Top News:
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Interviews with 14 current and former Medium employees portray a dysfunctional company; sources say Medium has 700K paid subs, suggesting $35M+ in revenue — I. — Last week, a partnerships manager at Medium working with the White House found that there was a strange problem with the platform …
Discussion:
@silvermanjacob, Medialyte, @caseynewton, @felixsalmon, @mattyglesias, @caseynewton, @caseynewton, @jakebackpack, @jakebackpack, The Business of Business, American Press Institute, @barry, @reckless, @craigmod, @kimzetter, @ryanlawler, @teddyschleifer, Columbia Journalism Review, @jayrosen_nyu, @katzish, @teddyschleifer, @caseynewton, @caseynewton, @caseynewton, @jamesrbuk, @rklein90, @hshaban, @karaswisher, @sarahw, @gadyepstein, @hunterw, @mattyglesias, @cwarzel, @choire, @janefriedman, @caseynewton, @bluechoochoo, @emilybell, @mat, @noahshachtman, @aleksnotalex, @clarajeffery, @felixsalmon, @backlon, @jakebackpack, What's New in Publishing, @nberlat, @annehelen, @caseynewton, @anthony, @moorehn, @aaronhuertas, @aliciakennedy, @katiedrumm, @chaykak, @gamoid, @caseyjohnston, @alexeheath, Insider, @joshsternberg and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Jacob Silverman / @silvermanjacob: imagine punting on 700k subscribers because it doesn't represent google-worthy scale https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Mark Stenberg / Medialyte: The Medium pivot is the message
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: Ultimately, staffers I spoke with wished Williams would take responsibility for his stop-start flirtations with journalism, and acknowledge where he himself had fallen short. https://twitter.com/...
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: @CaseyNewton Casey, are you saying here that Medium has at this point burned through all of the $132m and then some? https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias: There's a strong norm against journalists caring about journalism business models, but in this day and age you owe it to yourself to understand how your employer makes money (or hopes to) and how your work figures into that.
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: The thing is, Medium isn't a bad business. It has more than 700,000 paid subscriptions, I'm told, putting it on track for more than $35 million in revenue. That's pretty healthy for a media company. It's just not a great tech business. Especially if you co-founded Twitter. https://twitter.com/...
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: And here it is: my best effort to understand what happened after Medium invested millions in its latest embrace of original journalism, only to begin pulling back when Ev Williams didn't like what he saw. https://www.theverge.com/...
Jacob Bacharach / @jakebackpack: A $35M print/online media company could employ 350 people at $75K per year, spend 10% on occupancy and general admin, $4M on travel, advertising, etc., and *still* turn a $1.25M profit!
Jacob Bacharach / @jakebackpack: I'd argue and say, what's wrong with an idea for a $50M regional enterprise with steady margins?
Paul Smalera / The Business of Business: Unionization won't save the media business, nor its workers
American Press Institute: Need to Know: March 25, 2021 — OFF THE TOP — You might have heard: Negativity …
Barry Petchesky / @barry: This just keeps making me madder. I think the main reason Defector has been successful so far is that our standards for success are “pay for itself and its employees, not make a billion dollars.” https://twitter.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: Big @CaseyNewton on what happened at Medium - copublished with @platformer because the future of the media is always just finding new and better ways to collaborate and reach audiences! https://www.theverge.com/...
Craig Mod / @craigmod: Am I being nuts or is 700k paying subscribers pretty impressive for a publisher with no singular prestige publication? (for comparison — nytimes has about 7.5M subs ... but also price paid per sub much higher than medium — ~$17/mo vs $5/mo for medium) https://www.theverge.com/...
Kim Zetter / @kimzetter: This is really sad. Medium amassed a collection of top-notch editors and writers, only to have the rug pulled out from under them. Here's a great piece from @CaseyNewton giving the backstory on the demise of Medium's editorial experiment https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Ryan Lawler / @ryanlawler: @CaseyNewton Is the implication that the new owner of the POTUS account was being served recommendations meant for the previous tenant?
Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer: If Ev Williams was going to fund Medium himself, might as well have incorporated Medium as a nonprofit. He could've secured himself a nice tax deduction!
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review: Medium has pivoted so many times it has now come full circle
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: A tech company is not like an editorial company. They are different creatures. The way they create value will not align. Doesn't matter how many editorial people a tech company hires. Eventually it will get down to the business of paying for fewer of them. https://www.theverge.com/...
Amanda Katz / @katzish: Also this reporting by @CaseyNewton is excellent and I have no idea how he did it so fast, do read https://www.google.com/...
Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer: This situation is a bit different from the other cut-backs we've seen recently, but it's another example of billionaire funders showing that they are not the saviors for media companies that are losing money. https://twitter.com/...
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: @ryanlawler this is .......... an excellent question lol
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: It's notoriously difficult to earn a profit from journalism. But the billionaire Williams started to give up barely a year in. Random user-generated posts turned into hits by Google were a more reliable source of revenue. And so it was time to downsize. Again. https://twitter.com/...
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: The story starts in a strange place: with President Joe Biden's official Medium account being served porn recommendations. Highbrow mixed with lowbrow; unpredictable algorithms at work. Medium in a nutshell. https://twitter.com/...
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: Venture capitalism and journalism are fundamentally incompatible. It will be better for both when we accept that. https://twitter.com/...
Rebecca Klein / @rklein90: When you dig deeper into so many of these media stories you find that the company actually is making money, just some dude wants more, more, more https://www.theverge.com/...
Hamza Shaban / @hshaban: It's as if business people fixated on gargantuan scale and Facebook-like profits should not be in charge of journalism outlets: https://twitter.com/...
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: This is just superb by @CaseyNewton on the sitch at this tiresome platform pretending to be a real media company for far too long. Just call it Demand Media 2 and be done with it: The mess at Medium - Platformer https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Sarah Weinman / @sarahw: “At a certain point you're not nimble and iterating. You're just floundering and failing to follow through and execute.” https://www.theverge.com/...
Gady Epstein / @gadyepstein: So Ev's brilliant plan in 2020 was to copy the Forbes of 2010 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias: To wit, so much about this Medium news sucks. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel: scale obsession has ruined so many things! https://twitter.com/...
@choire: It's easy to think of Medium as a failed series of journalism companies, and that's true, but it's also a failed series of technology companies. https://www.theverge.com/...
Jane Friedman / @janefriedman: Must-read piece on the “technology product” of Medium: “Medium's original journalism was meant to give shape & prestige to an essentially random collection of writing.” This is what investors spent $132m on, last funded in 2016 (!): https://www.theverge.com/... by @CaseyNewton
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: @felixsalmon I guess I meant, you could theoretically build a healthy business from a base of $35M in recurring revenue
Andréa López / @bluechoochoo: Anyway @CaseyNewton did an awesome job on that Medium article. A lot of people transitioned from journalist to pundit when they went the indie newsletter route. But he keeps getting us new interesting info.
