Top News:
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
NYT plans to give up control of its 77K-member NYT Cooking private Facebook group and hand the group over to volunteer moderators from its community — “I blame people who fight over brands of mayonnaise.” — “How many goddamn posts do we need to see of people's first Le Creuset? Seriously.”
Discussion:
@erinbiba, @benyt, American Press Institute, @blk_amanda, @erinbiba, @chrismoranuk, @benyt, @juliareinstein, @laurahazardowen, @margarita, @brosandprose, @tktaylor, @rottenindenmark, @erinbiba, @delia_cai, @colorcodedlife, @brianbeutler, @tiagodf, @nishachittal, @jpbrammer, @erinbiba, @carolsott, @digiphile, @kerrymflynn, The Business of Business, The Verge and WWD
Discussion:
Erin Biba / @erinbiba: The NYTimes has lost all control over the Cooking Community Facebook group they created and so instead of moderating it they've decided to completely abandon the 77,000 member group to its own recognizance and take their name off of it. Which is somehow absolutely hilarious to me
Ben Smith / @benyt: @silviakillings @erinbiba @SamSifton But the Times was paying people to moderate it — and that's “a Times employee moderating comments for fb rather than working for the Times.” A chapter in the shift toward a biz that revolves around converting subs. Sorry, I was hoping it was about peas and guacamole too.
American Press Institute: Need to Know: March 19, 2021 — OFF THE TOP — You might have heard: Social media …
@blk_amanda: As someone who has moderated social media for businesses in the past, and does it now for fun for groups... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Erin Biba / @erinbiba: I mean I don't know where the fuck the NYTimes ever thought it could get away with having 77,000 people in a group with only four moderators who only checked in during their off hours while also working full time at the Times but this disaster was basically inevitable.
Chris Moran / @chrismoranuk: Really interesting example of challenge of off-platform. Fundamental point: it means “a Times employee moderating comments for fb rather than working for the Times.” https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: @silviakillings @erinbiba @SamSifton I should say @SamSifton had only good things to say about the group and wishes its moderators well etc.
@juliareinstein: @benyt @silviakillings @erinbiba @SamSifton the people have spoken and they want me as moderator. it is time for a peaceful transfer of power https://twitter.com/...
Laura Hazard Owen / @laurahazardowen: “How many goddamn posts do we need to see of people's first Le Creuset? Seriously.” @nytimes is giving up on its 77,000-member NYT Cooking Community Facebook group. What happens next? https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Margarita-core Noriega-core / @margarita: My guide to whether a newsroom should create and sustain a social app group: - yes, to cultivate and identify potential sources 🧩 - yes, to better serve core audiences 🍽 - no, if it's only to “improve” or “correct” sourcing 🚩 - no, if user goals and admin goals conflict 🧨 https://twitter.com/...
@brosandprose: Community management is a complicated skill. Too many brands and publishers have demanded that their social teams start facebook groups, set growth of members as the only goal, and not bothered to dedicated resources and staffing. Chaotic groups like this are the result. https://twitter.com/...
Tracey Taylor / @tktaylor: @erinbiba Serious question: How would you have handled it differently? I'd love to hear suggestions/elegant solutions for publishers on how to wind down or otherwise handle FB groups that have become unwieldy/unmanageable.
Michael Hobbes / @rottenindenmark: We need a YouTube channel exclusively dedicated to Facebook Groups drama https://twitter.com/...
Erin Biba / @erinbiba: Here's Sam Sifton showing the Times paid no attention to the group whatsoever. People post “dog pictures next to their soufflé” in response to nasty posts in an attempt to calm arguments as a form of self-moderation because the Times was so wildly absent. https://twitter.com/...
Delia Cai / @delia_cai: @benyt @silviakillings @erinbiba @SamSifton guys if you don't want it....can we have it
Amanda O / @colorcodedlife: Sounds exactly like what happened with the Skimmbassador group, but it took far less people before it went to hell. The racists and Karen's ruined it and theskimm sat by and let it happen. https://twitter.com/...
Brian Beutler / @brianbeutler: There sure do seem to be a lot of people (from tech execs to moderators) manning the boundaries of social media who realize that the best thing we could do for the world is literally turn the platforms off, but few with the mix of nerve and proper incentives to do it. https://twitter.com/...
Tiago Dias / @tiagodf: It's “nearly impossible to moderate one the size of a small city. As it turns out, it's a full-time job — likely more than one — and one the Times no longer wants to do.” https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Nisha Chittal / @nishachittal: So rare to see this reality acknowledged: “It is very, very hard to meaningfully moderate a big Facebook group, perhaps nearly impossible to moderate one the size of a small city. As it turns out, it's a full-time job — likely more than one” https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Erin Biba / @erinbiba: They're allowing group members to submit themselves to become moderators and then they're gonna just hand the entire group over to these randoms and peace out. I just. I can't stop laughing at the ineptitude.
@carolsott: I had to laugh when my friend Linda sent this to me. The most insufferable group I've ever seen. https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Alex Howard / @digiphile: The @NYTimes could have built a social network around subscriber profiles (Remember Times People?), invested in a commenting system & building communities: https://mashable.com/... What @NYTFood did: built up a Facebook Group, & left it: https://twitter.com/... Notable context: https://twitter.com/...
@kerrymflynn: ^ So yep, per NYT's @SamSifton via @benyt: NYT views favoring its owned & operated properties, not working for Facebook, as a reason to abandon its NYT Cooking Community Facebook Group https://twitter.com/...
Ivan De Luce / The Business of Business: Lord of the Fries: Why The New York Times is abandoning its 77,000-member ‘Cooking’ Facebook group
The Daily Beast:
Teen Vogue's new EIC Alexi McCammond, who was meant to start in the coming days, will no longer be joining the publication — The Condé-owned outlet's new editor has exited the job just days before she was set to take on the gig. … Just days before she was set to begin the job …
Discussion:
@alexi, New York Times, @ryangrim, Politico, @tianathefirst, Ad Age, Poynter, @asteadwesley, CNN, @thrasherxy, @gladwell, @thewayoftheid, @dansaltzstein, @espiers, @radiofreetom, @timmarchman, @zararahim, The Week, @ebruenig, @mattzeitlin, @abbydphillip, @davidafrench, @freeblackgirl, @nelliebowles, @kurtbardella, @jeremymbarr, @dansaltzstein, @maxberger, @jeremymbarr, @clairlemon, @benyt, @thrasherxy, The Media Nut, @zararahim, @ronmwangaguhung, @amandacarpenter, @isaacdovere, E! Online, @ike_saul, @offbeatorbit, @heminator, @emzanotti, @mehdirhasan, @thewayoftheid, @rolandsmartin, @iamsophianelson, @lukerosiak, @samthielman, @davidafrench, @wajahatali, @nickgillespie, @stevekrak, @juliacarriew, @bymeg, @hillelneuer, @timmarchman, @thrasherxy, @matthewamiller, @sethamandel, @maxboot, @robynurback, @timcast, @jonathanchait, @mattwelch, @jonathanvswan, @mattyglesias, @mtracey, @vexedinthecity, @charlescwcooke, @slate, @legsfrank, @hashtaggriswold, @eiffeltyler, @travisakers, @michaelbd, @stevekrak, @eoinhiggins_, @maxwelltani, Dana Loesch's Chapter …, @jasoncolavito, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Newser, Los Angeles Times, The Federalist, Jezebel, @l0g1c9uy, @ktbenner, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, The Hill, Insider, The Wrap, Variety and MediaPost
Discussion:
Alexi McCammond / @alexi: Hey there: I've decided to part ways with Condé Nast. Here is my statement about why - https://twitter.com/...
