Mediagazer: Austin American-Statesman journalists voted 36-12 to form a union, in an NLRB election; newsroom staff has fallen 40% in the last two years, the NewsGuild says (Emma Freer/austonia)

3:10 PM ET, February 25, 2021

Top News:

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Twitter announces Super Follow feature to let users charge for tweets, and a Communities feature to let users create and join groups based on specific interests — It's also planning a groups feature — Twitter announced a pair of big upcoming features today: the ability for users to charge …

Discussion: @wongmjane, @mshannahmurphy, Nieman Lab, 9to5Mac, @edmundlee, NBC News, @film_girl, @joshsternberg, @caseynewton, @petersterne, @jericho, @petersterne, @scottbelsky and @janinegibson, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Warren / Crikey:

Amendments to Australia's media bargaining code will strengthen big tech and old media, with ~90% of Google money going to News Corp, Seven West Media, and Nine — The free money isn't enough to hurt the increasing revenues of big tech, but it is enough to hurt Australian journalism.

Discussion: New York Times, @evelyndouek, @mailonline, @jeffjarvis, Variety, @slpng_giants_oz, @lalpert1, @nytopinion, @lizzie_oshea, @tomclarketweets, @benyt, About Facebook, @jeffjarvis, @bernardkeane and The New Daily

CNET:
Australia passes news bargaining code that will require digital platforms like Google and Facebook to pay local media outlets and publishers for their content

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, CNN, BBC, The Drum, Twelve Thirty Six, CNBC, Treasury Ministers, Talking Biz News, 9News, SBS News, Reuters, Gizmodo Australia, Bloomberg, Gizmodo and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Paramount+ details: ad-supported tier at $5/mo has NFL games, CBSN, thousands of shows; ad-free tier at $10/mo adds live local news, more sports, live CBS shows — The rebranded, revamped and supercharged CBS All Access will launch on March 4. — For more than 100 years …

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Paramount shortens the time between theatrical and streaming releases to 45 days for some films, including Mission: Impossible 7 and Paw Patrol: The Movie — As will A Quiet Place Part II and Paw Patrol: The Movie — Paramount is dramatically shortening the space between theatrical …

Discussion: The Streamable, Variety, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, @robblackwellab, @dylanbyers, Variety, /Film and The A.V. Club

Jeremy Milliner / The Streamable:
ViacomCBS says paid streaming subs for Showtime and CBS All Access climbed to 19.2M in Q4, up from 17.9M in Q3; Pluto TV hit 43M global MAUs, up from 36M in Q3

Discussion: Variety, Ad Age, Hollywood Reporter, @wesleylowery, @richlightshed, @osmosislo, @richlightshed, @richlightshed, @zeitchikwapo, @loudmouthjulia, @richlightshed, @loudmouthjulia, @lucas_shaw, @loudmouthjulia, Deadline, MediaPost and The Wrap

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
ViacomCBS beat estimates with Q4 revenue of $6.9B; global streaming and digital video revenue rose 71% YoY to $888M, while theatrical revenue fell 97% to $4M

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @lucas_shaw and Ad Age

NBC News:

Sources: Biden administration will release an intelligence report that concludes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi — The Biden administration will release an intelligence report Thursday that concludes that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved …

Discussion: Reuters, @loucharbon, New York Times, The Week, Vanity Fair, New York Post, NPR, @mollymotoole, @richardgrenell, Foreign Policy, The Hill, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and The Guardian

Alex Marquardt / CNN:
Court documents show the jets used by the killers of Jamal Khashoggi were owned by a company that had been seized about a year prior by Mohammed bin Salman

Discussion: Washington Post, @agnescallamard, @sokane1, @dabeard, @martina and The Daily Caller

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Insider increases the minimum salary for full-time employees to $60K, increases minimum severance to two months and converts bonus compensation to salary — Insider is increasing the minimum salary of its full-time employees to $60,000 and improving other benefits, according to an internal memo distributed Thursday.

Discussion: Press Gazette, @kerrymflynn, Axios, @stevekovach, @khaulasaad and @nichcarlson

New York Times:

In a two-minute message, Reply All co-founder and host Alex Goldman says the Test Kitchen series about Bon Appetit is cancelled and the show is on pause — A co-host and a senior reporter also left the podcast, after accusations that they worked against union efforts that many employees of color saw as necessary to increase diversity.