Emily Bell / @emilybell: Feel enormously sorry for the people losing jobs at Medium, and particularly sorry that @ozm is effected - some of the best independent technology coverage out there. @WillOremus and team really deserve better https://www.theverge.com/...
Mat Honan / @mat: Great look into the (most-recent) Medium fiasco from Casey: https://twitter.com/...
Noah Shachtman / @noahshachtman: the juiciest thing you'll read all night: @CaseyNewton on the (latest) clusterfuck at medium https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Aleksander Chan / @aleksnotalex: “scale” has poisoned all of our media owners into thinking $35m in revenue isn't “enough,” even though it would pay hundreds of people living wages and benefits. everything has to be an empire or it's nothing at all. what medium has done (again) is shameful https://twitter.com/...
Clara Jeffery / @clarajeffery: “Like Blogger and Twitter before it, Medium will bet on unpaid labor and algorithms.” https://www.theverge.com/...
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: @CaseyNewton I mean, that's a shit ton of losses! Revenues alone don't make you “pretty healthy” unless you have some kind of path to profitability
Dieter Bohn / @backlon: Here's @CaseyNewton on the mess at Medium. It starts with a story about how “'President Joe Biden is Being Served Erotica on https://medium.com/,' the staffer complained in an internal post” and only gets more eye-popping from there. https://www.theverge.com/...
Jacob Bacharach / @jakebackpack: I've written about this before: the financialized mindset has essentially eliminated the idea of the successful mid-sized enterprise from the American business vernacular. When I was in B-school, for example, all our projects were basically, “Come up with a $1B idea.” https://twitter.com/...
Noah Berlatsky / @nberlat: this is all depressing. https://www.theverge.com/...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: Just bleak, bleak shit from @CaseyNewton on the End of Medium: III https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Casey Newton / @caseynewton: @felixsalmon I believe so yes
Anthony DeRosa / @anthony: “Hits would be made either because we managed to get a prime spot on Google or because something made it big on Facebook,” https://www.theverge.com/...
Heidi N. Moore / @moorehn: Good reporting and context on the Medium voluntary buyouts by @CaseyNewton https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Aaron Huertas / @aaronhuertas: good lord, just make it a unionized non-profit and go start a new business https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Alicia Kennedy / @aliciakennedy: ...this is why a bunch of editors and writers now have to find something else to do https://twitter.com/...
Katie Drummond / @katiedrumm: Ev Williams should be so ashamed of himself. https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Kyle Chayka / @chaykak: “what once had been publications are now likely better thought of as topic pages.” @CaseyNewton on Medium https://www.theverge.com/...
Matt Weinberger / @gamoid: It's cool that the only two outcomes are “one billion daily active users” or “it's garbage, trash it” https://twitter.com/...
Casey Johnston / @caseyjohnston: What a lede by all time goat @CaseyNewton https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Alex Heath / @alexeheath: Medium has over 700,000 paying subs, netting out to roughly $35 million in yearly revenue, reports @CaseyNewton. And CEO Ev Williams has been personally funding the company since its last VC round in 2016 https://twitter.com/...
Sinéad Baker / Insider: Medium had an internal panic after its algorithm kept recommending erotic stories to the official POTUS account used by Biden, report says
Eric Lutz / Vanity Fair:
CNN's defense of Chris Cuomo getting priority COVID testing again indicates that CNN seems to have no ethical issue with the relationship between the Cuomos — Chris Cuomo never missed an opportunity to tell his “luv guv” big brother what a great job he was doing.
Discussion:
Albany Times Union, New York Times, Washington Post, Insider, NPR, TVNewser, @richlowry, @claytravis, scheerpost.com, Reason, The Federalist, The Wrap and New York Post
Discussion:
Brendan J. Lyons / Albany Times Union: Top health officials told to prioritize COVID testing for Cuomo's relatives
Erik Wemple / Washington Post: CNN's Chris Cuomo got special treatment from New York, confirming worst suspicions about media elites
Tom Porter / Insider: CNN defended Chris Cuomo for using Andrew Cuomo's power as New York governor to access COVID-19 tests when they were hard to find
Laurel Wamsley / NPR: Reports: Cuomo Administration Gave Special Coronavirus Testing Access To Family, VIPs
A.J. Katz / TVNewser: Report: Gov. Cuomo May Have Given Family Members, Including CNN's Chris Cuomo, Special Access to Covid-19 Testing
Rich Lowry / @richlowry: The stories Chris Cuomo “obviously” can't cover keep getting better and better Cuomo's Family Is Said to Have Received Special Access to Virus Tests https://www.nytimes.com/...
Clay Travis / @claytravis: New York governor Andrew Cuomo gave his family members, including CNN's Chris Cuomo, early access to covid tests last year when almost no one could get them, potentially breaking the law. I'm sure CNN will cover this aggressively: https://www.outkick.com/...
Glenn Greenwald / scheerpost.com: CNN's Defense of Chris Cuomo's Special COVID Privileges is Grotesque
Liz Wolfe / Reason: Cuomo Reportedly Secured Special Treatment for Family Members and VIPs During Early Days of Pandemic
Jordan Davidson / The Federalist: Gov. Cuomo Gave Special COVID Treatment To Brother Chris And ‘Well-Connected Figures’ While New Yorkers Perished
News Corp:
News Corp acquires Investor's Business Daily for $275M; the financial news and research business has ~100K subscribers and will be operated by Dow Jones — Digitally-Focused Financial News, Tools and Research Business To Be Operated By News Corp's Dow Jones Division
Discussion:
Variety, The Hill, The Wrap, Talking Biz News, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, @mathewi, @markdistef, @dylanbyers, @felixsalmon, @pkafka and Bloomberg
Discussion:
Todd Spangler / Variety: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to Buy Investor's Business Daily for $275 Million
Thomas Moore / The Hill: News Corp. to buy Investor's Business Daily
Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap: News Corp to Acquire Investor's Business Daily for $275 Million
Mathew Ingram / @mathewi: News Corp buys Investor's Business Daily for $250M. I wonder how much of that price is because the paper owns the domain name investors dot com https://newscorp.com/...
Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef: News Corp is buying Investor's Business Daily, which runs https://investors.com/, for $275 million https://newscorp.com/...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: 🤝 Media M&A: News Corp. has agreed to acquire Investor's Business Daily from O'Neil Capital Management. “The high margin, profitable and rapidly growing digital first financial news and research business will be operated by Dow Jones.” https://newscorp.com/...
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: Wow, Investor's Business Daily is worth $275m! Roughly the same amount that Jeff Bezos paid for the Washington Post https://newscorp.com/...
