supported by local advertising

Discussion: @spj_tweets, @ylichterman and @jonathanalter

Jem Aswad / Variety:
How Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, entirely curated by human editors and with 3.6M subscribers, has become an important part of launching new songs

Gazeta Wyborcza:
Polish state-owned oil company Orlen to take over 20 leading regional newspapers as part of the government's plans to further undermine media independence

Discussion: @rasmus_kleis, Politico and Financial Times

Dominic Rushe / The Guardian:
Profile of former Wonkette owner Ken Layne, who refuses to establish an online presence for his pocket-sized mag, The Desert Oracle, which has become a cult hit

Discussion: Overtime, @mariabustillos, @dominicru, @t_mcconnell, @julianborger and @jeffjarvis

Washington Post:
An investigation into the 2012 killing of Mexican reporter Regina Martínez, one of the 27+ journalists killed in the country's Veracruz region since 2003

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @clearing_fog, @davidaxelrod, @nickmiroff, @marybsheridan, Forbidden Stories, The Guardian, Committee to Protect … and Nieman Lab

Wall Street Journal:
MSNBC names SVP of News Rashida Jones as its next president, the first Black executive to run a major cable news network; Phil Griffin will leave in January

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
After Google's announcement in May that it would start blocking “heavy” ads in Chrome, it is now blocking some ads that publishers sell if they hog resources

Discussion: @pilhofer, A Media Operator, Adweek, @film_girl, @jarroddicker, @kennwhite, Chromium Blog and MediaPost

From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
The US Senate reauthorizes FISA's Section 702; some communication service providers had threatened to stop cooperating with the US government in case of a lapse

George Steer / Financial Times:
Nvidia closed down 10% on Friday, falling the most since March 2020 and losing more than $200B of its market value, as investors pull back from AI bets

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