Top News:
Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Profile of Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo and her transformation from a serious business reporter to Trump cheerleader, most recently in a friendly interview — Maria Bartiromo is the solo host of more than 16 hours of television every week on sister networks Fox News and Fox Business.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, @mlcalderone, @jbillinson, @sarahellison, @stevebattaglio, @kimmasters, @markjacob16, @latimes, @latimes, @latimes, @bgrueskin, @edzitron, @bgrueskin, @101darwins, @brianstelter, @tomgara and @elaheizadi
Ruti Levy / Haaretz:
Sources: Israeli content recommendation company Taboola is in talks to merge with ION group's SPAC that raised $259M in October — 'There's no company with revenues of $100 million that's not considering going public,' source says after massive deal falls apart three months ago
Discussion:
Sifted
Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
Unredacted Google antitrust suit: execs referred to attempts to undermine header bidding and force publishers back onto their ad server as the “Holy Grail” — Accusations by Texas and nine other states give ground to publishers' frustrations that the digital-ad economy is rigged
Discussion:
@keachhagey, @stevekovach, @slayser8, @keachhagey, @acfou, @catthekin, @wsj, @kylemunson, @paulnemitz, @repkenbuck, @johnwilander, @jason_kint, Ad Age, Breitbart and CNBC
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Draft lawsuit filed last week says Facebook and Google agreed to help each other in case of investigation of their pact to work together in online advertising
Draft lawsuit filed last week says Facebook and Google agreed to help each other in case of investigation of their pact to work together in online advertising
Discussion:
Variety, Washington Post, Breitbart, @rmac18, @bigblackjacobin, @karaswisher, @moorehn, @matthewstoller, @pierce, @heynottheface, @histoftech, @mathbabedotorg, @hawleymo, @senmikelee, WWD, @mattyglesias, @gavinsbaker, The Media Nut, The Verge, @jeffhorwitz, @jesselehrich, Engadget, CNBC, AppleInsider, New York Post, National Review and Business Insider
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Brian Calle, CEO of LA Weekly owner Street Media, has acquired The Village Voice, plans to restart its website in January, and also plans quarterly print issues — The owner of LA Weekly, another independent publication, plans to restart The Voice next month.
Discussion:
@rosiegray, @jayrosen_nyu, Wall Street Journal, @jenn_swann, @mcastimovies, @minkowitz, @stevekandell, @passionweiss, @marcissist, @jayrosen_nyu, @ibogost, @jesshopp, @david_j_roth, @zzzzaaaacccchhh, @jsmooth995, @sowmyak, @matthewwells, @willow_catelyn, @raju, @conroyforreal, @spbphd, @elinashatkin, @allegraehobbs, @scott_tobias, @media_evan, @awolfeful, @passionweiss, @krisvire, @mattdpearce and Mediaite
Jessica Jerreat / Voice of America:
Two bills Congress OK'ed would limit powers of USAGM's Michael Pack; Pack announced new heads at Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Network on Tuesday — Two bills approved by Congress awaiting President Donald Trump's signature would limit the powers of Michael Pack …
Discussion:
@w7voa, @schwartzbcnbc, @yatesdcia, @simonmarksfsn, @simonmarksfsn, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik and USAGM
Financial Times:
Formula One's outgoing CEO says the company is in active talks with Amazon over streaming deals to screen its Grand Prix races — Internet giants part of motorsport's digital future, says outgoing F1 chief Chase Carey — Formula One is in “active” talks with US internet giant Amazon …
Discussion:
The Streamable, Engadget and Media Play News
Marc Hogan / Pitchfork:
A look at the state of live music and its future after a year of turmoil, as venues struggle to stay open and artists turn to streaming — Most musicians' primary source of income is gone, venues everywhere are struggling, and the government hasn't come through on an aid package.
Discussion:
@allisonhussey and @philipsherburne
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NewsGuard: 17% of engagement among the top 100 news sources on social media in 2020 was with sources NewsGuard considers unreliable, compared to 8% in 2019 — Unreliable news websites significantly increased their share of engagement among the top performing news sources on social media this year …
Discussion:
@pchdigital, @shawnarchen, @jimwarren55, @crovitz and @mattsheffield
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
SEC filing shows Oprah Winfrey got a less than 1% stake in Discovery in a deal that a source says raised Discovery's ownership in OWN from 73% to 95% — Oprah Winfrey has swapped most of her interest in OWN for a small ownership in Discovery, home of TLC's trashy hit reality series, “90 Day Fiancé.”
Discussion:
nexttv.com, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Sen. Thom Tillis unveils a draft bill to revise the DMCA, requiring “service providers” to ensure that infringing material stays removed and does not reappear — Sen. Thom Tillis on Tuesday unveiled an overhaul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is intended to make it easier to stamp out pirated content online.
Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
An explainer on digital advertising's header bids, third-party brand safety vendors, and “evercookies”, illustrated by a ubiquitous pajama onesie ad — If you're reading this, you might have read the juicy piece that Elle dropped this weekend chronicling how a former Bloomberg reporter torched …
Discussion:
Business Insider, @lollardfish, @dancow, @biaus, @lorenaoneil, @conroyforreal, @thezedwards, @bryson_m, @techwontsaveus, @lollardfish, @andrewcouts, @jakeofthefuture, @jathansadowski, @nandoodles, @adland, @justinhendrix, @clairelizzie, @swodinsky, @goldman, @neilretail, @catthekin, @jakeswearingen, @bigmeaninternet, @stephcliff, @kate_h_taylor, Newser, New York Magazine and @liamstack, more at Techmeme »
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Sources: WaPo's Marty Baron indicated to colleagues he may step down soon but not before staff can return to the newsroom, which is June 1 at the earliest — Kevin Merida? Steven Ginsberg? Sources insist the paper hasn't officially started the search for a new leader …
Discussion:
@yashar, @raju, @mollyemccluskey and @joepompeo