Eric Levitz / New York Magazine:
Substack is only a “scam” in the same way that modern media is, where star pundits profit and talented reporters go underemployed — If you aren't sufficiently broken inside to be an extremely-online journalist — or, worse, a non-journalist who diligently monitors the beefs within …
Discussion:
@sacca, @espiers, @amywestervelt, @ericlevitz, @zachwritesstuff, @ginamizell, @pbump, @alexmcdaniel, Memex 1.1, @emilybell, @claireefallon, @kantrowitz, @augustjpollak, @mcmansionhell, @marisa_ingemi, @jason, @tnwhiskeywoman, @thrasherxy, @edroso, @kyleaglaser, @jilliancyork, @annehelen, @jilliancyork, @delia_cai, @lizzieohreally, @lizzieohreally, @davidfolkenflik, @stevemullis, @mollywood, @mollywood, @caseyjohnston, @mollywood, @caseyjohnston, @sacca, @mollywood, @sacca, @cameronwilson, @thrasherxy, @jowrotethis, @sethwemerson, @goldietaylor, @lindseyadler, @davegershgorn, @howelloneill, @milehighrobert, @hannahrkeyser, @patrick_hruby, @davidubben, @benpopper, @rachelmetz, @adavidhalejoint, @alec_lewis, @thelincoln, @bdhowald, @annaleen, @lizzieohreally, @karaswisher, @sacca, @karaswisher, @anne_elizabeth, @frankicookney, @ntavakolifar, @ninabernstein1, @hkesvani, @amywestervelt, @annacod, @amywestervelt, @amywestervelt, @amywestervelt, @annanowo, @amywestervelt, @danismcnally, @michellemanafy, @rachelconnoll14, @sadydoyle, @wudanyan, @hkesvani, @rklein90, @alex, @tomnamako, @amywestervelt and @alexeheath
Discussion:
@sacca: Even if the Substack/newsletter economics are a wash, a lot of reporters will make the jump just so they don't have to deal with their shitty editors. (Employed journalists: Be sure to switch to your burner account before hearting this.)
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: If anything, I'd say Substack exposes the people whose editors have been doing a lot of heavy lifting this whole time. https://twitter.com/...
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: The individual superstar brand thing is the measure of success. So if you don't want to do that, if you stick to the work, it's possible, but you'll never make as much money. And you'll routinely have your work cribbed by the people who focus on brand-building.
Eric Levitz / @ericlevitz: Between 2008 and 2019, the number of newsroom jobs in the United States fell by 26,000, according to the Pew Research Center. Over that same period, roughly 50,000 journalism majors were graduating into the U.S. labor market every year. https://nymag.com/...
Zachary Siegel / @zachwritesstuff: My editors are mostly very thoughtful and work hard to make my work better. This notion that we loathe our editors is weird. https://twitter.com/...
Gina Mizell / @ginamizell: Actually, the WORST thing about writing my Substack newsletter was NOT having an editor. They make a writer's work better. Period. https://twitter.com/...
Philip Bump / @pbump: Say you don't know anything about journalism without saying you don't know anything about journalism. https://twitter.com/...
Alex McDaniel / @alexmcdaniel: editors aren't the problem. their bosses are. https://twitter.com/...
John Naughton / Memex 1.1: Wednesday 24 March, 2021 — How do you do? — Quote of the Day … - Frank Lloyd Wright
Emily Bell / @emilybell: In my limited experience reporters who think their editors are shitty are those most in need of editing. Even shitty editing tends to improve their copy https://twitter.com/...
Claire Fallon / @claireefallon: yes, it's true, i started a substack because i hated* my shitty editors** *got laid off from **increasingly rare media job https://twitter.com/...
Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz: We're still talking about this? https://twitter.com/...
August J. Pollak / @augustjpollak: The collapse of every publication in this country over the last 30 years can be directly traced to the vain, impatient gluttony of venture capitalists, so naturally venture capitalists have concluded the problem with journalism isn't about money, there's just too many editors https://twitter.com/...
Kate Wagner / @mcmansionhell: uh I started a substack bc what I wanted to write wasn't profitable from a conventional sports journalism perspective. I wish to Christ that that publication had an editor too. https://twitter.com/...
Marisa Ingemi / @marisa_ingemi: as a freelancer my favorite part is working with so many great editors and learning from them. as journalists we would not grow or improve without the tireless work of editors. https://twitter.com/...
@jason: This is an incorrect take Substack allows you to own the emails & the Stripe relationship with your readers so u can leave the platform ANY TIME & take your entire business with you! Substack has ZERO recourse to keep you on the platform if you want to pay 99% less on @Ghost! https://twitter.com/...
Dr. Steven W. Thrasher / @thrasherxy: “Be your own boss!” they said about every industry, as they controlled all the means of production and asked you now to also forfeit the legal protections and social safety net of being an actual employee
Roy Edroso / @edroso: @thrasherxy Me, I'm Substacking because The Man can't deal with my realness. https://twitter.com/...
Kyle Glaser / @kyleaglaser: Like any profession, there are good editors and bad editors. That said, their importance cannot be understated. They improve your work, inspire story ideas, help you when you're stuck and make the final product shine. If anything, our industry needs more editors, not fewer. https://twitter.com/...
Jillian C. York / @jilliancyork: As a pretty in-demand (these days) writer, I couldn't possibly disagree more—I love my editors. If anything, it'd be to escape the drudgery of invoicing, but my writing would be the worse for it. https://twitter.com/...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: For every Greenwald or Taibbi there are ten freelancers who couldn't pay bills on $400 (high end!) for a reported piece, whose beats are considered too niche, etc etc
Jillian C. York / @jilliancyork: Can we stop being precious about what Substack, etc are going to create? They're going to create BLOGGERS, remember those? We were annoying. Some of us went mainstream, some of us went full circle to Substack, some of us still blog. Everything old is new again.
Lizzie O'Leary / @lizzieohreally: @sacca One of the biggest issues is honestly that two thirds of the ad dollars go to FB and Google. This is not about small ball quibbles over headlines. It's a much more existential question. The industry, save a few standouts, is in crisis.
Lizzie O'Leary / @lizzieohreally: @sacca No. That's really not how it works. Also not sure what you mean about “results.” Dumb stories? Not really, no. This is a very good overview of the economics here. https://www.brookings.edu/...
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: We all need editors. Also, don't believe the economics would be even a wash for vast majority of journalists. That said - anyone wants to make the jump, should! https://twitter.com/...
Steve Mullis / @stevemullis: @sacca @caseyjohnston @mollywood Who are you talking about? I feel your narrative is built off of some very specific examples but I don't know what those examples are. And if the examples are the high-profile folks who left for substack b/c of “shitty editors,” they aren't really emblematic of the industry.
Molly Wood / @mollywood: @sacca Respectfully, I'm gonna heart all the journalists in the comments defending our editors. We all know who made us better at our jobs. The executives? Burner time.
Molly Wood / @mollywood: @sacca Burner-approaching comment but erm I did leave a “best” paper for public media ... for ... reasons ...