Katie Robertson / New York Times: Teen Vogue Editor Resigns After Fury Over Racist Tweets
Ryan Grim / @ryangrim: The staff of Teen Vogue successfully blocked an extremely well qualified Black woman from becoming its next editor in chief over tweets from when she was a teen that she apologized for years ago. https://twitter.com/...
Tiana Lowe / @tianathefirst: Teen Vogue was invented by a woman who reignited the fur industry, blocked black people from the most important fashion covers and newsrooms in the country, and coronates the de facto American aristocracy. Alexi McCammond is not problematic. Vogue is. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ ...
Ilyse Liffreing / Ad Age: NFL hands Amazon exclusive games, and Teen Vogue editor undone by teen rogue tweets: Friday Wake-Up Call
Astead / @asteadwesley: conde nast/wintour could've sought full staff buy in in advance of the EIC announcement. that carelessness makes me feel bad for Teen Vogue staff, and for Alexi. both deserved an institution that treated them better https://www.nytimes.com/...
Dr. Thrasher / @thrasherxy: WELP. ~EVERYTHING~ abt this hire was wrong. Teen Vogue had become a space for deep work critical of capitalism, race & gender. McCammond: —Was WAY too close to the WH/DNC —Had never been an editor?! —Had a poor racial *analysis* + anti-Asian writing —Staff didn't want her https://twitter.com/...
Malcolm Gladwell / @gladwell: I'm curious to know what the new age cut-off is for “youthful indiscretions.” https://twitter.com/...
Openly Black Studs Twerkel / @thewayoftheid: Do I believe she's still catching wreck over what happened with her boyfriend, the WH and Politico? Absolutely. But she gave folks ammo with those silly ass tweets. The game is the game.
Dan Saltzstein / @dansaltzstein: @ryangrim All else aside, how is someone without editing experience “extremely qualified” to be an EIC?
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: Aside from the tweets, I think it's pretty unusual to hire someone who's never edited anything before as the EIC of a large national magazine. She had political reporting chops but generally you have to have *some* editing experience to be “well qualified”. https://twitter.com/...
Tom Nichols / @radiofreetom: Yet another day I am grateful that social media didn't exist until I was already in middle age. https://twitter.com/...
Tim Marchman / @timmarchman: I'd also question the assumption that the Teen Vogue staff is so unsophisticated as to be incapable of contextualizing old tweets and more concerned with them than with having someone who'd never edited running their newsroom.
Zara Rahim / @zararahim: It is truly so easy to not tweet that someone facing consequences for racist opinions is dumb, especially when those opinions were harmful to an entire community, a community that is going through a lot of pain...yet here...we are. https://twitter.com/...
Catherine Garcia / The Week: Teen Vogue's new editor in chief resigns after past anti-Asian tweets resurface
Elizabeth Bruenig / @ebruenig: seems somewhat strange that we have developed this (accurate) reading of racism, misogyny, etc as structural phenomena — and we know that teenagers aren't fully formed moral agents — but we punish adults for teenage mistakes reflecting a sick culture. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Matthew Zeitlin / @mattzeitlin: some european publications — the guardian, le monde — formally involve their staff in picking the editor in chief, would be an interesting model for american ones to adopt as opposed to the more...ad hoc....way newsroom influence the selection or removal of their bosses
Abby D. Phillip / @abbydphillip: I know @alexi and she's obviously not who she was when she wrote those tweets. I'm sorry to see that she won't be moving forward in this position. It's beyond fair to demand true remorse and accountability, but Alexi demonstrated those things and I wish she'd been given a chance. https://twitter.com/...
David French / @davidafrench: The level of intolerance is unsustainable. This trend will come to an end. It's too unjust. It's too absurd. The only question is how many careers and reputations must be wrongly trashed and destroyed before this trend fades into shameful oblivion. https://twitter.com/...
Evette Dionne / @freeblackgirl: Alexi is extremely well qualified—just not for this specific job. She has never been a fashion editor and was hired as the top editor at a fashion magazine. I was a very young EIC too (28), so there is always some hedging about being too young. But that is not the case here. https://twitter.com/...
Nellie Bowles / @nelliebowles: An industry now largely run by a movement of moralizing scolds who've (magic! it's true!) never been teenagers. As someone who was an idiot teenager, I can only look in awe at these perfect beings, sprung into the world fully formed like Athena herself. https://twitter.com/...
Kurt Bardella / @kurtbardella: 1000% agree https://twitter.com/...
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: Update: An MSNBC source says that Alexi McCammond asked to end her contributor contract with MSNBC in February, before the news broke that she was joining Teen Vogue.
Dan Saltzstein / @dansaltzstein: @ryangrim In fairness, @benyt has noted that David Remnick (NYer), Jeffrey Goldberg (Atlantic) and Ben himself (Buzzfeed) didn't have significant editing experience before taking over their EIC roles. Still not sure she was “extremely well qualified” but point taken.
Max Berger / @maxberger: It's unfortunate what happened to @alexi. She is a fantastic journalist who took responsibility for mistakes she made when she was a teenager. She will no doubt continue doing good work. But we need a new way to deal with public utterances from a generation who grew up online. https://twitter.com/...
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: Another recent change: Alexi McCammond is no longer an MSNBC contributor https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Claire Lehmann / @clairlemon: So grateful to @j4mi3p @jonkay @SwipeWright @toadmeister for not axing me due to my lowbrow tweets 🙏 https://twitter.com/...
Dr. Thrasher / @thrasherxy: 13. So, Wintour has a history of sidelining and tokenizing women of color. She made a poor hire, putting the hire (who, having never edited, should never have been there) and the staff in a terrible place. We are made by our histories & present.
Josh Sternberg / The Media Nut: A fast rise and a faster fall
Zara Rahim / @zararahim: “When she was a teenager” is a hilarious argument in a tweet about.... Teen....Vogue 🥴
@ronmwangaguhung: @mediagazer A very substantive conversation could have been had in the pages of Teen Vogue over racism, over what can and should not be said on social media, on taking responsibility for ones actions, on “doing the work” — but, alas
Amanda Carpenter / @amandacarpenter: This reflects much more poorly on Teen Vogue than @alexi https://twitter.com/...
Edward-Isaac Dovere / @isaacdovere: the standard being set here is that a few comments as a teenager which have been recanted, deleted and apologized for multiple times should nonetheless define a person's career https://www.nytimes.com/...
