Mediagazer: Exit interview with retiring WaPo Executive Editor Marty Barton, on Trump, diversity in newsrooms, the Snowden leaks, and the future of newspapers (Joe Pompeo/Vanity Fair)

11:10 AM ET, February 26, 2021

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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 …

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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 …

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 …

Discussion: @danlamothe, @benyt, @haleaziz, @wesleylowery, @fenitn, @klcpegher, @wesleylowery, @alexmahadevan, @thewillhobson, @fenitn, @philiprucker, @marisa_iati, @eugene_scott, @scottnover, @michaelluo, presswatchers.org, @wesleylowery and @joepompeo

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 …

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

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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

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Michael Safi / The Guardian:
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NBC News:
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Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
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