Casey Johnston / @caseyjohnston: @mollywood @sacca the way media companies are run as businesses and the fact that they've been cannibalized and undermined by tech companies are the problems, not editors
Molly Wood / @mollywood: @sacca @caseyjohnston That doesn't always lead to the best decisions. We didn't start “engagement” as a metric, but here we are competing on that metric, and trying to figure out a better one. But “journalists who left for substack to have more opinions” isn't a reliable marker for overall health.
Casey Johnston / @caseyjohnston: @sacca @mollywood i mean if you are saying editors are one step closer to being on the hook for executing the publication's aims then i guess we agree!! but they sure don't set the agenda, and as a writer i would agree with others replying that “editor” isn't one to one with “shitty person”
@sacca: @mollywood I hear you. What's changed is how those jobs have merged. Even (especially?) at the “best” papers. Sure there are editors who counsel/nurture. But when the piece gets run through the grinder? Both sides-ism isn't a reporter's instinct. Bleeds/leads isn't how writers write.
Molly Wood / @mollywood: @sacca @caseyjohnston Still maybe an oversimplification. If you mean “executive editor” and you mean a specific paper, then maybe. But even so you're still going to find that we'll defend editors to the death. It's a deeply thankless job. And this business is tough and trying to survive.
@sacca: @caseyjohnston @mollywood I don't disagree except that the editor's job is more a part of, or maybe consequence of, the business/company than ever.
@cameronwilson: my favourite thing is venture capitalists pontificating about how journalism should work, fundamentally misunderstanding the industry, but also knowing that they're just going to keep spending millions of dollars to shape it that way regardless :)
Dr. Steven W. Thrasher / @thrasherxy: This is a major goal of Substack: “disrupt” the concept of a journalist as a “job” with “colleagues” and a “union” and a “pension” and “healthcare,” and to be replaced by the Avon/Uber/Cutco model of everyone going it alone, w/o the burden of “editors” or “health insurance” https://twitter.com/...
@jowrotethis: I love my editors. I know that's not the case everywhere but I just want to shout out the hardworking, wise, great editors out there. They exist! And are very necessary! https://twitter.com/...
Seth Emerson / @sethwemerson: I know very few if any writers who don't want an editor. We need the editing. We need the feedback. We need smart people to bounce story ideas off, to prevent us from pursuing and posting bad stories, and to make our good stories even better. https://twitter.com/...
Lindsey Adler / @lindseyadler: Editors are the line of defense between raw work and readers. They see a story forensically after you've completely lost track of what it says. My editor basically serves as the bumpers that keep me on track. Writers who hate editors are self-important buffoons. https://twitter.com/...
Dave Gershgorn / @davegershgorn: agree, all my editor ever wants is pictures of spiderman and its absolutely unacceptable https://twitter.com/...
Patrick Howell O'Neill / @howelloneill: journalism without strong editors is so, so much worse https://twitter.com/...
Robert Sanchez / @milehighrobert: The journalists I've known who think their copy doesn't need to be touched (or thought through better) are usually the worst journalists, BTW. https://twitter.com/...
Hannah Keyser / @hannahrkeyser: that's what they always say about working in journalism: that full-time employment is burden people are eagerly opting out of to go it alone. https://twitter.com/...
@patrick_hruby: Putting aside this foolishness about editors, almost no *reporters* are going to voluntarily leave the relative handful of remaining reporting jobs for newsletters. The economics don't work! https://twitter.com/...
David Ubben / @davidubben: I'm sure some writers feel this way. Show me a writer who thinks they would be better off without editors and I'll show you a writer who's deeply immature and overconfident. https://twitter.com/...
Ben Popper / @benpopper: I miss having an editor TBH. Not a shitty one, but the good ones push you to pursue better pieces, abandon stale ones, and craft something great. Plus, they make you seem like a great writer and rarely get a byline! https://twitter.com/...
Rachel Metz / @rachelmetz: wow, no. nope nope. i have worked with some bad editors, but i have mostly worked with great editors (and occasionally amazing editors) who make my reporting sharper, my storytelling smoother, and my mistakes fewer(er). it's a difficult job and i detest this type of criticism. https://twitter.com/...
@adavidhalejoint: My words are perfect and beautiful the instant they are formed. But I work with editors to protect readers who simply aren't ready for so many mind blowing truth bombs. https://twitter.com/...
Alec Lewis / @alec_lewis: Oh, heck no, Chris. A writer is nothing without their editor. They're the confidant. The mentor. The friend. The motivator. The true wordsmith. The support. The inspiration. https://twitter.com/...
Lincoln Michel / @thelincoln: This is complete nonsense. Almost every writer I know would die for their editors. Editors protect and help writers in countless ways. The problem with journalism isn't too many editors it's... no jobs! https://twitter.com/...
Brian Howald / @bdhowald: “The implication is that contrarians feign unorthodox belief to gain a following. In other words, they're hoodwinking their followers for money.” The biggest grift is pretending to be a contrarian: “My idea is (something my followers agree with, but presented as controversial).” https://twitter.com/...
@annaleen: So these muscular “independent writers” at Medium will be supported by non-union editorial staff. I see. So if you make your labor invisible, everything magically becomes rugged individualism. https://twitter.com/...
Lizzie O'Leary / @lizzieohreally: @sacca I would be absolutely nowhere without an editor. Well, I would be on twitter, sounding like a lunatic. So, editors. A good thing.
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: @om @sacca Gotta go with Om here, Chris. More shitty writers than editors by FAR.
@sacca: @karaswisher @om No argument. It's the shape of the pyramid and always has been. But now they have options and the market will be more efficient. It'll also tell us how much/if copyediting matters to readers at scale. Fascinating times, but too many replies read like relics.
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: @sacca @om Yes but the first libel case will ruin someone's day. It's just a mixed bag as is all journalism, except the latest gang thinks they hung the moon. They didn't and as someone who did this long before most of them did, I don't recall needing to abandon the good parts like editing.
Anne Lowrey / @anne_elizabeth: This is a brilliant read about how Substack is/is not great for writers, and a sharp look at journalism as a whole. https://nymag.com/...
Franki Cookney / @frankicookney: This is a good analysis imo. My newsletter is on Substack (although I don't charge for subscriptions yet) and I have been thinking a LOT about what it is vs what it could be vs what I actually WANT to produce and how tf to make any money from that. 😬 https://nymag.com/...
Nastaran Tavakoli-Far / @ntavakolifar: Strong piece by @EricLevitz on Substack which mirrors podcasts: a few already established stars rake in big money for opinions whilst everyone else barely makes anything but is told they can make it big. Proper reporting and society ultimately lose. https://nymag.com/...
Nina Bernstein / @ninabernstein1: “America does not have more competent journalists than it needs. But it does have far more of them than media firms are capable of profitably employing.” @EricLevitz https://nymag.com/...