Lindsay Weinberg / E! Online: Teen Vogue Editor in Chief Alexi McCammond Resigns After Offensive Tweets Resurface
Isaac Saul / @ike_saul: This is so sad. Alexi is a great journalist who tweeted shitty things when *she was 17 years old* — and has spent the decade since building a body of work that shows who she really is. Reporters and progressives alike need to start thinking about how to let ppl grow. https://twitter.com/...
Ashley Reese / @offbeatorbit: Why does her being Black matter in this scenario? As if TV has never had a black EIC before dhdkdhdkdkdjz https://twitter.com/...
Mark Hemingway / @heminator: Totally agree, but worth noting had she taken the job at Teen Vogue she would have been editing a bunch of articles endorsing said puritan panics. https://twitter.com/...
Emily Zanotti / @emzanotti: But how do you square a publication that (ostensibly) treats 17 year olds as developed enough to engage on complex political topics (and in eclectic sex practices) with saying a 17 year old isn't fully developed on the subject of racial equity? https://twitter.com/...
Mehdi Hasan / @mehdirhasan: This made me sad and frustrated. Surely we can see the difference between active, current racists and bigots and people who said things long ago that they already sincerely apologized for? Have we lost all sense of proportion? And which of us hasn't said or done things we regret? https://twitter.com/...
Openly Black Studs Twerkel / @thewayoftheid: On behalf of Black women, “Nah.” This ain't it. https://twitter.com/...
Sophia A. Nelson / @iamsophianelson: This is NOT RIGHT. We have got to STOP doing this to good people because of old blog posts, old tweets, old Facebook posts, old college drunken videos, etc. We are fallible human beings. We get it wrong—who is able to throw stones? @CondeNast @TeenVogue this is not good. https://twitter.com/...
Luke Rosiak / @lukerosiak: Psst... they don't *really* believe in “restorative justice.” https://twitter.com/...
Wajahat Ali / @wajahatali: This is dumb. These were tweets over a decade ago, when she was a teenager, and since then she has apologized and changed. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Nick Gillespie / @nickgillespie: More proof that woke #cancelculture is simply fire-and-brimstone Christianity minus any concept of forgiveness or salvation. Just eternal damnation. What a horrible theology. Conde Nast must be a horrible place to work from any perpsective. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Steve Krakauer / @stevekrak: Really solid work by The Daily Beast and the children that make up the Teen Vogue staff to block a young, Black, female journalist from ascending to an editor position... https://twitter.com/...
Julia Carrie Wong / @juliacarriew: they gonna do anything about the editor who commissioned this or just stay focused on a teenager's tweets? https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Meg Z / @bymeg: the thing is............. besides the racist tweets...... she wasn't qualified for the role? like at all????????? so I didn't understand this COMMITMENT TO THE BIT...... like was she worth the strife? https://twitter.com/...
Hillel Neuer / @hillelneuer: When the revolution devours its own: March 5: Condé Nast names Alexi McCammond, a 27-year-old African-American journalist, as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. March 18: Condé Nast fires her over racist & homophobic tweets she posted a decade ago as a teen. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Tim Marchman / @timmarchman: She was not “extremely well qualified” unless you're using a standard that holds the editorship of Teen Vogue to be so insignificant that one wouldn't need to have had prior experience as an editor to hold the position, which would be telling. https://twitter.com/...
Dr. Thrasher / @thrasherxy: This is incorrect, and there is a kind of race making happening when someone who has never been an editor is called “extremely well qualified.” & as much as I love worker power, she didn't quit over the staff uprising, but after advertisers pulled out. https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Miller / @matthewamiller: There is a legitimate debate to be had about how to judge people for actions in the past, to what extent they grow, etc. But I would hope we could all agree that judging adults in professional settings for what they did as a teenager is ridiculous. https://twitter.com/...
Seth Mandel / @sethamandel: Pre-firing her for teen tweets she apologized for several times is garbage, but doing it now as reporters are connecting it to a racist murder spree in Atlanta is beyond tactless. Infuriating to watch coward employers reinforce twitter's ‘people are disposable’ attitude. https://twitter.com/...
Max Boot / @maxboot: I just wrote in @PostOpinions that the rightist obsession with “cancel culture” is overblown and over the top (https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...), but there is no question, as I also noted, that there are some leftist excesses too. This looks like one of those. https://twitter.com/...
Robyn Urback / @robynurback: She wrote those tweets 10 years ago, when she was a teenager. As I wrote in a column last week, if she had committed a violent crime instead, she'd be out of prison, off parole, and the progressive view would be not to judge her by her past https://www.theglobeandmail.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Tim Pool / @timcast: Apologizing doesn't change what she said it just means she admits she did it and is now being held accountable for her actions, for the rest of her life She apologized before but it doesn't matter. This is proof apologizing doesn't work https://twitter.com/...
Jonathan Chait / @jonathanchait: I continue to believe that “anti-racist” norms are being enforced in elite spaces in ways that do not actually advance the cause of opposing racism. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Welch / @mattwelch: Whose lives were improved by this episode? Whose journalism? https://twitter.com/...
Jonathan Swan / @jonathanvswan: I've worked with @alexi for four years. I know her well and can say this unequivocally: The idea she is racist is absurd. Where the hell are we as an industry if we cannot accept a person's sincere and repeated apologies for tweets when they were a teenager? https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias: Hail the glorious victory of antiracism. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Michael Tracey / @mtracey: Suggestion: do not pursue employment in any conventional sectors of the online media industry unless you are willing to tolerate enormous amounts of psychic dread https://twitter.com/...
Corey Richardson / @vexedinthecity: This is bullshit. Losing a job as an adult over some shit you tweeted as a kid isn't how people learn their lessons nor is is fair atonement for her past wrongs. Best of luck out there, but this shit didn't help anyone, really. https://twitter.com/...
Charles C. W. Cooke / @charlescwcooke: Absolutely preposterous. There's no reason whatsoever why silly things a person said ten years ago—when she was seventeen—should prompt this reaction or this outcome. This isn't “accountability”; it's a puritan panic that leaves no space for growth. https://twitter.com/...
@slate: This was a questionable hire, even before the offensive old tweets resurfaced. https://slate.com/...
Allegra Frank / @legsfrank: i wrote about, among other issues, the exhausting illegitimacy of “i was young and stupid” as an excuse for your prejudiced social media history https://slate.com/...
Alex Griswold / @hashtaggriswold: Alexi McCammond is out at Teen Vogue, over tweets that were publicly available and she had already apologized for, and that she was asked about again during the interview process, and for which she apologized, again, upon being publicly named https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Tyler McCall / @eiffeltyler: This is so rough. I maintain none of this had to be this way if Condé had any sense whatsoever. https://twitter.com/...
Travis Akers / @travisakers: #BREAKING: Alexi McCammond is out as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue after backlash over racist tweets about Asians https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Michael Brendan Dougherty / @michaelbd: I like the subtle Doublespeak nature of believing a brand called Vogue is about the marginalized. https://twitter.com/...
Steve Krakauer / @stevekrak: Outrageous. What a shitty time to be a young journalist. https://twitter.com/...
