Mediagazer: In letter to creators, CEO Susan Wojcicki says YouTube has paid $30B+ to creators, artists, and media organizations over the last three years (Julia Alexander/The Verge)

3:20 PM ET, January 26, 2021

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Twitter buys newsletter platform Revue, plans to lower its cut of paid newsletter revenue to 5% and let writers host conversations with subscribers on Twitter — Twitter on Tuesday said it has acquired Revue, a newsletter platform for writers and publishers.

Washington Post:

Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron is retiring on February 28 after eight years at the paper and nearly 45 years in journalism — Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan today shared the following note with Post employees. — Dear Washington Post colleagues,

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, @farhip, New York Times, Media Nation, Politico, @genepark, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Axios, @jrubinblogger, @benyt, The Wrap, wgbh.org, The Hill, @allenststephens, @leonkrauze, @kenburns, @johnavlon, @gumby4christ, @brianstelter, @michaelkruse, @ktumulty, @mviser, bookforum.com, @pgammo, @philiprucker, @chiquiesteban, @pbump, @jennyschuessler, @carolynryan, @papscun, @lpolgreen, @chriscillizza, @charlesppierce, Bloomberg, Poynter, @rasmus_kleis, @markdistef, @gabemschneider, @wblau, @mattyglesias, @sebastianepayne, @jakesherman, @dabeard, @greenhousenyt, @ziadramley, @gabriel_pogrund, @arturo_sarukhan, Washingtonian, @travismandrews, @dskok, @brianstelter, @emilybell, Deadline, @emmacarew, @ceciliakang, @michaelluo, @perlberg, @freedomofpress, @jayrosen_nyu, @jamesrbuk, @tomjackmanwp, @davidfolkenflik, @laura_nelson, @rickklein, @b_fung and @davidalim

Teo Armus / Washington Post:

Idaho Statesman Editor Christina Lords confirms she was fired for violating McClatchy's social media policy and doesn't regret her tweet advocating for staff — Before she was appointed the top editor at the Idaho Statesman, Christina Lords was known for going to bat for her staff.

Discussion: @idahonewsguild, @lillyafowler, @dancow, @dancow, @audreydutton, @base10, @kristenhare, @lisatozzi, @newsfletch, @derekwillis, @lizzieohreally, @sduncovered and @dancow

Margaret Carmel / BoiseDev:
Idaho News Guild says Idaho Statesman's top editor was fired over her tweet advocating for staff resources in a protest letter sent to McClatchy management

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Washington Post's Zeus ad tech platform adds video to the range of formats publishers can sell; video ads are especially important for local broadcast companies — The Washington Post will expand its performance software on Tuesday to add video to Zeus, its suite of ad placement and optimization tools.

Discussion: @jarroddicker, @seyitaylor, @sprakash007, @sarafischer and @craigsilverman

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

NYT will never be able to uniformly enforce its social media behavior policy and should remove the language of journalists being “perceived as biased” from it — Lauren Wolfe made no ripples last May when she started as a freelance editor at the New York Times.

Discussion: @moorehn, @asymmetricinfo, The Hill, Newser, New York Times and The Nation

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Sources: NYT told Lauren Wolfe, who had a temporary position, that her name and NYT's name were in headlines after her “chills” tweet, and “we can't have that”

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Verizon Media hit $2.3B in Q4 revenue, up 11.4% YoY, its first YoY revenue gain since buying Yahoo in 2017, and reported a net loss of $119M from HuffPost sale — In announcing Q4 earnings Tuesday, Verizon said the results included a net loss of $119 million “primarily related to the disposition of the HuffPost business.”

Discussion: @alex, Verizon, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and Light Reading

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

In letter to creators, CEO Susan Wojcicki says YouTube has paid $30B+ to creators, artists, and media organizations over the last three years — The company still has work to do with creator transparency — YouTube has paid out more than $30 billion to creators, artists …

Discussion: contextisking.com, Bloomberg, @kellymakena, @sandeep9sarma and @simonowens, more at Techmeme »

Alana Wise / NPR:

White House press briefings will now include an American Sign Language interpreter; Trump administration was sued over accessibility of its briefings — The White House on Monday announced that its regular press briefings will now include an American Sign Language interpreter.

Discussion: @evelynpr, @seemiaroll and @n_yang

Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:

Sources: 100+ Politico staffers sent a letter to Allbritton criticizing the decision to publish Ben Shapiro and calling out EIC Kaminski's internal response — More than 100 Politico staffers signed onto a letter sent to publisher Robert Allbritton, expressing disgust with allowing right …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @guypbenson, @meghanmccain, @benshapiro, @drewholden360, @meghanmccain, @jrubinblogger, @bmarchetich, Yahoo News, Townhall, Raw Story and Mediaite

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku and Amazon make a deal to bring the ad-supported IMDb TV to the Roku Channel, expanding the reach of Amazon-owned IMDb TV, which is also on Fire TV devices — In a classic case of co-opetition, Roku inked a deal with Amazon to bring the IMDb TV free, ad-supported streaming service to the Roku platform in the U.S.