Discussion: Gimlet, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, @beccamford, @zaidjilani, @jamilarobinson, @manishakrishnan, @replyall, @cassjosephs, @mcastimovies, @bradfordpearson, @noahreservation, Los Angeles Times, @kerrymflynn, @agoldmund and @agoldmund

Michael Safi / The Guardian:

Open letter signed by more than 100 Al Jazeera staff says Rightly, its new rightwing digital channel, betrays the outlet's journalism and tarnishes the brand — Open letter says the launch of online outlet ‘Rightly’ is ‘an affront’ to the network's journalistic vision

Discussion: @franifio, @chuckrossdc, @zabmustefa, @khalidalbaih, @wajahatali, @hahellyer, @tarek, @sakhr, @malonebarry, @adammilstein, @hkesvani, @ishaantharoor and Understandably

Bill Keveney / USA Today:

At a House subcommittee hearing on media disinfo, TV host Soledad O'Brien urged news outlets to stop platforming lies: “do not book people to lie on your show” — A House subcommittee hearing Wednesday on media disinformation, especially in cable news, broke down predictably along partisan lines.

Discussion: @ceciliakang, @ericschultz, @soledadobrien, @ceciliakang, @operation_ryan, @soledadobrien, @mattnegrin, @samchampion, @digiphile, Forbes, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Deadline, Mediaite and Breitbart

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
A letter from 2 Congress members to Comcast and others asking why they carry Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax feels like coercion and helps the outlets grow viewers

Discussion: Politico, The Jeffrey Lord, @jeremymbarr and Nextgov

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Bill Nye to appeal ruling that lets Disney classify revenue from distribution of older shows as “home video”, allowing it to keep 80% of that revenue — For years, Disney has been keeping 80% of the revenue from older shows that it distributes to streaming platforms …

Discussion: @baekdal, @spacewretch, @zoid9000, @highdefdiscnews and @tedgioia

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Facebook launches a TV, radio, and digital ad campaign in support of personalized ads called Good Ideas Deserve to be Found, ahead of Apple's IDFA changes — - Facebook is launching a new ad campaign called “Good Ideas Deserve to be Found,” which makes a case for personalized advertising.

Discussion: About Facebook, 9to5Mac, @chronotope, @herrmanndigital and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Lila Shapiro / New York Magazine:

Interviews with nine publishing execs and editors of color, hired after the industry's reckoning provoked by #PublishingPaidMe, on their hopes and fears — Not long ago, Dana Canedy, the recently appointed publisher of Simon & Schuster, was visiting the Jersey shore when she strolled past …

Discussion: bookforum.com

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More News:

Emma Freer / austonia:
Austin American-Statesman journalists voted 36-12 to form a union, in an NLRB election; newsroom staff has fallen 40% in the last two years, the NewsGuild says

Discussion: Austin American-Statesman, @austinnewsguild, @angelanfu, Poynter and The NewsGuild - CWA

Sara Fischer / Axios:
TheSkimm launches SkimmU, a set of free virtual finance courses for women, joining WWD and Axios in creating online courses for readers

Kirstin McCudden / Freedom of the Press Foundation:
At least four journalists in the US will face trial in March following their arrests while covering BLM protests

Discussion: @freedomofpress, @chadloder, @trevortimm, Media Nation and @kyletekautz

Anika Anand / LION Publishers:
LION launches a fellowship which will disburse $1M over two years to member organizations that apply to fund hiring staff whose focus will be revenue generation

Discussion: Media Nation, @ckrewson, @sarahgustavus, @jason_w_white, @anikaanand00, @lionpubs and @dw_grant

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India announces new rules that allow the government to implement a code of ethics for digital media and OTT services and mandate ratings for streaming content

Discussion: pib.gov.in, The Verge, Financial Times and @pib_india, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Caithlin Mercer / Reuters Institute:
Sinead Boucher, the CEO of New Zealand's largest newspaper group Stuff, says traffic has not significantly dipped since leaving Facebook and trust is higher

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, RiskRelevant, @andreachalupa, @robertalai, @smdiehl, @slpng_giants, @jason_kint, @meese_james, @lizzie_oshea and @rasmus_kleis

@scngguild:
[Thread] Workers at Southern California News Group, including The Orange County Register, announce a union and ask Media News Group and Alden for recognition

Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Washington Post led all news organizations at the Polk Awards with four prizes; half of all Polk Awards were for reporting related to the pandemic

Kerry Flynn / CNN:
New York Times admits workplace issues, particularly around the treatment of Black and Latino employees, in a new report following an eight-month investigation

Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Sources: the founder of Acronym, which backs Courier Newsroom, wants to raise $65M to push progressive local news and match the dominance of conservative media

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

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