Mediagazer: Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton says TikTok banned him without warning, thinks it was after pressure from TikTok stars, with whom he's feuded; TikTok denies this (Taylor Lorenz/New York Times)

4:45 PM ET, December 15, 2020

Top News:

Angela Fu / Poynter:

Tiny News Collective, a LION Publishers and News Catalyst initiative, seeks to start 500 local newsrooms in three years by offering resources and training — The Tiny News Collective says it will provide participants the tools and resources they need to start their own local newsroom

Freedom of the Press:

Report: arrests of journalists in the US grew to ~117 in 2020, up 1,200% YoY; the week of May 29 to June 4 had more arrests than previous three years combined — Promoting press freedom in the 21st century — Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation is releasing a report on the unprecedented number …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, GEN, @pressfreedom, @freedomofpress, @bethnakamura, @trevortimm, @pressfreedom, @tekaldas, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, The Guardian, @glcarlstrom, @pressfreedom, @graysonclary, @freedomofpress, @freedomofpress, Forbes and The Hill

Periscope / Medium:

Twitter says it will discontinue Periscope as a separate mobile app by March 2021, saying it's brought most of the core capabilities of Periscope into Twitter — Today, we're sharing that we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Periscope as a separate mobile app by March 2021.

Discussion: @periscopeco, TechCrunch, @kayvz, Engadget, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, CNET, @sportscarr, @richpreston, @geraintd, The Verge, @kayvz, @martinsfp, @kantrowitz, @alexpettitt, @carnage4life and @kerrymflynn, more at Techmeme »

Nieman Lab:

Newsrooms should abolish the crime beat and reexamine how the criminal-legal system is covered, focusing on affected communities and people — “Let's be honest: Crime coverage is terrible. It's racist, classist, fear-based clickbait masking as journalism." — Let's be honest: Crime coverage is terrible.

Discussion: @samtranum, @mattderienzo, @rob_bellinger, @zuriberry, @marisatwigg, @chrisspeckhard, @cameronwilson, @wesleylowery, @marisatwigg, @markjacob16 and @hbcompass

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton says TikTok banned him without warning, thinks it was after pressure from TikTok stars, with whom he's feuded; TikTok denies this — The celebrity blogger was banned from TikTok on Saturday in a move he said was influenced by the app's biggest stars.

Discussion: @mathewi, @tomgara, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @annehelen and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:

Condé Nast names Anna Wintour chief content officer, in charge of its brands worldwide and of Vogue's 25 global editions; she will remain EIC of Vogue US — Longtime editor to take charge of global editorial operations after a year punctuated by layoffs and diversity issues

Discussion: CNN, The Wrap, Variety, @themaxburns, @weareyourfek, @kerrymflynn, @yashar, @truetostyle, @asharma, @jbflint and @matthewschneier

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sign an exclusive multiyear deal to host and produce podcasts for Spotify via their production company Archewell Audio — - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are getting into podcasting. — Spotify announced Tuesday it has signed a multiyear deal with Prince Harry …

Discussion: Axios, CNN, Bloomberg, Variety, The Wrap, The Guardian, Spotify, @kerrymflynn, Mashable, @donie, @tedgioia, @jbursz, The Verge, @deelightri, @sarafischer, Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, Page Six, Glamour, The Hill and The Week

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

CNBC let correspondents like Rick Santelli speak their minds on issues in the past but may now require rules of decorum as it becomes a part of NBCU News Group — Rick Santelli, the veteran CNBC correspondent, recently got into an on-air spat with one of his longtime colleagues.

Discussion: @bristei and @jbflint

Joe Otterson / Variety:

HBO's Casey Bloys says they will honor Dave Chappelle's request and remove Chappelle's Show from HBO Max at the end of the year — HBO Max is honoring a request by Dave Chappelle to remove “Chappelle's Show” from the streaming service at the end of this year. … “We had a conversation with Dave.

Discussion: The Streamable, ScreenRant, The Wrap, BroBible, news.avclub.com, UPROXX, TMZ.com and IndieWire

Axios:

Sources: PMC plans to merge back end operations of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Vibe, including ad sales, marketing, and brand partnerships — Penske Media Corp. (PMC) is planning to merge the back end functions of three of the top music news publishers in the U.S., according to two sources familiar with the company's plans.

Discussion: bookforum.com

Eben Novy-Williams / Sportico.com:

DAZN has sold Sporting News, of one of US's oldest sports publication, to Pax Holdings and several other soccer news sites for $100M+ to a group backed by TPG — Sports streaming service DAZN has sold Sporting News, one of America's oldest sports publications, to British family office PAX Holdings.

