Top News:
David Folkenflik / NPR:
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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Times, New York Times, @rcallimachi, Business Insider, @mitrakalita, @johnjcook, The Hill, @nycjim, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Guardian, Washington Post, @absurdistwords, @absurdistwords, Forbes, The Media Nut, @perlberg, @joshokane, @davidfolkenflik, @jbflint, New York Post, @mattgallowaycbc, @mitrakalita, @katie_robertson, @miriamelder, @neilphauer, @erikwemple, @supriyan, @sulliview, @glcarlstrom, @qjurecic, @johnmoe, @salmanmasood, @sairakh, @lourdesgnavarro, @lailaalarian, @brianstelter, @bgrueskin, @marcatracy, @miriamelder, @janelytv, @hannahallam, @katie_robertson, @steveguest, @laurawags, Newser, @mitrakalita, @dparvaz, @brianstelter, @titonka, @marcatracy, @jonahdispatch, @lailaalarian, @lourdesgnavarro and kottke.org
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
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 …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Talking Biz News, @markcurtis30 and Press Gazette
Celine Castronuovo / The Hill:
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.
Discussion:
@farhip, Press Gazette, @lesserfrederick, @sarafischer, @farhip, @allyschweitzer and @blowryontv
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
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
Elaine Low / Variety:
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 …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, @karlbode, @yashar, @teroterotero, @mathewi, @taylorlorenz, @stokel, @mathewi, Deadline, @spencerpratt and @lucas_shaw
Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:
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
Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
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
Ben Collins / Nieman Lab:
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.”
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @oneunderscore__, @stphnfwlr, @oneunderscore__, The Daily Beast, @grace_segers, @verambergen, @riogringa, @kumailn, @katiejstrang, @nayebioskoui, @shallowbrigade, @matteomoschella, @iwriteok, @abbyohlheiser, @abbyohlheiser, @jesseherlitz, @jesseherlitz, @cor_mike_pres, @amandakhurley, @joshsternberg, @szechuan, @scottnover, @scottnover, @cwarzel and @oliverdarcy
Helene Fouquet / Bloomberg:
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:
Reuters, Complete Music Update and Variety
Reza Chowdhury / AlleyWatch:
Comcast's FreeWheel, a TV advertising platform, buys Beeswax, a programmatic ad-tech platform founded in 2014; terms of the transaction were not disclosed — Beeswax, the programmatic ad-tech platform that offers “bidder-as-a-service”, has been acquired by FreeWheel, the digital TV advertising platform.
Discussion:
AdExchanger, FreeWheel, Adweek, @aripap, Digital TV Europe, MediaPost, @jbrichman, Default HubSpot Blog, FierceVideo and Radio & Television …
Taylor Lorenz / Nieman Lab:
As journalists adopt influencer tactics for solo businesses, they'll see more drawbacks that influencers have faced, including reliance on fickle tech platforms — “Successful independent journalists will realize how difficult it can be to strike the right balance between cultivating enough …
Discussion:
@sophiasgaler, @andrewfeinberg, @jaykapoornyc, @susannahbreslin, @micahloewinger, @ibogost, @sachinrekhi, @jamespmcleod, @radiotfb, @lpolgreen, @radiotfb, @radiotfb, @dankennedy_nu, @andrewfeinberg, @sullydish, @golikehellmachi, @vincenzolandino, @rossbarkan, @hunterwalk, @sachgau, @petergyang, @stokel, @kattenbarge, @sarahsmacdonald, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @andrewfeinberg, @mubashariqbal, @meiragebel, @armano, @nwquah, @simonestolzoff, @nwquah and TechCrunch
Jack Morse / Mashable:
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.
Discussion:
@twittersupport, @twittersupport, @carolinesinders, @carnage4life, @henrymance, @robmanuel, @oliverjia1014, @javi_draws, @veronica, @anthony, Adweek, Breitbart, @jordanlperkins, @noupside, @jsstansel, @sistertoldjah, @luulubuu, @carynrose, @kevinbparry, @parkermolloy, @dacidbro, @digiphile, @twittersupport, 9to5Mac, Engadget, MacRumors, Pocket-lint and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Twitter:
Twitter says it will start its new verification policy on January 21 and is developing profile labels to designate bots and memorial accounts
Twitter says it will start its new verification policy on January 21 and is developing profile labels to designate bots and memorial accounts
Discussion:
@twittersupport, Slate, Gizmodo, Android Police, @mayakaczorowski, @danznewz, @ecmclaughlin, @maxwildstein, @godisrivera, @bruzanin, @bluechoochoo, @oliverdarcy, @lizkelley, @janelytv, @mattnavarra, @wongmjane, @ketanj0, @hodgesmr, TechCrunch, Adweek, ScreenRant, Reuters, The Verge, Mashable, The Desk, 9to5Mac, Washingtonian and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Hulu reaches agreement with Nexstar to bring back 20 ABC affiliates to Hulu + Live TV and launch WGN America on the service in January — In October, Hulu + Live TV lost Nexstar ABC affiliates on the service. The two sides have now reached a deal to bring back the 20+ Nexstar-owned ABC affiliates …