Eoin Higgins / @eoinhiggins_: Unsurprising, not sure how she was going to be able to manage that newsroom https://twitter.com/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: NEW: Alexi McCammond is out at Teen Vogue, will not be joining as EIC. Story w/@LachCartwright https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Dana Loesch / Dana Loesch's Chapter and Verse: I Can't Celebrate Cancel Culture, Even When It's The Left Eating Their Own
Jason Colavito / @jasoncolavito: Regardless of the new editor's qualifications, or lack thereof, I am uncomfortable with spending so much time litigating tweets made a decade ago by a teenager, or sending her through a second full year of public apologies for them. https://slate.com/...
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post: Alexi McCammond won't take Teen Vogue job after criticism of old anti-Asian tweets
Tiana Lowe / Washington Examiner: If Teen Vogue staffers want to prove their wokeness, they should quit their classist company
Bob Cronin / Newser: Outcry Over Tweets Ends Hiring at Teen Vogue
Christie D'Zurilla / Los Angeles Times: Teen Vogue's incoming editor, Alexi McCammond, resigns over racist-tweet fallout
Emily Jashinsky / The Federalist: Merciless Teen Vogue Staffers Are Not An Outlier, They're The Future Of Newsrooms
Joan Summers / Jezebel: Teen Vogue Editor Resigns Before First Day of Work Over Past Racist and Homophobic Tweets
@l0g1c9uy: This is an article from slate today, it's about the EIC at Teen Vogue who's under fire for 10yo tweets from when she was a teenager. It doesnt come out and say there's no path to forgiveness, it just rejects all available options and offers no alternatives https://slate.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Katie Benner / @ktbenner: While homophobic and racist social media pats have gotten all the attention, more than anything this is a @CondeNast Anna Wintour management debacle that set someone up to fail https://slate.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Priya Elan / The Guardian: Teen Vogue's new editor resigns over past anti-Asian and homophobic tweets
Tatiana Tenreyro / The A.V. Club: Alexi McCammond steps down as Teen Vogue editor-in-chief after backlash for anti-Asian tweets
Allana Akhtar / Insider: Teen Vogue's incoming editor-in-chief has resigned after old anti-Asian tweets sparked a staff backlash
J. Clara Chan / The Wrap: Teen Vogue Editor Alexi McCammond Resigns After Backlash Over Racist Tweets
Todd Spangler / Variety: Teen Vogue Editor Alexi McCammond Quits Over Past Racist Tweets
David M. Herszenhorn / Politico:
Politico Europe Editor-in-Chief Stephen Brown has died at age 57; after a long tenure at Reuters, he oversaw the expansion of Politico Europe — Stephen Brown, the editor in chief of POLITICO Europe and a former news correspondent who reported widely from Europe and South America for Reuters …
Discussion:
The Hill, @margschinas, @sofiadmateus, @naomiohreally, @harrispolitico, @noahbarkin, @kate_day and @jack_blanchard_
Discussion:
Thomas Moore / The Hill: Politico's European editor-in-chief Stephen Brown dies
Margaritis Schinas / @margschinas: I had the chance to appreciate Stephen Brown's pleasant character, clever wit and ability to connect with others. He oversaw @POLITICOEurope expansion to a major trans European media outlet. He will be greatly missed. @SherazadeSemsar https://www.politico.eu/...
Sofia Diogo Mateus / @sofiadmateus: Stephen was a wonderful boss and easily the most down-to-earth person I've ever seen run a newsroom, offering book recommendations based on your tweets, to go with the political commentary. He was an exceptional journalist and will be very missed. https://twitter.com/...
Naomi O'Leary / @naomiohreally: This is the most horrible news. Stephen was brilliant. https://www.politico.eu/...
John F. Harris / @harrispolitico: This has been a devastating week at Politico, with the sudden loss Thursday of @POLITICOEurope editor in chief @Stephen_G_Brown. He was an extraordinary journalist, with a special gift for human connection. Please read @herszenhorn's well-turned obituary. https://www.politico.eu/...
Noah Barkin / @noahbarkin: Tragic news. Stephen was a good friend & colleague. He was also an excellent journalist. But above all he was a good person - patient, thoughtful, never short-tempered even when under intense pressure. So sad that he has left us https://twitter.com/...
CNBC:
NFL finalizes an 11-year media rights deal, with Amazon Prime Video as exclusive partner for Thursday Night Football; sources: Amazon is paying about $1B/year — - The new agreement runs through 2033 and will feature two Super Bowls returning to Disney's ABC network channel.
Discussion:
Vox, Wall Street Journal, The Streamable, Adweek, @sherman4949, MediaPost, Sportico, The Wrap, @jbflint, @rickcordella, NFL.com, The Verge, Sports Business Journal, @sherman4949, @walsha, @sportingintel, @heathradio, @ourand_sbj, @jbflint, @dorlandoajc, @chadgraff, @richlightshed, @jbflint, The Hill, 90 Second News, @caroljsroth, @buccigross, @stevekovach, @sherman4949, @mattbelloni, @carlquintanilla, @ccoleman, The Desk, @janecoaston, The Information, Newser, Front Office Sports, The Wrap, TVNewser, Financial Times, Insider, Awful Announcing, Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@mattrosoff
Discussion:
Peter Kafka / Vox: Amazon's $10 billion NFL deal is huge — and a sign that sports is staying on TV for a while longer
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal: With NFL Deal, Amazon Accelerates Its Streaming-TV Advertising Ambitions
Jason Lynch / Adweek: NFL Sets Huge New TV Deals With CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN/ABC and Amazon Prime Video
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: The NFL has a deal! Scoops here: *Amazon gets full exclusivity for $1b per year (as CNBC had reported) *NBCU paying about $2b for Sunday Night Football *ViacomCBS paying $2.1b for AFC *Fox paying $2.2b for NFC *Disney paying abt $2.7b for ESPN/ABC https://www.cnbc.com/...
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost: NFL Strikes $100B Media Rights Deal, Amazon Gets ‘Thursday Night Football’
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap: NFL TV Rights Shakeup: ABC Gets Super Bowls, ‘Thursday Night Football’ Moves to Amazon Exclusively
Joe Flint / @jbflint: New Amazon deal for Thursday Night Football is for 15 games per-season and valued at around $1 billion, per-sources. That's four more games than Fox had. Amazon could get package as early as next season and in 2023 for sure. https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
Rick Cordella / @rickcordella: 👀🦚@peacockTV - stream all SNF and FNIA, plus a new excl. postgame show - serve as the excl. home of 6 NFL games - one each year from '23-'28 - stream Super Bowl after the '21, '25, '29 and '33 seasons - launch a virtual NFL channel, with classic games, NFL Films library. https://twitter.com/...
Thomas Ricker / The Verge: NFL significantly expands streaming deals as Amazon nabs Thursday Night exclusive
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: I'm told Disney is getting a boatload of new stuff for its $ — 6 new games, 3 ABC Monday Night Football games, an exclusive ESPN+ international game (which starts in 2022, a year before the rest of the deal kicks in), the right to simulcast ESPN and ABC games on ESPN+.... https://twitter.com/...
Allan Walsh / @walsha: Quite amazing really where NFL owners are celebrating $100 billion in media deals, NFL player salaries were cut and contracts are not guaranteed. https://twitter.com/...