@hkesvani: I think ‘scam’ isn't the correct word. Rather, it's the inevitable outcome of a 2010s media boom that paid in exposure, demanded new entrants to build personalised, identity heavy but corporate friendly personal brands, and shell out trauma stories for £120 if they were lucky
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: and honestly? i would rather work for someone else! i would be thrilled to sit in a corner reading documents with a highlighter all day. I currently have a fucking STACK of reporting waiting to be turned into stories while I manage a company I never intended to start
Anna Codrea-Rado / @annacod: @amywestervelt This is so key! Freelance doesn't fix work-based problems. This is true everywhere but especially in the media. Also, hi 👋 from an editor who used to commission you and has since gone freelance because they got laid off 🥲
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: The point is that a lot of people leave staff jobs to go it alone thinking they're gonna escape the system that way but it's not so easy. You have to actually intentionally behave and work differently, knowing there's no reward. That's how we build different (imho better) systems
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: There's this weird idea in a lot of media writing that if you are independent, you are an opinion writer. Henh? I mean, yes, that describes a lot of people with newsletters, but I had to create my own small multimedia outlet to be able to do accountability journalism on climate
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: And again that's hard to do and wildly disincentivized. So once again we are relying on the sacrifices and/or superstar talents of a few individuals to solve a systemic problem. Notice a fucking pattern here? Gahhhhh
Anna Nowogrodzki / @annanowo: @amywestervelt A-fucking-men to this whole thread. The most important things in journalism are WILDLY disincentivized. And that interacts with class/family money/race to keep journalism wildly unrepresentative of the country, which means as an industry we're really biased
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: I keep noticing this in a lot of the recent media scandals — caliphate, reply all, now substack — there's a lack of awareness around how much all the options suck. You either go along with shitty media systems or you go it alone and grind it out, and in either scenario...
Danielle McNally / @danismcnally: This is very upsetting to me: “There are apparently a great many journalism consumers who aren't willing to pay $5 a month to support the work of dozens of journalists at a single publication but are eager to pay $8 a month to patronize a single blogger.” https://nymag.com/...
Michelle Manafy / @michellemanafy: “The resurgence of labor organizing in media has mitigated the industry's exploitative treatment of entry-level workers and the class bias inherent to it. And this is one of the many reasons why unionizing newsrooms is a vital project.” @EricLevitz https://nymag.com/... @NYMag
Rachel Connolly / @rachelconnoll14: I really liked this piece and I'm glad someone wrote it, but I do also sort of find it alarming that someone needed to write it bcos that scam piece was not at all convincing and people shouldn't have been taken in by it ! https://nymag.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Jude Ellison S. Doyle / @sadydoyle: It's disappointing, but not unsurprising, that “media news” coverage of the Substack issue specifically bypasses the fact that (1) the writers protesting Substack are mostly trans and queer and (2) their critiques center on structural transphobia. https://nymag.com/...
Wudan Yan / @wudanyan: This thread makes an excellent point AND people turn up their noses at “journo-preneurs” - a term that I guess describes me and one that I hate, but guess what, that's because we're all swimming in the same stuff, trying to make our own way https://twitter.com/...
@hkesvani: Has some similar points to the zerohedge blog and ultimately, the question is, what's the point of going to journalism school when the news business is heading to the patronage economy? https://nymag.com/...
Rebecca Klein / @rklein90: “It's easier for social-media-addicted daily commentators to cultivate loyal fandoms than it is for investigative journalists or state-level political reporters. And yet the latter's work is generally more indispensable to journalism's civic function.” https://nymag.com/...
Tom Namako / @tomnamako: “There are apparently a great many journalism consumers who aren't willing to pay $5 a month to support the work of dozens of journalists at a single publication but are eager to pay $8 a month to patronize a single blogger.” https://nymag.com/...
Amy Westervelt / @amywestervelt: So... I agree with a lot of this except one thing: it seems to assume that investigative accountability reporters can't be independent. Hi, meet me. https://nymag.com/...
Alex Heath / @alexeheath: Deets on the Medium buyouts: Edit staffers were told today that the decision was the result of a failed effort by them to unionize. CEO Ev Williams said those who decide to stay could shift to support and edit individual writers on the platform. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The New Republic names Michael Tomasky as its top editor and is moving back to Washington, DC from New York — The New Republic named a new editor on Thursday and announced that it was moving back to Washington, its home city for most of its 107-year existence.
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, @simonwdc, @joshtpm, @notjessewalker, @yascha_mounk, @mollyjongfast, @marklgoldberg, @samstein, The Daily Beast, @noahshachtman and @froomkin
Discussion:
Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis: The New Republic names a new top editor and will return to Washington: @mtomasky. Congratulations to all. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Simon Rosenberg / @simonwdc: This is great. Wow. Awesome news @mtomasky! https://twitter.com/...
Jesse Walker / @notjessewalker: At this point there's been more new New Republics than new French Republics. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Yascha Mounk / @yascha_mounk: Congratulations to @mtomasky. May he turn @tnr into a fierce advocate of liberal leftism. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Molly Jong-Fast / @mollyjongfast: Omg congratulations @mtomasky https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mark Leon Goldberg / @marklgoldberg: Those of us who worked under supreme leader @mtomasky in the early aughts at the @TheProspect will no doubt see this as an ideological victory, 17 years in the making. Interesting! https://www.nytimes.com/...
Sam Stein / @samstein: big time, @mtomasky! https://twitter.com/...
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast: The Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky Heads to The New Republic as New Top Editor
Noah Shachtman / @noahshachtman: Congrats to @mtomasky, who has been an absolutely incredible colleague, voice, and friend. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ ...
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: NYT 4 weeks ago: “if TNR of the 90s was ‘the in-flight magazine of Air Force One’ during the Clinton years... Democracy could play a similar role in the Biden era.” https://www.nytimes.com/... NYT today: @mtomasky, editor of latter, becomes editor of former https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mel / @wearemel:
[Thread] Mel, the men's magazine backed by Unilever's Dollar Shave Club, is stopping publishing, ending its ties with Dollar Shave Club, and seeking a new owner — Some news: After six years of successful partnership and transforming the men's health and media spaces for the better, MEL and Dollar Shave Club's financial relationship will come to an end in 60 days.
