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:
@twitterir, @wongmjane, @mshannahmurphy, American Press Institute, @emilydreyfuss, Axios, CNBC, @samleecole, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Times, Nieman Lab, @edmundlee, @taylorlorenz, @caseynewton, Sub Pub, The Fix, @profgalloway, 90 Second News, @inafried, @ed_solomon, @kateconger, @eliothiggins, XDA Developers, @killermartinis, @randball, @megturney, @matthewstoller, @derekjgz, @cameronwilson, @stpaulsaints, @ddayen, @mjmckean, @flytip, Firstpost Tech, @film_girl, KFOR-TV, @lizkelley, @stacey_conti, @twittercomms, @shiraovide, @timherrera, @emilydreyfuss, @emilydreyfuss, @fmanjoo, @wroetoshaw, @kathiepham, @doriantaylor, @timodc, @joshspero, @allenmcduffee, @ryangrim, @welshgasdoc, @umairh, @jonworth, @greg_jenner, @ruskin147, @dsquareddigest, @lifewinning, @lifewinning, @joshsternberg, Matt's Discoveries, @profmusgrave, @stevenspohn, @petersterne, @jericho, @petersterne, @scottbelsky, @janinegibson, Vox, The Daily Caller, Gizmodo, Mediaite, TechCrunch, NBC News, Insider, The Week and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
WaPo national editor denounces “racist, sexist, and ill-informed attacks” on reporter Seung Min Kim after she showed a Neera Tanden tweet to Sen. Lisa Murkowski — The Washington Post on Thursday denounced online abuse that targeted one of its reporters after a photo of her speaking …
Discussion:
@kriscoratti, @grace_panetta, @maggienyt, @stevenjay, @anniekarni, The Guardian, @seungminkim, @philiprucker, @emzanotti, @asteadwesley, @asteadwesley, @maggienyt, @mspicuzzamjs, @mattyglesias, @vilkviktorya, @ecgreaves, @gtconway3d, @emilyctamkin, @tedhesson, @myhlee, @lawoftd, @dlind, @farnazfassihi, @seungminkim, @ryangrim, @williams_paige, @tedlieu, @nancook, Mediaite and The Daily Beast
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Exit interview with retiring WaPo Executive Editor Marty Barton, on Trump, diversity in newsrooms, the Snowden leaks, and the future of newspapers — Stars from Hollywood (Spielberg, Schreiber) and the news biz (Baquet, Blitzer) toasted the legendary editor, who recalls angry calls from Trump …
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
AT&T and PE firm TPG reach a deal to make DirecTV a standalone company with TPG owning 30%; the deal is valued at $16.25B, includes DirecTV, AT&T TV, U-verse — The sides have been in talks for months as AT&T has sought to find a solution to the problem of DirecTV's subscriber losses dragging …
Discussion:
CNN, @sherman4949, Dallas Morning News, Business Wire, The Wrap, CNBC, @sherman4949, @tvmojoe, @karlbode, @franklinavenue, @sherman4949, @pkafka, @pkafka, @gerryfsmith, @pkafka, Awful Announcing, Yahoo Finance, New York Times, New York Post, Gizmodo, Los Angeles Times, Light Reading, nexttv.com, MediaPost, The Streamable, Ad Age, FierceVideo, WORLD SCREEN and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Cision, a media monitoring company that is the parent of PR Newswire, buys online consumer intelligence and social media analytics service Brandwatch for $450M — Online consumer intelligence and social media listening platform Brandwatch has been acquired by Cision, best known …
Discussion:
@znh and @mattnavarra, more at Techmeme »
Nathan Bomey / USA Today:
Gannett reports Q4 net loss of $122.2M, down from $95.1M a year ago; revenue fell 17% YoY to $875.4M; online subscriptions rose 29% YoY to 1.1M — Gannett reported a year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter revenue and a wider net loss, but the company beat its earlier estimates for the period …
Discussion:
@kerrymflynn
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
AMC Networks had Q4 net income of $94.7M, up from $8.58M a year ago, on revenue of $780.3M, and says it has 6M+ subscribers to its various streaming services — AMC Networks said it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter despite a decline in revenue as it narrowed losses in its international …
Discussion:
MediaPost, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter
Better News:
How The Arizona Republic re-engaged readers after realizing that 42% of its digital-only subscribers weren't reading a single article per month — John Adams and Alia Beard Rau, USA Today Network, February 24, 2021 — Here's an idea to steal and adapt: If you want to maximize …
Discussion:
@jbenton, @pkedrosky and @jbenton
Angela Fu / Poynter:
The States Newsroom, a nonprofit network of 20 outlets focused on statehouse coverage, is launching a free syndication service and five new outlets this year — States Newsroom, a network of outlets focused on statehouse coverage, has rapidly expanded since its launch in 2017
Discussion:
Men Yell at Me, @qpyoungnews, @aprilcore and American Press Institute
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Wynn Resorts invests $3.5M in sports podcasting network Blue Wire to help promote sports betting business WynnBet, and will build a podcast studio in Las Vegas — Podcast network Blue Wire will promote WynnBet, a sports betting subsidiary of Wynn Resorts — Podcast studios are now a Las Vegas attraction.
Discussion:
@ads4podcasts, @mr_kevinjones and @duransports
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Netflix shares USC report on its onscreen and offscreen representation and commits to spending $100M over five years on underrepresented groups in film and TV — Netflix received broadly high marks for diversity and inclusion in its movies and TV shows when it came to gender and people of color …
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNN, Variety, Reuters, Fast Company, @pranganathan, @wearenetflix, CNBC and @rfaughnder
Wall Street Journal:
Netflix to invest $500M on movies and TV shows in 2021 in South Korea, where it has 3.5M subscribers, after spending $700M in the country between 2015 and 2020 — Streaming giant to spend $500 million on South Korean films and television shows, as competition for global viewers heats up
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @richlightshed, @ms, @lucas_shaw and CNBC