Nick Harris / @sportingintel: Premier League earns £3bn a year from all broadcasting, home & overseas rights. Qs grow over future value of live sport yet NFL sign new 11-yr contracts worth £7bn+ a year, domestic only! Huge increase. $1bn a year from Amazon alone! https://www.cnbc.com/...
Heath Cline / @heathradio: Sorry, this must be a mistake. I was informed numerous times over the last few years that no one is watching the NFL anymore and they would be suffering great financial pain because of it. https://twitter.com/...
John Ourand / @ourand_sbj: The NFL will pull in $10 billion per year - a stunning number - from the media deals it that it makes official today. Here's SBJ's story: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/ ...
Joe Flint / @jbflint: New NFL deals are valued at more than $100 billion over 11 years and include Amazon landing Thursday Night Footbal. ESPN and ABC score big as well with Super Bowls, more MNF games and another playoff game. https://www.wsj.com/...
D. Orlando Ledbetter / @dorlandoajc: Why is there a salary cap on how much the players can make? https://twitter.com/...
Chad Graff / @chadgraff: This is why teams are comfortable backloading contracts this year. (Or in the Vikings' case, take on dead money via voidable years.)The salary cap is expected to go way up in the coming years. https://twitter.com/...
Rich Greenfield / @richlightshed: WATERSHED MOMENT FOR STREAMING MEDIA AMAZON GETS ALL OF THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 🏈🏈🏈 https://twitter.com/...
Joe Flint / @jbflint: Asked @nflcommish if this was likely his last NFL rights deal cycle. “You bet your ass,” he responded. https://www.wsj.com/...
Joseph Choi / The Hill: NFL reaches 11-year media deal with Amazon, TV networks
Carol Roth / @caroljsroth: NFL's new media rights deal could be worth more than $100 billion— content, especially live sports— is king... https://www.cnbc.com/...
Bucci Mane / @buccigross: 10 BILLION A YEAR. TEN. 312 Million a team per year. https://twitter.com/...
Steve Kovach / @stevekovach: Gonna be so many “buy now!” buttons on commercials during the Amazon NFL streams. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: For Amazon, it gets a sure thing in the NFL that it can't replicate by throwing $ at scripts and hoping they succeed. Then again, Amazon is paying $1 billion per year for its package. Double then again, $1b isn't much to Amazon. Story with @JabariJYoung https://www.cnbc.com/...
Matthew Belloni / @mattbelloni: Truly the last hurrah for linear TV.... https://twitter.com/...
Carl Quintanilla / @carlquintanilla: “Combined, the 11-year deals are valued at more than $100 billion, according to people familiar with the agreements. The league secured a combined average increase of 75% to 80% in fees from its media partners, one of the people said.” @WSJ https://www.wsj.com/...
Christopher Coleman / @ccoleman: Prepare for an ADDITIONAL charge for Amazon Prime Video. This + the Middle Earth series just about guarantees it. https://twitter.com/...
Jane Coaston / @janecoaston: Every year there's some “the NFL is falling apart!” narrative and the league just brings in more cash. https://twitter.com/...
Martin Peers / The Information: The Briefing: Big Entertainment's High-Risk NFL Deals
Bob Cronin / Newser: New TV Deals to Bring NFL $113B, Increase in Streaming
Owen Poindexter / Front Office Sports: NFL Locks In $113 Billion in Media Rights
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap: Did the NFL Just Break the Bundle With Streaming-First Deals?
A.J. Katz / TVNewser: Amazon Prime Video Gets Exclusive Rights to Thursday Night Football; ABC Rejoins Super Bowl Broadcast Rotation
Tyler Lauletta / Insider: The NFL has a new $105 billion TV deal and Amazon Prime and Disney are the big winners
Andrew Bucholtz / Awful Announcing: NFL completes network/Amazon rights deals through 2033, bringing in $10 billion per year along the way
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter: NFL Inks Rich New TV Deals With Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS and Amazon
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News: Amazon Prime Video, NFL Sign Historic 10-Year ‘Thursday Night Football’ Streaming Pact
Thanks:@mattrosoff
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
UK's Reach will tell three-quarters of its staff to permanently work from home as it closes dozens of newspaper offices in mid-sized towns — Reach, which also owns Express, Star and regional papers, will shut offices in dozens of mid-sized towns — One of the UK's leading news publishers …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, CityAM, @pressgazette, @david_hewson, @jackrivlin, @mattjp, @benquinn75, @isobeljourno, @imbadatlife, @andyjey, @fhamiltontimes, @karinwahlj, @ianvisits, @harrytaylr, @sachinnakrani, @jasongroves1, @adamcrafton_, @dwright75, @manaman_chhina, @pkelso, @jonbradyphoto, @mikejjennings, @jimwaterson and @tobirachel_
Discussion:
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette: Reach closes most of its newsrooms as Mail Online staff return to office this month
Jessica Clark / CityAM: Exclusive: Daily Mirror publisher Reach to close a London office and make most staff permanent home workers
@pressgazette: @DomPonsford Reach's own staff survey found 89% said home working at least partly suited their needs and 54% said it gave them a better work-life balance, although 70% missed seeing their colleagues https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/ ...
David Hewson / @david_hewson: But how are trainee journalists supposed to learn if they're not in an office? I went through all that. Can't imagine picking up the job remotely from scratch. “Mirror owner to tell most journalists to permanently work from home” https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Jack Rivlin / @jackrivlin: Reach consistently finding ways to make being a journalist more depressing https://twitter.com/...
Matt Porter / @mattjp: Jim's just doing his job here, but incredibly poor darts from whoever inside the company couldn't wait for all staff to be briefed before leaking this https://twitter.com/...
Ben Quinn / @benquinn75: Terrible news in particular for lower-paid younger journalists working in cramped conditions at ‘home’ & deprived of that initial newsroom face time https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Isobel Frodsham / @isobeljourno: Just unbelievably sad and a terrible idea. Some of my colleagues who I sat next to in my early days as a reporter gave me some lessons that I still think about and use today. Reporting and editing is a collaborative process. https://twitter.com/...
Luke Bailey / @imbadatlife: based on my timeline i'm in a minority, but - this is going to happen more and more, and figuring out how to make it work could bring significant advantages to newsrooms that do it properly https://twitter.com/...
Andrew Johnson / @andyjey: This is bad news for journalism. Journalists are constantly learning from each other, from discussions and spontaneous chats, and older journalists passing down anecdotes, tips, advice and standing over the shoulders of younger colleagues. https://twitter.com/...
Fiona Hamilton / @fhamiltontimes: This morning I was talking to work experience students and it brought back some wonderful memories of the thriving, fast paced and brilliant regional newsrooms I worked in as a young reporter in Australia. This news is utterly depressing https://twitter.com/...
Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen / @karinwahlj: This is huge news in journalism. Major move towards the end of the newsroom as we know it. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@ianvisits: Journalists writing for the Mirror can work from home says Mirror newspaper owner. https://www.theguardian.com/ ... Also in the Mirror newspaper. https://www.mirror.co.uk/... https://twitter.com/...