Discussion: Front Office Sports and Awful Announcing

Jason Lynch / Adweek:

Common Sense Networks is launching Sensical, a free, ad-supported streaming service for kids aged 2-12, early next year, starting with 15K short-form videos — Sensical, Eric Berger's first project as Common Sense Networks CEO, will launch early next year — Eric Berger, who oversaw …

Discussion: Variety

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:45 PM ET, December 15, 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:

Kelly McBride / Poynter:
Profile of NPR's Code Switch podcast, named Apple Podcasts' first “Show of the Year” for 2020 for its coverage of BLM protests, the pandemic, and the election

Jake Lahut / Business Insider:
Newsmax will refer to Biden as “president-elect” after weeks of Trump praising them for refusing to do so

Discussion: TVNewser, Axios, Mediaite, Forbes, The Hill, Fox News, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Financial Times, Raw Story, Media Matters for America and SARAH PALIN

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:
Samsung Ads, Samsung's smart TV ad sales group, launches Samsung Measurement, which will provide data for linear and streaming ads

Discussion: AdExchanger, Adweek and Beet.TV

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
EU proposes bill forcing big tech firms to offer price transparency for online advertisers and one focused on illegal content under the penalty of large fines

Discussion: Protocol, New York Times, Fortune, Financial Times, CNBC and @valentinapop, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sports podcast company Blue Wire, which hosts 140+ podcasts, raises $5M Series A; it focuses on minority and female voices, and 35% of its podcasters are POC

Ben Paviour / VPM:
A columnist who also works for Dominion Energy wrote some of at least seven unsigned editorials in The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press about Dominion this year

Discussion: @bpaves, @ileech, @coreyhutchins, @myvpm, @bpaves, @bpaves, @ben_inskeep, @davidpomerantz and Daily Updates …

Earlier Picks:

New York Times:
As ratings hit new highs, executives and journalists at CNN and MSNBC say they are uneasy about a post-Trump future bereft of drama and scandal

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
LAT Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine, who announced in October that he planned to retire, steps down, as a search for his replacement continues

Discussion: VICE, The Hill, New York Times, Poynter, @palewire, @sulliview, @vice, @laurawags, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @marcatracy, @sewellchan, @davidfolkenflik, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik and Mediaite

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
FTC orders Amazon, ByteDance, Facebook, Snap, YouTube, and others to share info on how they collect and use personal data, including how they measure engagement

Todd Spangler / Variety:
NBCU says the first two seasons of The Office will stream on Peacock's ad-supported free tier and other seasons will stream on subscription tiers

Discussion: Bloomberg, @jbflint, CNBC, @dianelyssa, @vanthebrand, @pkafka, @lucas_shaw, @stevekopack, @pierce, @ashtonlattimore, @newsynick, @gerryfsmith, Reuters, The Week, MediaPost, Light Reading, Cord Cutters News, The Verge, /Film, UPROXX, Adweek, The Streamable, Business Insider, IndieWire and Bloomberg

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Voting machine company Smartmatic issued legal notices to Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN, demanding retraction of claims that its machines flipped votes to Biden

Discussion: Mediaite, @benyt, Smartmatic.com, Forbes, @oliverdarcy, @mikiebarb, @jayshams, @kimmasters, @jamessurowiecki, @ewerickson, @brendannyhan, @mmasnick, @slpng_giants, @willsommer, @fpwellman, @oliverdarcy, @brianstelter, @oneunderscore__, @jaketapper, @benyt, Axios, CNN and Mediaite

Paul A. Gigot / Wall Street Journal:
Paul Gigot, WSJ editorial page editor, equates the Biden team's reaction to an op-ed on Jill Biden's use of “Dr.” to Trump's “enemy of the people” tweets

Discussion: Fox News, Media Matters for America, @mdaware, Breitbart, @wsjopinion, @drbiden, One Man & His Blog, agádoisesseóquatro, The Neal Ungerleider …, The Morning Missive, Raw Story, @andrewyng, @angie_rasmussen, @womenatdj, @kt_so_it_goes, @popehat, @keitholbermann, @helenkennedy, @digiphile, @digiphile, @edbott, @chrisgeidner, @samuelaadams, @keitholbermann, @franklinleonard, @michele_norris, @qhardy, @dbarkin, @annecw, @gregggonsalves, @gregggonsalves, @gregggonsalves, @gregggonsalves, @gregggonsalves, @jrubinblogger, @maggienyt, @vivian, @rasmus_kleis, @marcatracy, @chsommers, @michaellarosadc, @carloslozadawp, @everyvoicenc, @chrisgeidner, @maggilista, @ampallas, @davmicrot, @preetbharara, @aoscott, @kateaurthur, @mikelupica, @mollyjongfast, @beijingpalmer, @clairesplan, @superwuster, @bibliotecariarr, @joyannreid, @bartferris5, @jessicavalenti, @jessicavalenti, @jessicavalenti, @jessicavalenti, @gzgzgz____, @frankrichny, NPR, @marcambinder, The Hill, @ijbailey, @dandrezner, @jeffreyasachs, @katecbowler, @ewong, @bobdavis187, @katherinelewis, @evadou, @womenatdj, @iamtimsteele, @racheld, @laureennarro, @mknz, @racheld, @davidgaffen, @bobdavis187, @melaniesill, @forconversation, @mcclainjulie, @steveschmidtses, @hmansoor, @amyargetsinger, @drmassarweh, @highamian, @highamian, @patrickseitz, @bgrueskin, @digitalshields, @daniellarison, @brad_polumbo, @varadmehta, @nktpnd, @erictopol, @jbflint, @janineoflynn, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, New York Times and Mediaite

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