Discussion:
@perlberg, Insider, @danielleiat, @weischoice, Are You Engaged?, @pappademas, @_cooper, @amandakhurley, @chrislhayes, @joshsternberg, @digitalshields, @karaswisher, @maxwelltani, @allisonpdavis, @lolacoaster, @billcorbett, @gabrus, @thesamhita, @raxkingisdead, @edzitron, @bradesposito, @alanalevinson, @manymanywords, @chick_in_kiev, @grimkim, @eileenguo, @robaeprice, @annehelen, @walldo, @malonebarry, @delia_cai, @merrittk, @milesklee, @margarita, @kantrowitz, @lindsaygoldwert, @mottel, @parkermolloy, @keithrhernandez, @bykellycohen, @lfitzmaurice, @zaron3, @pfpicardi, @madeleinecholia, @morgan_sung, @chrisvannini, @karengeier, @noelmu, @chris_mandle, @tomvictor, @inthefade, @blakehounshell, @amandafarough, @mattdpearce, @spencerdukoff, @jaredlholt, @oneunderscore__, @hshaban, @alanalevinson, @alanalevinson, @alanalevinson, @benyt, @taylorlorenz and Mediaite
Discussion:
Steven Perlberg / @perlberg: Staffers at MEL Magazine were all laid off today by owner Dollar Shave Club. MEL will stop publishing and is looking for a new owner https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Steven Perlberg / Insider: Dollar Shave Club has laid off all of its staff at men's lifestyle site MEL, source says, and is looking for a rescue buyer
Danielle Tcholakian / @danielleiat: honestly just look at this homepage. look at the breadth of stories! and how cool it looks! and easy to navigate and not cluttered with weird garbage! RIP MEL u were very clearly too good for this garbage industry https://melmagazine.com/
Matt Domino / Are You Engaged?: The Continuing Adventures of Substack
@pappademas: a great men's magazine created during a historically terrible moment for both magazines and men, RIP https://twitter.com/...
Cooper Fleishman / @_cooper: Seeing all the love for our weird little site is making me too emotional to tweet through it. Just wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you — to the readers and to this outstanding team. Means the world. https://twitter.com/...
Amanda Kolson Hurley / @amandakhurley: On the back of the Medium news, I worry we're getting to the point where the freelance precariat created by layoffs and closures is now running out of places to pitch. But maybe that was already happening...
Chris Hayes / @chrislhayes: Honestly this has been an astoundingly good, smart, clever, entertaining publication. (cc @lukeburbank ) https://twitter.com/...
Josh Sternberg / @joshsternberg: Mel Magazine was doing the best reporting on the wide range of emotions and behaviors of society and the complexities (and messiness) of humans. Which is incredible since its billion dollar owner is not a media organization. https://twitter.com/...
Mike Shields / @digitalshields: Mel is a really great product, but I could also see Dollar Shave Club's owners saying ‘how is this selling me any razors?’ Of course you could also question why anyone might have expected this to sell a lot of razors, if they ever did. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Mel felt like a throwback to an older blogging era when people still seemed to get enjoyment out of posting. Hoping they can figure out a way to keep it going. https://twitter.com/...
Allison P Davis / @allisonpdavis: truly a bummer. fun, thoughtful, freaky shit should be protected at all costs. https://twitter.com/...
Kristin Chirico / @lolacoaster: Will someone please hire this man, he's like one of three straight cis dudes who have rights https://twitter.com/...
Bill Corbett / @billcorbett: Aww that sucks. MEL was great. I'm glad this precarious model worked for a while, and I know there's no easy answers. But I'd subscribe if it or the writers and editors changed to a Defector / Discourse Blog model. https://twitter.com/...
@gabrus: i only dream of being super rich when i see outdoor showers and shit like this https://twitter.com/...
Samhita / @thesamhita: You made MEL groundbreaking and it was so awesome to witness. This industry will keep breaking our hearts but congrats to your whole team on a great run ♥️ https://twitter.com/...
@raxkingisdead: MEL enthusiastically gave me a column for the bizarre food writing i couldn't imagine finding any other home for, and i'll badly miss writing it. this is a true bummer 💔 https://twitter.com/...
Ed Zitron / @edzitron: this is such a shame. some really wonderful, interesting writing came out of Mel - they published one of my favourite things i've ever written about the mental side of being overweight, and countless other wonderful pieces by better writers than me https://melmagazine.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Brad / @bradesposito: Anyone writing about internet culture in the last 6 yrs will be familiar w/ @WeAreMel jealousy. It wasn't that you were getting scooped, it was the quality of writing and subject matter that was so perfectly constructed. Devastated. The world is better with MEL in it.
@alanalevinson: The look of Mel was the vision of @ErinTaj, with the execution of @dworkin_, and they don't get nearly enough credit https://twitter.com/...
Meredith Haggerty / @manymanywords: Mel has been a really, really, really, unusually good website. https://twitter.com/...
Kim Kelly / @grimkim: Solidarity with all the brilliant media workers at MEL Magazine—one of the best and most delightfully weird digital publications going—who just had this bomb dropped on them. https://twitter.com/...
Eileen Guo / @eileenguo: Is it just me, or does there seem to be a contagion effect to buzzy companies dumping their publications and editorial staff? https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Rob Price / @robaeprice: Awful news: The staff of @WeAreMel have been laid off and owner Dollar Shave Club is looking for a buyer for the publication. It had an incredible, unique voice with countless stories you couldn't read anywhere else. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: One reason that the vast majority of journalists on Substack are there: there are so, so few viable staff jobs left & more are disappearing. Medium yesterday, MEL today. https://twitter.com/...
Brandon Wall / @walldo: I didn't realize when I sent my first tweet this meant layoffs at MEL. What a bunch of bullshit https://twitter.com/...
Barry Malone / @malonebarry: Oh maaan. MEL is awesome. https://twitter.com/...
Delia Cai / @delia_cai: MEL is one of the coolest outlets publishing right now, if not THE coolest full stop!!! someone needs to snatch it up and give them very resource. they are the outlet we need especially for the particularly horny times ahead https://twitter.com/...
Merritt K / @merrittk: I had my first column at MEL, working with the incredible @alanalevinson. Really upset to see it shuttered like this https://twitter.com/...
Margarita-core Noriega-core / @margarita: This is rough news about a top-talent team. MEL is a trailblazer for the model that dozens of indie outlets use today. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz: One consequence of media's consolidation is the slow demise of weird publications online. https://twitter.com/...
Lindsay Goldwert / @lindsaygoldwert: This is terrible. I remain a huge fan of @MilesKlee and @Zaron3 and they should be hired by others immediately https://twitter.com/...
@mottel: Sorry to see this. Had some fun times with @alanalevinson and co at @WeAreMel. Wishing everyone success on your greta next things to come! https://twitter.com/...
Parker Molloy / @parkermolloy: This sucks. Mel was so good. https://twitter.com/...
Keith Hernandez / @keithrhernandez: Wow, I hate it. Legit one of the most innovative and fun publications in years. https://twitter.com/...
Kelly Cohen / @bykellycohen: wow this is a huge, huge bummer. MEL was so good! https://twitter.com/...
Larry Fitzmaurice / @lfitzmaurice: Great and always very readable publication against all the odds, lots of talented people involved. Working in media continues to suck but at least these guys did it right until the very end, shout out to @alanalevinson and her whole team https://twitter.com/...
Zaron Burnett III / @zaron3: best job I ever had. gonna miss the morning meetings, seeing what the art dept comes up with, how editorial polishes copy, and what these writers have to say on the daily hey, any rich ppl I know, let's talk! gotta great opportunity for you to be a hero to the ppl and culture https://twitter.com/...