Discussion: The Streamable, Deadline and Media Play News

Ken Meyer / Mediaite:

Source: Fox News talked with Kayleigh McEnany after the election about a job but paused discussions; network says she is not a current employee or contributor — UPDATE 12:20 p.m.: Fox News denied that former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has joined the network in a statement to Mediaite.

Discussion: CREW, The Guardian, TVNewser, Variety, Vanity Fair, @yoda, @ericbolling, Deadline and The Daily Beast

Tara Conlan / The Guardian:

Sky UK says it is increasing the number of original British shows by 50% and releasing a new, exclusive movie every two weeks to compete with streaming services — Exclusive: TV company aims to be releasing a new film every week by 2022, with 30 due this year

Discussion: @jamesjonesfilm and @scottygb

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Facebook News launches in the UK, partners with Axel Springer and Samsung owned Upday for curation; announces new partnerships and payments for some publishers — As the United Kingdom prepares to sharpen its focus on how it regulates big tech companies, Facebook is taking a big step …

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Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Clash acquires Byte, another short-form video app, and announces plans to release them together as one product with monetization tools for creators

Discussion: CNN, @martinsfp, @brendonmcnerney, @shiraovide and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:
North Equity, which owns Popular Science, Saveur, and other brands, is acquiring Domino Media, a home design magazine and digital outlet, from Multiply Media

Politico:
Former NYT op-ed editor James Bennet has been hired by The Economist as a visiting senior editor for one year, writing mostly on foreign policy

Discussion: Business Insider, Talking Biz News, Mediaite, Daily Herald, Vanity Fair, Slate, @dylanbyers and @nkulw

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Survey: the average American household spent $47 a month on streaming in 2020, up from $34 a month in 2019; 81% of US households used Netflix at the end of 2020

Discussion: @appleinsider

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CBS Television Stations President Peter Dunn and SVP of News David Friend have been placed on leave, after an LAT report alleging racism and misogyny at work

Discussion: Radio & Television …, TVSpy, The Hill, New York Times, @megjameslat, NABJ, @jemelehill, @megjameslat, @phil_rosenthal, @rolandsmartin and The Wrap

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Judge approves liquidation plan for the Weinstein Co., three years after it declared bankruptcy, including $17.1M fund for Weinstein's sexual misconduct victims

Discussion: Bangor Daily News, Associated Press, Jezebel, CBS Philly, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

Earlier Picks:

Brody Ford / Bloomberg:
Vimeo raises $300M at a valuation of $6B, nearly doubling in value in less than three months, ahead of the unit's scheduled spinoff from IAC in Q2

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Variety and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:
Sources: PE firm TPG is in the lead position to acquire a minority stake in DirecTV, which could value AT&T's satellite TV division at $15B+

Discussion: Awful Announcing and Ars Technica

Archie Bland / The Guardian:
Forbes drops plans for a trip to Bermuda for 75 people on its “30 under 30” list, meant to provide an escape from pandemic “gloom”, after facing criticism

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Nexstar to rebrand its national cable channel WGN America as NewsNation, positioning it as a “fact-based and unbiased” competitor to CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, @robhartwbbm, @mepodmolik, @alexweprin, TVNewser, @azalben, @triciaennis, @fraying, @jayrosen_nyu, @daveleeft, @vexedinthecity, Los Angeles Times and nexttv.com

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
NBC's Peacock signs a deal for exclusive streaming rights for WWE Network content in the US from March; source says the deal runs five years and is worth $1B+

Russell Contreras / Axios:
Ex-CNN exec S. Mitra Kalita and PA radio exec Sara Lomax-Reese launch URL Media, a newsletter seeking to expand local news on Black and brown communities

Discussion: @mitrakalita, American Press Institute, @karunanundy, @russcontreras, @gregabedard, @elizatalks, @sashak, @cande313, @amlwhere, @kainazamaria, @rosental, @ampalm, @ccmnewmarkj, @eramshaw, @schmalie, @raju and @dawnc331

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind hacks in June and July of up to 165 Snowflake customers including AT&T

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses by conducting an internal study, codenamed Atlas, to gather employee feedback on products on the market

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
The second developer beta of iOS 18.2 shows a “daily limit” for free access to “advanced” ChatGPT via Siri and an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in Settings

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