Harry Taylor / @harrytaylr: Everyone loses here. Harder for young journalists to be mentored and learn, harder for reporters to collaborate, harder for editors to run a newspaper, and readers suffer as a result. Trebles all round. https://twitter.com/...
Sachin Nakrani / @sachinnakrani: The longer lockdown has been going the more I've worried this would happen - newspaper groups seeing staff working from home and thinking ‘hang on, we can save some money here’. For reasons ranging from good collaboration to good mental health - journalists need an office. https://twitter.com/...
Jason Groves / @jasongroves1: Good luck to the trainee hacks trying to learn the job from home https://twitter.com/...
Adam Crafton / @adamcrafton_: Besides the obvious downsides of this, curious to know what this means for work experience/internship experiences. There's a lot of us who learned a huge amount just by being given the chance to observe and listen to newsroom conversations https://twitter.com/...
Duncan Wright / @dwright75: Will they be expecting their staff to have their own separate office space at home, fully compliant with H&S for work station set-up? Pay for broadband and satellite connections? Money over staff..... https://twitter.com/...
Man Aman Singh Chhina / @manaman_chhina: I have a gut feeling this will be replicated in India very soon. https://twitter.com/...
Paul Kelso / @pkelso: Learnt more in first six months watching, listening & learning from established journalists in a newsroom than in decades since. Also: the pub https://twitter.com/...
Jon Brady / @jonbradyphoto: This is a really disappointing move! While, yes, journalists *can* and *are* working from home, I'd say we do our best work when we're bouncing ideas off of one another and our editors (even when they say our ideas are shit). A Teams meeting isn't the same as a busy newsroom. https://twitter.com/...
Mike Jennings / @mikejjennings: More bad news for the local press. Can't help but think that companies like Reach are running it into the ground with its “cut off your nose to spite your face” approach. There's got to be a better way. https://twitter.com/...
Jim Waterson / @jimwaterson: End of the newsroom? Publisher Reach (Mirror/Express) to close all small town newspaper offices, move vast majority of journalists to permanently work from home, national titles affected, goodbye expensive office space where editors can shout at reporters. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Twitter:
Twitter launches a public survey on whether world leaders should be subject to the same rules as others and what type of enforcement action is appropriate — We first explained how we define the public interest on Twitter, as well as our principles and approach to world leaders on our service in 2019.
Discussion:
@twittersafety: Interested in sharing your views? Keep an 👀on this thread for more in the coming days. https://blog.twitter.com/...
Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:
OANN broadcast and tweeted the email and cell phone number of a NYT journalist reporting on the network; the tweet, up for about six hours, has now been deleted — More than four hours had passed after Twitter was informed on Wednesday that a far-right news network had used its platform …
Discussion:
@dellcam, @wiczipedia, @thekenyeung, @donie, @slpng_giants, @moorehn, @dellcam, @donie, @dellcam and @dellcam
Discussion:
Dell Cameron / @dellcam: An account w/ 1.5 million users tweeted a link to a journalist's cellphone number. I've been emailing @Twitter for over an hour about it. No response from the company. cc @TwitterSafety Just remembering the time it acted on this quickly (when it wasn't a journalist's number): https://twitter.com/...
Nina Jankowicz / @wiczipedia: A friend of mine was doxed this week; Twitter did nothing in response because her private information was linked to, not shared directly on the platform. Twitter can't force this info to be removed, but they *can* refuse to allow it to be amplified on their service. For shame. https://twitter.com/...
Ken Yeung / @thekenyeung: What even does being safe on the internet mean anymore? https://gizmodo.com/...
Donie O'Sullivan / @donie: Also wild. https://twitter.com/...
@slpng_giants: How is this not doxxing, @TwitterSafety? This clearly violates your Terms of Service - and it's unimaginably dangerous to boot! https://twitter.com/...
Heidi N. Moore / @moorehn: Doxxing is supposed to be against Twitter rules. @TwitterSafety what's up with y'all lately, is the department on vacation? https://twitter.com/...
Dell Cameron / @dellcam: “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules” and is now gone. https://gizmodo.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Donie O'Sullivan / @donie: Pretty wild. https://twitter.com/...
Dell Cameron / @dellcam: @JFA_USA @donie It was just deleted https://twitter.com/...
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Media must stop taking official pronouncements at face value, using phrases like “police said” as shorthand for truth, and train staff to show less credulity — It's inevitable that reporters will have to rely heavily on law enforcement sources in the first hours after a horrific crime.
Discussion:
Asian American Journalists …, Talking Points Memo, The Lily, Columbia Journalism Review, Truth or Fiction?, @chriscuomo, @markfollman, @s_m_i, HuffPost UK, @will_bunch, @eugene_scott, @doristruong, @travisbubenik, @poynter, @ibishblog, @kat__stafford, @kylepope, @annecw, @myhlee, @myhlee, @aaja, @kwameopam, Insider, @menendezrand, @raju, Poynter, @lfung, @sarahkaplan48, @s_m_i, @sulliview and The Week
Discussion:
Jessica Xiao / Asian American Journalists Association: AAJA Encourages Newsrooms to Empower AAPI Journalists and Their Expertise
Cristina Cabrera / Talking Points Memo: GA Police Spox Who Boosted Racist Shirts, Said Alleged Spa Shooter Had ‘Bad Day’ Removed From Case
Christine Liwag Dixon / The Lily: The man charged with the spa shootings was quickly humanized. What about the victims?
Arturo Garcia / Truth or Fiction?: Did the Cop Who Blamed a ‘Very Bad Day’ for Fatal Georgia Shootings Promote Racist Shirts?
Christopher C. Cuomo / @chriscuomo: This sheriff said something stupid and may have an animus. Anyone who covers crime (as I have for 20+ years) knows with cops it is always report but verify. (Remember Duke Lacrosse case) but is a blanket bias vs cops the right solution? https://twitter.com/...
Mark Follman / @markfollman: Safe to say yesterday was ‘a really bad day’ for media covering the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting in Atlanta. As usual, @Sulliview nails it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Stacy-Marie Ishmael / @s_m_i: there are some things white media people prefer to hear from other white media people. something about who gets to be seen as “objective”, etc.
Brittany Wong / HuffPost UK: The Racist Misogyny Of The Atlanta Spa Shootings
@will_bunch: @Sulliview Great column. Last June, I wrote that “police said” are “the two most insidious words in modern journalism” https://www.inquirer.com/...
Eugene Scott / @eugene_scott: Part of doing better is remembering a core tenet of good journalism: Don't take everything from official sources at face value. “Treat the police like any other source, with the same degree of skepticism,” Susan Chira, the editor in chief of the Marshall Project. https://twitter.com/...
Doris N. Truong / @doristruong: Thank you for this, @Sulliview. If I scripted bungle after bungle in news coverage, people would think it was far-fetched. But we saw many mistakes amplified over and over Wed. Are journalists stepping up their skepticism and taking time to do more complete reporting today? https://twitter.com/...
Travis Bubenik / @travisbubenik: “Treat the police like any other source, with the same degree of skepticism.” - so important! https://twitter.com/...
