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NYT retracts the core of Caliphate after a review finds that the podcast gave too much credence to its central character and reassigns Rukmini Callimachi — Toggle more options — The New York Times has retracted the core of its hit 2018 podcast series Caliphate after an internal review found …
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Some local news stations are credulously covering anti-vaxxers' response to the COVID-19 vaccine and failing to feature doctors or public health advocates — Friday night's newscast on WFXG-TV in Augusta, Georgia, a Fox affiliate, featured some exciting news: The Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center …
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@journalismproj, American Journalism Project, NYT Open, @robcrilly and @drewpetrimoulx


FT's union suspends pay negotiations after learning that ex-EIC Lionel Barber made £1.92M in 2019 despite profit falling to £1.89M from £8.2M in 2018 — Former FT editor Lionel Barber received pay and pension benefits worth £1.92m in 2019 as the FT Ltd …
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The Guardian, @markcurtis30, Talking Biz News and Press Gazette


The Washington Post plans to add 150 jobs next year, bringing its total staff to a record high of more than 1,000 — The Washington Post plans to add more than 150 jobs to its newsroom next year, bringing its total staff to a record high of more than 1,000, the newspaper confirmed to The Hill Thursday.
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@farhip, Press Gazette, @lesserfrederick, @sarafischer, @farhip, @allyschweitzer and @blowryontv


In a memo, NBCU CEO Jeff Shell says that Premier League soccer coverage is Peacock's number one driver of premium subscriptions and engagement — EXCLUSIVE: NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell didn't mince words about the “bad dream” that was 2020, but touted the success of Peacock and laid …
Discussion:
The Streamable


Tribune agrees to sell product review site BestReviews to Nexstar for $160M and will enter into a licensing and revenue-sharing agreement for use of its content — Tribune Publishing and BR Holding Co. will sell the BestReviews website to TV station owner Nexstar Media Group for $160 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
Discussion:
Chicago Business Journal, Dallas Morning News and MediaPost


Charli D'Amelio and her family will star in The D'Amelio Show, an eight-episode docuseries on Hulu that will follow “the first family of TikTok” — Charli D'Amelio, who at 16 rocketed to fame with over 150 million followers on TikTok, is getting her own show on Hulu alongside her sister …
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The Verge, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, @karlbode, @yashar, @teroterotero, @mathewi, @taylorlorenz, @stokel, @mathewi, Deadline, @spencerpratt, @lucas_shaw and New York Post


As its revenue surges, Roku has become increasingly forceful in its negotiations with media companies, as evidenced by its fights with Fox and WarnerMedia — The maker of the leading streaming-media player has taken up brash negotiating tactics over its terms to carry services like HBO Max and Peacock
Discussion:
@maxclark, @maxwellelliot, @wsj, @mylesudland, @mattbelloni, @rolfewinkler, @asharma, @asharma and Variety

In an August note to Substack, a veteran writer shared ideas to improve the platform, including a Substack Reader, transcription, media subscription deals, more — I met Hamish McKenzie about a year ago when he came by the San Francisco Writers Grotto to tell us about Substack.
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@fvogelstein, @prsarahevans, @iankar_ and @tomcritchlow


Facebook and Google increased funding for news outlets during the pandemic, becoming important patrons; publishers must remain vigilant about their influence — THE PANDEMIC FUNDING PUSH — In 2019, a director at a journalism foundation who worked closely with Facebook and Google wrestled …
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@emilybell and @emilybell


Tencent buys another 10% stake in Universal Music Group, adding to the 10% stake it bought last year, at the same valuation of €30B — - Vivendi plans to sell additional minority stakes in UMG — Deal values world's biggest music company at $30 billion euros
Discussion:
Complete Music Update, Variety and Reuters


Lots of Americans slipped into conspiracy thinking in the pandemic; we'll need news outlets and others to explain how fantasy took hold and how we can dig out — “We're going to have to learn to create a vocabulary to talk about how their friends fell down the wrong YouTube hole and came out speaking another language.”
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Twitter says it will stop prompting users to Quote Tweet, restoring the standard RT functionality, and says QT use increased but overall sharing dropped by 20% — Well, it was worth a shot. — Twitter announced Wednesday that it will cease prompting users to quote tweet in lieu of the standard retweet.
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Twitter says it will start its new verification policy on January 21 and is developing profile labels to designate bots and memorial accounts
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