Mediagazer: Interviews with 15 longtime Fox News loyalists on why they switched to Newsmax, often seeking programming that denies Joe Biden's victory (Jeremy Barr/Washington Post)

7:00 AM ET, December 30, 2020

Top News:

Politico announces it is acquiring E&E News, a high-price subscription trade publication focused on the energy industry and environmental news — Purchase comes as Politico looks to expand its overall professional news business — Politico is adding some energy to its game.

Will Thorne / Variety:

First ever NFL game streamed exclusively had an average minute audience of 4.8M on Prime, Twitch, and others, almost as much as traditional TV viewership — The first ever NFL game to be shown exclusively on streaming platforms scored solid numbers, showing encouraging signs for future streaming-only games.

Discussion: @crupicrupicrupi, The Streamable, @aquinas82nd, @jason_kint, @richarddeitsch, Sports Business Daily and MediaPost

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

Washington reporters, including Olivia Nuzzi, Jim Acosta, and Yamiche Alcindor, on being recast as “resistance heroes” during the Trump era and what comes next — The day after the 2016 election, I got a phone call from an old friend. Neither of us had slept much …

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230 — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230, an effort that will likely doom both pieces of legislation in the Senate.

Kristin Robinson / Variety:

A loophole in Spotify's copyright infringement detection tactics is allowing unauthorized remixes and bootlegs of songs to be uploaded as podcasts — Spotify has joined the ranks of streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube as a hub for bootlegs of popular songs.

Discussion: @delgotloud and Engadget

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

Over Christmas holiday, Apptopia says HBO Max had ~554K app signups; Sensor Tower says Disney+ had ~2.3M global app installations, up 28% from prior weekend — AT&T Inc.'s HBO Max streaming platform set a single-day record for downloads of its mobile app following the release of the superhero sequel …

Discussion: The Desk, DIRT, ScreenRant, The Streamable, TechCrunch, @michael_calia, @edmundlee and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Unredacted draft version of the lawsuit filed by 10 states earlier this month details a Google-Facebook ad deal that allegedly constituted illegal price fixing — Lawmakers have called for an investigation into the tech giants' contract, dubbed ‘Jedi Blue,’ which allegedly allowed for auction rigging

Discussion: @bowknowsbiz, @johnvoorhees, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @bikehugger, @jason_kint, @repkenbuck, @moonalice, @jonspaihts, @bowknowsbiz, @jason_kint, @halsinger and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

Interviews with 15 longtime Fox News loyalists on why they switched to Newsmax, often seeking programming that denies Joe Biden's victory — On the morning after Election Day, Greg and Jenny Brethen, loyal viewers of Fox News who watched the channel religiously for almost 20 years …

Discussion: @jeremymbarr, @jayrosen_nyu and Mediaite

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Verizon is telling Fios TV customers that nine local Hearst stations may go dark on Fios on Jan. 1, saying Hearst is demanding carriage fee hikes of 45%+ — In a new end-of-the-year TV carriage fight, Verizon on Tuesday began notifying Fios TV customers that Hearst Television stations …

Discussion: The Desk and Radio & Television …

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Ampere: UK streaming subscribers grew 34% YoY in 2020, with a combined 32.4M for Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, the top three services — Britons spent 40% of their waking hours watching TV during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, fuelling the biggest year for new subscribers to streaming services.

Discussion: Matt on Audio

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to release journalist Maati Monjib, arrested amid a money laundering probe — Moroccan authorities must immediately release journalist and press freedom advocate Maati Monjib, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Discussion: @shanvav, Morocco World News, @aaschapiro, @aaschapiro, @sarahleah1, Africanews and Abdellatif EL Hamamouchi

Inside Radio:

Univision sale to Searchlight Capital is formalized, and Wade Davis becomes CEO; FCC granted an exception to a cap on foreign ownership, as Televisa holds 36.1% — Less than a week after getting the green light from the FCC, the sale of Univision Communications to private investment firm …

Discussion: Variety, Awful Announcing and The Wrap

Archived Page Info:

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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More News:

DW.COM:
A sustained cyberattack over Christmas forced several German newspapers published by The Funke Media Group to cancel or curtail editions; the attack is ongoing

Gregor Stuart Hunter / Bloomberg:
Filing: Jimmy Lai, who was charged earlier this month with Hong Kong's new national security law, resigned as chairman of Next Digital

Discussion: @gregorhunter

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Profile of Walter Hamada, who runs DC Films and is aiming to release comics-based movies like Batman and Wonder Woman at a much faster pace

Andrew Donohue / Nieman Lab:
Efforts to undermine the 2020 election show the necessity of a democracy beat, focused not on partisan politics but on voter suppression and other threats

Discussion: @gregghoush, @kaplandave, @add and @stphnfwlr

Todd Spangler / Variety:
NY Post source for Hunter Biden laptop stories sues Twitter for defamation, alleging Twitter falsely labeled him a hacker after blocking NY Post content in Oct.

Discussion: MediaPost, Engadget, Gizmodo, New York Post, The Verge, Business Insider, The Wrap, New York Post and Fox News, more at Techmeme »

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Filing: Ted Sarandos, Reed Hastings and other Netflix execs will not receive salary bumps in 2021; Sarandos and Hastings' compensation will stay at $34.6M each

Discussion: Always Be Watching, @benfritz, @jbflint, Context is King, Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap

Earlier Picks:

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
fuboTV quietly drops its $59.99/month Standard Plan for new users, making its $64.99/month Family Bundle the cheapest option

Discussion: @tzm_tmt and The Desk

Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
While the durability of Substack's model remains to be seen, a cultural turn toward journalistic individualism might not be in the interests of a democracy

Discussion: @caseynewton, @annawiener, Context is King, @mattyglesias, @silvermanjacob, @matthewstoller, @aaron_con_choco, @zunguzungu, @zunguzungu, @oliverburkeman, @zunguzungu, @joeconchatv, @espiers, @ggreenwald, @ryangrim, @neontaster, @mkirschenbaum, @parismarx, @trengriffin, @lthomasnews, @annemariebridy, @nicholsuprising, @davidsirota, @copyconstruct, @ddayen, @penenberg, @mtaibbi, @rachsyme, @ggreenwald, @alexrossmusic, @robinsloan, @jamcnn, @stevesi, @sullydish, @parismarx, @hamishmckenzie, @megancgraham, @samidhas, @justinhendrix, @rmc031, @sansip, @thestalwart, @michaelluo, @evelyndouek, @tedleonsis, @comparativist, @jaredbkeller, @mattyglesias, @megankatenelson, @benthompson, @benthompson, @hunterwalk, @bigmeaninternet, @yashar, @ryan_c_powell, @mims, @rafat, @mims, @nattyover, @tomgara, @niubi and New York Times

Axios:
The New Yorker devotes almost an entire issue to The Plague Year, a 40-page account of how America botched its virus response, a rare step for the magazine

Discussion: @praddenkeefe, MediaPost, @jason_kint, @penenberg, @kylegriffin1, @lawrence_wright, @davidgrann, @sbg1, @jbenton, @marcusgilmer, @eosnos, @heyitsfranklin2, @daveweigel, @itsmarkmedley, New Yorker and The Verge

Tim Ingham / Rolling Stone:
A look at music sample marketplaces like Beatport, Splice, BeatStars, and LANDR, which could soon become acquisition targets for major record companies

Vivian Wang / New York Times:
A Chinese court sentences citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who documented the early COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, to four years in prison

From Techmeme:

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
The Nasdaq closes down 4%, with Meta down 7%, Nvidia down 6%, Amazon down 5%, and Apple down 4%, as the White House says Trump's tariffs on China now total 145%

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI updates ChatGPT with a memory feature that references past chats for answers, rolling out to ChatGPT Pro and Plus subscribers, but not in the UK and EEA

Matt Horne / Android Authority:
The OnePlus Watch 3 launches in the US after it was pulled to fix the “Meda in China” typo, but for $500, up from $330 OnePlus had previously announced

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