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Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
The controversies around Substack miss the point that it is just a tool for sovereign writers, who are in control as the users pay them directly — Manage your Stratechery subscription. — There has been a bit of controversy around Substack over the last week; I'm not going to get into the specifics …
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Peter Kafka / Vox:
Substack is generating negative attention just when it faces competition from Facebook and Twitter to attract writers who want to make money from newsletters
Discussion:
@davidsirota, American Press Institute, Let Your Life Speak, tiny driver, @wajahatali, TK News, Tales from the jar side, The Lizzie Wade Weekly, @sianysianysiany, What's New in Publishing, TBQ Talks, @alexwilliams, Friendmendations, Here for It w/ R. Eric Thomas, @karrieurbanist, Two Kinds of Intelligence, @pkafka, Freddie deBoer, @davidsirota, Cover your bases, The Starting Block, @benyt, Protocol, Memex 1.1, @hautepop, @micsolana, @adamdavidson, @sadydoyle, Noahpinion, @davidgerard, @nishachittal, Singal-Minded, @jason, @adamweinstein, @jimmydonofrio, @dannypage, @themadstone, @ubiquity75, @ubiquity75, @ubiquity75, @ubiquity75, @ubiquity75, @themadstone, @travelinganna, @rsingel, @petersterne, @petersterne, @ubiquity75, @travelinganna, @themadstone, @mattyglesias, @samraskinz, @manymanywords, @mathewi, @therealbradbabs, @patdennis, @stevekrak, @dannypage and Today in Tabs
Jay Rosen / PressThink:
A look at instances where journalistic practices have improved in response to the Trump years, such as providing better context in explaining officials' actions — Even after all that has happened from the escalator to the insurrection, you're worried that the American press has learned nothing from the Trump years.
Discussion:
@jayrosen_nyu, @reemkhurshid, @nicdawes, @jayrosen_nyu, @craignewmark, @mtaibbi, New Republic, @perrybaconjr, @caseynewton, @jayrosen_nyu and @mlcalderone
Elizabeth Spiers / My New Band Is:
Conde used McCammond's tweets as an excuse to fire her because it can't fire Wintour, who inappropriately hired an EIC with no managerial or fashion experience — Conde Nast recently hired 27 year old political reporter Alexi McCammond to be the editor in chief of Teen Vogue and rescinded …
Discussion:
The Corsair, @espiers, @maggienyt, The Guardian, @eugene_scott, @espiers, @hofrench, @sulliview, @eshalegal, @hkanji, @katherinespiers, @ryangrim, @sarthakgh, @mathewi, @espiers, @harryh, @them_l_g, @cathyreisenwitz, @stevebattaglio, @natashaldaly, @jbflint, @ldobsonhughes, @sierratishgart, @edmundlee, @nishachittal, @brosandprose, @bananapeele and @annehelen
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Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
In letter to FCC, Mozilla calls for a return to net neutrality, joined by Dropbox, Eventbrite, Reddit, Vimeo, and Wikimedia — - Firefox-maker Mozilla is leading a push for the Federal Communications Commission to swiftly reinstate net neutrality rules stripped away under the Trump administration.
Discussion:
@wikimedia, @mediaevan, CNET, Engadget, The Verge, 9to5Mac and The Mozilla Blog
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Interview with author Ibram Kendi, who is working with The Boston Globe on The Emancipator, an online publication with a seven-figure budget to cover racism — The author Ibram Kendi and The Boston Globe are teaming up to cover racism, inspired by Boston's 19th-century abolitionist newspapers.
Steven Perlberg / Insider:
Fortune, which has around 30,000 digital subscribers, lost ~$10M last year, due to implosion of live events business, which accounted for 30%+ of its revenue — - Fortune's owner gave it a $9.6 million lifeline during the pandemic. — The editorial union is fighting management over byline counts and diversity measures.
Discussion:
nyguild.org
Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
Emotional viral TikTok videos are boosting book sales, like The Song of Achilles, which saw its sales jump about 9x after some book reading videos took off — “BookTok” videos are starting to influence publishers and best-seller lists, and the verklempt readers behind them are just as surprised as everyone else.
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
A gender discrimination lawsuit against Disney, filed by two women in 2019, has been joined by eight other female Disney employees and adds pay secrecy claims — A claim that the company illegally prohibits employees from discussing pay has been added to a lawsuit accusing it of paying women less than men.
Discussion:
@margotroosevelt, @cristina_cp24, Fast Company, Los Angeles Times and @blackamazon
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
NYT had 840K games subscribers at the end of 2020, up 40% YoY, and more than 28M people had played one of its games last year, up 16% YoY — A veteran of FarmVille and Words With Friends looks to entice more subscribers with non-news diversions — The most searched-for terms …
Discussion:
@fmanjoo, @xor, @carnage4life and @gerryfsmith
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
YouTube confirms it is testing a feature in the US that automatically detects products in videos and provides related content links — As part of one of YouTube's latest experiments, the video-sharing platform looks to expand beyond the “Products in this Video” feature that auto-detects specific items …
Discussion:
The Verge
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Budget TV maker Vizio is planning a NYSE IPO and pitching investors on its growing ad and streaming businesses, driven by SmartCast, which has 12.2M accounts — - Vizio plans to sell shares in next week's IPO at $21 to $23 each, giving it a valuation of $4.2 billion at the top end of the range.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
YouTube star David Dobrik, a co-founder of photo app Dispo, has lost several brand sponsors after claims of sexual assault by a member of Vlog Squad in 2018 — A YouTuber famous for his prank videos has lost multiple advertising sponsors, and fans, this past week.
Discussion:
@sparkcapital, The Information, Insider, TechCrunch, @sparkcapital, Variety, Mashable, The Verge, @kateclarktweets, Axios, @taylorlorenz, E! Online, @ashkan, @lynnshawprod, @taylorlorenz, @annehummert and @nytimes, more at Techmeme »
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