@poynter: Questions journalists need to stop and ask themselves: Are we parroting other news organizations because we think that gives us cover? Are we quoting the police because we think that protects us? Are we getting as many sides of the story as we can? https://www.poynter.org/...
Hussein Ibish / @ibishblog: Insofar as they do, it must https://twitter.com/...
Kat Stafford / @kat__stafford: Evergreen reminder: “... the phrase “police said” is not shorthand for the truth.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Kyle Pope / @kylepope: Great piece. Here's @alexandrianeas from @CJR on a similar theme https://www.cjr.org/... https://twitter.com/...
Anne Ward / @annecw: @Sulliview His empathy for the man who slaughtered eight people and his lack of empathy for the slaughtered victims were truly stunning. And worse, news media dutifully reported that “police said” it was not racially motivated.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee / @myhlee: How to improve coverage of police statements, per @sulliview: “Don't take everything from official sources at face value. Interrogate the information before credulously retailing it to your audience. Verify. Corroborate. Include context.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Michelle Ye Hee Lee / @myhlee: “That's been an overdue necessity in covering recent Black Lives Matter protests, and is just as important in covering the Asian American Pacific Islander community. It's happening in many newsrooms, and none too soon.” Always read @Sulliview: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@aaja: “Part of it is stepping up training for journalists before the crisis happens so that they are better equipped to cover fast-breaking news without credulously relying on police sources.” by Margaret Sullivan @Sulliview, ft #AAJAFamily @DorisTruong Read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Kwame Opam / @kwameopam: “The @aaja put out a helpful guide on Wednesday for those covering the shootings: Use careful language, provide context, understand anti-Asian racism, diversify your sources, empower and support the journalists who are part of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.” https://twitter.com/...
Erin Snodgrass / Insider: Police departments across the US are increasing patrols in Asian communities, but experts say more policing is not the answer
@menendezrand: 'It's inevitable that reporters rely heavily on law-enforcement in the first hours after a horrific crime. Amid chaos, the police may be the only ones with any hard information. But sometimes their information is flawed reflects a damaging bias.' https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Raju Narisetti / @raju: this...a conversation among POC in newsrooms for ages ‘Not racially motivated’?: The Atlanta spa shootings show why the media should be wary of initial police statements https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...?
Doris Truong / Poynter: The rush to report on Atlanta-area shootings amplified bias in news coverage
Lisa Fung / @lfung: 'Don't take everything from official sources at face value. Interrogate the information before credulously retailing it to your audience. Verify. Corroborate. Include context.' Seems obvious but doesn't always happen. Important insight from @Sulliview https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Sarah Kaplan / @sarahkaplan48: “Sometimes their information is flawed. And sometimes the way they tell it reflects a damaging bias.” Essential reading from @Sulliview on why journalists must report police accounts critically and with context https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
The price for Quartz' story-as-an-NFT reaches ~$1,800, with time left for more bids; the stunt also shows how journalism's value is divorced from market price — This is one of the eternal truisms of journalism: The value of news as a product only rarely lines up with what the market will pay for it.
Discussion:
Marcela Kunova / @marcelakunova: Excellent point well made by @jbenton at @NiemanLab. The question is: and now what? https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Joshua Benton / @jbenton: This post has *everything*: — Monet's “Le déjeuner sur l'herbe” — “Turn that Veblen bad into a Veblen good?” — capitalist decadence at a fall-of-Rome scale — n00bmind, jarzod, and zonted https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Facebook's newsletter tool will let it help people monetize their Facebook Pages and show it can support a different kind of publishing amid legal scrutiny — Today let's talk about platforms' growing interest in building newsletter tools — and whether Facebook, against all conventional wisdom, might have an opportunity there.
Discussion:
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: I wrote about Facebook's forthcoming newsletter gambit, and whether you should build your solo journalism effort on the platform. The company hinted to me that it won't take a cut of your subscription revenue 👀 https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@jason: Has anyone ever partnered with Facebook and not gotten screwed by them?! https://twitter.com/...
Will Oremus / @willoremus: this would be an interesting move for a company that's already facing a federal antitrust lawsuit https://twitter.com/...
Venkat Ananth / @venkatananth: This is an interesting analysis by @CaseyNewton on what Facebook sees in newsletters — a shift away from the News Feed (through integration of FB Pages) and a reader community model through Groups. https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Michael Sayman / @michaelsayman: My guess is most tech conglomerates will offer some form of Substack. At which point, similar to how music artists have their music available on various music platforms, journalists will host their content on various “substack-like” services. No one service will rule them all. https://twitter.com/...
RELATED:
Annalee Newitz / The Hypothesis:
Substack's decision to pay some to write on the platform is an editorial one as it chooses what writing to support; its secrecy is a breach of journalism ethics
Substack's decision to pay some to write on the platform is an editorial one as it chooses what writing to support; its secrecy is a breach of journalism ethics
Discussion:
Vox, Webb Chatham Report, New Republic, @annaleen, @adamconover, @monteiro, @gaileyfrey, @erikabakse, @_megconley, @andrewliptak, @athertonkd, @nberlat, @annehelen, @bernybelvedere, @imgarysuarez, @scalzi, @bernybelvedere, @andreablythe, @oliverburkeman, @annehelen, @annehelen, @_cvd, @annehelen, @kottke, @blackamazon, @can, @jamessurowiecki, honest to blog, @carnage4life, @benedictevans, @bradydale, @kantrowitz, @digifiend, @jefferson1simon, The Supercreator, @arctictony, TechCrunch, Stone Soup, @mnnicefc, Felicitations!, légumes all day, @lyssaslounge, @jason, @karaswisher, @davewiner, @themadstone, @dangillmor and Glenn Greenwald, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Alex Shephard / New Republic: What Is Substack? — Substack, the flourishing four-year-old newsletter company, has always touted itself as a savior.
@annaleen: Here's why Substack's scam worked so well. They paid a secret group of writers to make newsletters seem lucrative. In my newsletter this week, I talk about how it all happened, and why I'm out. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Adam Conover / @adamconover: .@annaleen on Substack's scammy business practices: despite claiming that “any writer can make a living on Substack”, they were secretly paying large amounts of VC money to an undisclosed list of writers in order to make them look like organic successes. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Mike Monteiro / @monteiro: ...and if you want more detail about Substack's garbagefire, @annaleen makes the case very well here. (But honestly “they write paychecks to terfs and nazis” should be all you need.) https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Erika Bakse / @erikabakse: @gaileyfrey That's so awesome that https://ghost.io/ is helping you migrate!
Meg Conley / @_megconley: @annehelen There've been some real problems. AND. They need a real PR team which they probably don't have being a startup. There's so much good content on the platform from so many expansive people and I don't know Substack keeps failing to highlight THEM.
Andrew Liptak / @andrewliptak: What's notable here is that Gailey was one of the folks that Substack picked for its Bridge mentorship program. https://twitter.com/...
Kelsey D. Atherton / @athertonkd: “So Substack has an editorial policy, but no accountability. And they have terms of service, but no enforcement. If you listen to Hamish, they don't even hire writers! They just give money to people who write things that happen to be on Substack.” https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Noah Berlatsky / @nberlat: so this letter makes me feel like there are definite advantages to being too stodgy to be an early adopter and too much of a nobody to get offers from new platforms. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: This is something that is absolutely getting lost in this conversation — which is a very important one. Substack has bungled the messaging at every turn. They missed an opportunity to come down very clearly on hate speech on the platform.