@pfpicardi: I love @WeAreMel and I hope they have all the success in charting a path forward. https://twitter.com/...
Madeleine Holden / @madeleinecholia: i just lost my job and this is so sad https://twitter.com/...
Morgan Sung / @morgan_sung: this fucking sucks, mel reported on the most delightfully unhinged stories on the internet and was genuinely fun to read https://twitter.com/...
Chris Vannini / @chrisvannini: Man, this sucks. MEL had some of the most thought-provoking articles on men's health, memes, sexuality and just culture. They answered the questions you were afraid to ask. Really broadened my perspective on a lot of topics. Someone should buy this place. https://twitter.com/...
@karengeier: a reminder that Dollar Shave Club got bought by Unilever and because they don't understand what a gem they had with MEL, they killed it. This is the same company that runs the Ben and Jerrys racial justice blog! https://twitter.com/...
Noel Murray / @noelmu: For the past few years the smart, kindly editors at MEL have given me the space to write personal essays and fun lists. They've been open to some of my weirder ideas, and have called on me to write some pieces they knew I'd dig. I hope they get to carry on. I appreciate them. https://twitter.com/...
Chris Mandle / @chris_mandle: This is so shit. MEL is the home of “oh my god why didn't I think of that” articles https://twitter.com/...
Tom Victor / @tomvictor: Well this sucks, I had a lot of fun writing the occasional piece for MEL, and it's one of the places I went back all the time as a reader. Solidarity with all the writers there, who have covered stories no one else would think to, and better than anyone else would be able to https://twitter.com/...
@inthefade: i am so bummed about this news. mel is one of my favorite publications, with my favorite writers. if they go together and made a mel subscription, i would gladly pay https://twitter.com/...
@blakehounshell: MEL was a strange and often wonderful magazine and I'm sorry to see it go https://twitter.com/...
Manda / @amandafarough: Friends: @WeAreMel has been consistently excellent for years — a true delight to engage with on a regular basis. I hope that someone will snap them up and give them a financially secure future so that these stories and these voices don't get lost in the shuffle. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce: this sucks and is awful, MEL was really creative and fun https://twitter.com/...
Spencer Dukoff / @spencerdukoff: Everyone I know and respect in this industry placed MEL in the top tier of digital publications putting out consistently thoughtful, hilarious, important work, with a roster of talented writers unparalleled elsewhere. It's my favorite website and this news simply sucks ass. https://twitter.com/...
Jared Holt / @jaredlholt: MEL did something really cool. Here's hoping they find a new owner who lets them keep doing them https://twitter.com/...
Hamza Shaban / @hshaban: MEL consistently publishes the most interesting stories and sharply observed, powerfully written essays. Awful news. Solidarity with the staff. https://twitter.com/...
@alanalevinson: Getting to make a magazine every day with some of the internet's most talented writers/editors was truly an honor, and the highlight of my career.
@alanalevinson: It's the end of an era. I'm really proud of what MEL accomplished; how it forever changed the men's media landscape — and hopefully some men, too — for the better. https://twitter.com/...
@alanalevinson: People always ask me why MEL is so good. My answer is simple: the people. If you're somehow in the position to hire, you'd be super lucky to have any of them. I am going to spend the next couple of days trying to make sure they are okay.
Ben Smith / @benyt: It's always been true that some of the most wonderful things in media have weird backstories, and Mel is certainly one https://twitter.com/...
Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz: What a tremendous loss. Mel was literally one of the best in the business and I'm so sad for the state of media right now. https://twitter.com/...
Marisa Sarnoff / Mediaite: Dollar Shave Club Cuts Entire Staff of Men's Lifestyle Website MEL
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:
PrendeTV, Univision's Spanish-language, ad-supported streaming service is launching March 29 with 35 channels and 30K hours of content — Univision Communications held a virtual upfront-like advertising event on Wednesday, touting its new streaming service PrendeTV and promoting growing content investments and global pursuits.
Discussion:
Ethan Jakob Craft / Ad Age: Univision looks to attract the 1,500 brands not utilizing Spanish-language creative
Fern Siegel / The Streamable: PrendeTV Launches March 29 — 30,000 Hours Of Shows Geared To U.S. Hispanics
Alex Shephard / New Republic:
This week's coverage of the border lacks proper context, ignores the humans at the heart of it, and injects conflict into a relatively drama-free administration — On Sunday, ABC's This Week sent its weekly roundtable—excuse me, its Powerhouse Roundtable—on a field trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Discussion:
Insider, @asteadwesley, @afroxander, @alex_shephard, KNSD-TV and Columbia Journalism Review
Discussion:
John Haltiwanger / Insider: Arizona's GOP governor says VP Harris, a daughter of immigrants, is the ‘worst possible choice’ to oversee the border situation
Astead / @asteadwesley: the gap between immigration beat reporters and pundits currently focusing on immigration as a ~biden political crisis~ is massive
Ivn Fernndez / @afroxander: “The surge at the border is complicated and requires empathy and a focus on the profound human cost of America's draconian, imperialistic immigration and foreign policy. It is, in other words, a story the mainstream press is particularly bad at covering.” https://twitter.com/...
RELATED:
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Politico Playbook criticized for an item that cast Trump's administration as having been more transparent than Biden's on migrant detention at the border
Discussion:
@cam_joseph, @vwpickard, @lizcgoodwin, @dw_gibson, @newrepublic, @tanvim, @josephoneillx, @taniel, @franksharry, @fritschner, @ggreeneva, @kendrawrites, @jbendery, @dlind, @jackmirkinson, @thetoddschulte, @bjoewolf, @vgescobar, @jdawsey1, @juliancastro, @froomkin, @beijingpalmer, @eclecticbrotha, @donmoyn, @fritschner, @dlind, @cam_joseph and Politico
Discussion:
Cameron Joseph / @cam_joseph: Do... do the Playbook authors remember Trump barring reporters (and, hell, lawmakers) from child detention centers two years ago? https://twitter.com/...
Victor Pickard / @vwpickard: Great media analysis by @alex_shephard that draws attention to why a ratings-driven press system is bad for democracy. https://newrepublic.com/...
Liz Goodwin / @lizcgoodwin: Odd to hold up the Trump administration as a beacon of media transparency on immigration. If you covered child separation in '18 you likely have angry emails from Trump officials denying that policy existed. There's no video of separations for a reason. From playbook https://twitter.com/...
DW Gibson / @dw_gibson: This is so good from @alex_shephard. The MSM's appetite for conflict/ratings is so destructive. This dynamic is permanent. Dems need to recognize it for what it is & drive the “crisis” toward voter suppression, insurrection, gun violence—take your pick https://newrepublic.com/...
@newrepublic: There's little media focus on the human side of the surge at the border. Instead, it's being presented as a showdown between Republicans (tough on immigration) and Democrats (big softies). https://newrepublic.com/...
Joseph O'Neill / @josephoneillx: As this excellent piece shows, MSM will concoct crisis to promote partisan conflict. The question for Biden is: If partisan conflict is inevitable, why fight it on GOP turf? Why not go on the offensive, fight it on the question of GOP's insurrection and unfitness for power? https://twitter.com/...
Frank Sharry / @franksharry: Must read: “Cynically using a humanitarian crisis you have no intention of fixing to win elections is an interesting political story, and it's one that captures what the Republican Party is at the moment. But many in the mainstream press have no interest in covering that story.” https://twitter.com/...
Aaron Fritschner / @fritschner: Trump's family separations exploded on the national scene in June of 2018, precipitating events included implementation of zero tolerance in April, the ORR “lost children” story in May, and a denied attempt by Senator Merkley to visit the Brownsville detention facility on June 3. https://twitter.com/...
Greg Greene / @ggreeneva: I mean ... did the Playbook team somehow sleep through all this? https://twitter.com/...
@kendrawrites: They don't mind rewriting history in support of the power and privilege. They keep doing it with people who have done harmful things. https://twitter.com/...
Jennifer Bendery / @jbendery: this is so bad https://twitter.com/...
Dara Lind / @dlind: There was also the time when @mollyhf got yelled at for, IIRC, writing things down during a tour of a kids' facility?? Biden admin is being opaque, sure, but “Stephen Miller always wanted the press to cover the border as a crisis” didn't translate into actual access
Jack Mirkinson / @jackmirkinson: Stephen Miller going from “leading government fascist” to “trusted Politico source” in the span of about 8 weeks is a pretty great lesson in how the American establishment works
Todd Schulte / @thetoddschulte: 2nd time in a week Playbook has pushed out paragraphs with huge, clear factual inaccuracies on which they hang there thesis. Here they quote the architect or zero tolerance family separation; it's 100% false. This isn't me saying I disagree with premise. Clear facts are wrong. https://twitter.com/...
Brandon Wolf / @bjoewolf: Stephen Miller is a xenophobic bigot and a key architect of the hell that immigrants are living right now. Giving him column space to gaslight America is inexcusable. Do way better @playbookdc . https://twitter.com/...
Veronica Escobar / @vgescobar: Playbook quotes a white nationalist, director of chaos & cruelty for 4 yrs. The Washington Post quotes the illegitimately appointed Chad Wolf. The media's irresponsible lack of context on immigration & the border is bad enough. Now those who broke the system get legitimacy? https://twitter.com/...
Josh Dawsey / @jdawsey1: During one trip to the border in 2019, Trump administration officials screamed at me — and other outlets — for disseminating photos of migrants we saw cramped in one smelly, packed, outdoor center in McAllen, Tx. Remember that @PamelaBrownCNN? https://twitter.com/...
@juliancastro: Transparency at the border is something every administration should achieve. So it's ridiculous to let Stephen Miller cast himself as a paragon of this. He helped create the conditions we see today, and his claims here are just false. Embarrassing, @playbookdc. https://twitter.com/...
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: This thread provides a powerful example of how our most influential political reporters are so easily manipulated into rewriting history and rehabilitating fascists if they think it makes them look like they're tough on both sides. https://twitter.com/...
James Palmer / @beijingpalmer: I'm sorry, is this self-parody or are Politico really boasting about how cool it was being besties with Miller to see border propaganda? https://twitter.com/...
Ragnarok Lobster / @eclecticbrotha: I still remember the vicious mockery heaped on AOC when she was photographed outside a detention center she and her group were barred from entering. https://twitter.com/...
Don Moynihan / @donmoyn: People are dunking on Playbook for running this easily debunkable quote by Stephen Miller about media access, but TBF Trump DHS officials were illegally disclosing immigration status of criminals to Fox/Breitbart to bolster their “immigrant crime” coverage https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Aaron Fritschner / @fritschner: Hi @RyanLizza @EugeneDaniels2 @tarapalmeri @rachaelmbade, this is unmitigated bullshit, it just isn't true and it's astounding to see in print. Talk to your colleagues who covered this story at the time — what you have written here is just wildly false. https://twitter.com/...
Dara Lind / @dlind: ::stares in @Haleaziz being barred from a DHS reporting trip by the White House:: https://twitter.com/...
Bloomberg Media:
Bloomberg Quicktake says it had an average of 7.4M monthly viewers for its livestream channel and 56M for on-demand videos in its first three full months — New over-the-top streaming services include The Roku Channel, … The network also had 56 million average monthly viewers …
Discussion:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Fox partners with Comcast's Freewheel, which specializes in digital ads, to offer addressable ads on Fox content viewed on Comcast properties like Xfinity — Fox Corporation is moving to offer the advertising of the future. — The company said it struck a partnership with FreeWheel …
Discussion:
Ad Age, MediaPost, Radio & Television …, @robabramowitz, @caitlinmurr, @spj_tweets, @chrissieevert, Beet.TV and FierceVideo
Discussion:
Wayne Friedman / MediaPost: Comcast's FreeWheel, Fox TV Strike Programmatic, Addressable Set-Top-Box Deal With Auto Marketer
Rbr-Tvbr / Radio & Television Business Report: FOX Goes With FreeWheel For Comcast VOD Programmatic Play
Roberto Abramowitz / @robabramowitz: The eye test told us that. But now there is evidence to back this up. #WomensSports https://twitter.com/...
Caitlin Murray / @caitlinmurr: A study spanning 30 years finds most media coverage ignores women's sports entirely. The year women's sports got the highest proportion of network coverage (a measly 8.7%) was back in 1999, when the #USWNT hosted and won the World Cup. Not great! https://www.niemanlab.org/...
@spj_tweets: “[The authors] found that 80% of the televised sports news and highlights shows included 0 stories on women's sports... in 2019, an overwhelming 95% of the sports coverage included in their study focused on men's sports.” https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Chris Evert / @chrissieevert: Shocking... I've watched many, many women pros at @EvertTennis Academy, and I know for a fact women practice and train as hard as men, some even harder...This stat of media coverage ..... is shameful... https://twitter.com/...
Robert Andrews / Beet.TV: Comcast Lets Fox Sell VOD Addressable Ads on Set-top Boxes
Calvin Reid / Publishers Weekly:
A look at BookClub, a subscription-based, virtual book club for author-led book discussions, which is launching in the spring — Scheduled to launch sometime in the spring, BookClub is a virtual book club platform driven by author-led book discussions and designed for mobile devices.
Discussion:
Etan Vlessing / Hollywood Reporter:
ViacomCBS buys exclusive US rights to Italy's Serie A soccer championship, and Paramount+ will air 400 games live each season through 2024 — The three-year deal will see 400 top flight games in Italy, including those with Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus, air or stream each year through 2024.
Discussion:
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