Berny Belvedere / @bernybelvedere: Legitimately one of the dumbest posts I've read. Lord have mercy. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
@imgarysuarez: Worth a read if you're following the Substack scandal. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
John Scalzi / @scalzi: It's never too late to go back to the blogs, people. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Berny Belvedere / @bernybelvedere: Ah, yes, the devilish scam of luring Matthew Yglesias via a sensible business proposition and meanwhile all I get is their platform and monetization tools merely free of charge. Absolute bastards.
Andrea Blythe / @andreablythe: @gaileyfrey I'm planning to make a move away from Substack as well for all the reasons you mention.
Oliver Burkeman / @oliverburkeman: The logic here strikes me as tortured. I think Substack just saw a gap in the market, created by rapid recent ideological narrowing in existing media leaving large audiences underserved, and decided to capitalize on it. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: They have also missed an opportunity to highlight all of the people they've given money to who are not Greenwald et. al. *through their public fellowship programs.* This is not private information. It is all right here: https://on.substack.com/...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: I am going to continue to pressure Substack to do better on all of these fronts, from recruitment to hate speech and anti-trans rhetoric in particular. But if you keep focusing *exclusively* on these dudes you're eclipsing all of the other work.
Conor Davidsen / @_cvd: @kottke That this is a Substack post is possibly the most meta thing I've ever seen.
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: Substack recruited me and gave me an advance based on my unpaid newsletter subscribers and my open rate. They had an idea of what my subscriber income would be, and they offered significantly less. In other words: people who take the advances make significantly less money
@kottke: “Substack's business is a scam. They claim to offer writers a level playing field for making a living, and instead they pay an elite, secret group of writers to be on the platform and make newsletter writing appear to be more lucrative than it is.” https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
@blackamazon: THIS and Substack did this while openly antagonizing populations It decided to defend “not having censorship” while it did It started mentor ship programs on “building audience ” While these folks were paid other wise to be comfortable https://twitter.com/...
@can: every reasonably popular substack should claim to be getting paid and thus force the company's hand to actually disclose the full list https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
James Surowiecki / @jamessurowiecki: If a publishing house gives a writer an advance, that does not make the writer an employee of the publisher. So it makes no sense to call people to whom Substack is fronting money “staff writers,” particularly given that it exercises no editorial control. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Kat Kourbeti / honest to blog: #12: quarantine life, year 1
Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life: A challenge for Substack over the next year is proving that writers can make money on the platform who aren't subsidized by the company. YouTube, Patreon & OnlyFans pulled this off while Medium did not. Is a journalism based creator class a mirage? https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Benedict Evans / @benedictevans: I don't understand the criticism that Substack can only make you money if you already spent a long time building a big audience that will pay for your stuff. Isn't that just ‘media’? You need a lot of work and a lot of Luck and no publisher/platform/tool can do that for you
Brady Dale / @bradydale: @benedictevans @jjaron If you're a writer and you saw Taibbi and Yglesias go on Substack and thought: “Yeah I'll probably get the same results” you have larger problems Which is another way of saying: yeah it's a tough slog but those of us in the biz also get that
Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz: Fwiw, I think the “Substack is a scam” discourse is a bit overblown, They do not pay me, never offered, but I decided to set up a business there because I liked the economics and opportunity. So far, so good.
Darrin Hawe / @digifiend: @karaswisher @Annaleen So @analeen uses substack as a mass mailer (which it seems to do well), states that income stream isn't the goal of use, then isn't happy that potential readership growth isn't likely due to lack of transparency. If fulfilling it's intended use, I'm not seeing the problem.
Jefferson Simon / @jefferson1simon: @karaswisher @Annaleen Disagree with this article. And Substack had been pretty open about paying some of the writers.
Michael Jones / The Supercreator: This one's for the girls — I give Facebook a hard time because their growth …
Tony Haile / @arctictony: Whatever your position on this, feels like Twitter acquired @revue at the right time. They have a viable competitor to Substack with better distribution and none of the moral quandary. https://twitter.com/...
Sarah Gailey / Stone Soup: We Are A Snail — I would say it's time for us to go, but we aren't really going anywhere.
Wes Burdine / @mnnicefc: I mean, could also just do a blogspot and throw a venmo link at the bottom. https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Day / Felicitations!: Felicitations Newsletter #5 — Someone called me a “boomer” last week on Twitch. — a) I am NOT A BOOMER.
Ria Elciario / légumes all day: On Substack — Substack pays some writers a salary through an exclusive program called Substack Pro.
Katharina Borchert / @lyssaslounge: It never ends well when platforms want to play #publisher but don't want to be treated like publishers. Maybe chat with the wonderful @GabrielBerlin and try @joinsteadyEN instead? #substack #newsletter #publishing https://twitter.com/...
@jason: It's impossible to run a platform on the internet anymore! Apparently, @SubstackInc's admission they pay advances to writers, including on the right (like @bariweiss @ggreenwald @sullydish), has lead the left to flee the platform! & the right can't write for the @nytimes!
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: It'd be nice to see all those who are paid in broad daylight, so those strivers on the platform can see it all. Pretending you are not a paid edit operation when you are seems shabby at the very least. I thought @Annaleen kind of nailed it here: https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
@davewiner: Substack's scam is common tech industry practice. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Maddie Stone / @themadstone: Why hand selecting paid writers for your platform and refusing to divulge their identities is absolutely making editorial decisions, and pretty shitty ones at that. Read the entire thing 👇🏼 https://twitter.com/...
Dan Gillmor / @dangillmor: I'm not for or against Substack (though I don't intend to use it), but this piece from @annaleenewitz is harsh about, among other things, the platform's lack of transparency. https://thehypothesis.substack.com/ ...
Sportico:
Sources: entertainment group Endeavor, which owns UFC and talent agency IMG, and which pulled its IPO plans in late 2019, has confidentially filed for a new IPO — Endeavor Group Holdings, the entertainment conglomerate that owns Ultimate Fighting Championship, talent agencies IMG and William Morris …
Discussion:
Kurt Badenhausen / @kbadenhausen: Endeavor previously sought to go public in 2019, filing to sell 15M shares at $27/share. Details on latest filing aren't known yet. https://twitter.com/...
@fightoracle: It will be interesting what the new S1 says regarding Silver Lake &KKR's ability to trigger a UFC spin off IPO despite being minority partners in UFC. previous S1 said Endeavor didn't control its own destiny in regards to UFC & that Priorities amongst shareholders may not align https://twitter.com/...
Matt Donnelly / Variety: Endeavor Seeking Second Chance at Public Offering
Dade Hayes / Deadline: Endeavor IPO Plans Are Back On Track - Report
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
The Uproot Project, a network of and for environmental journalists of color, is launching this month — The climate crisis may be the biggest story of our lifetime, and the news industry is increasingly coming to grips with the fact that climate change touches every facet of life.