Mediagazer: Charlie Warzel announces he is leaving NYT Opinion to launch a new Substack called Galaxy Brain, aiming to forge a deeper relationship with readers (Charlie Warzel/Galaxy Brain)

3:40 PM ET, April 12, 2021

Top News:

Substack strikes deals with trans writers, amid claims it supports allegedly anti-trans writers and is a kind of lucrative off ramp for “cancel culture” victims — A company that makes it easy to charge for newsletters has captivated an anxious industry because it embodies larger forces and contradictions.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @benyt, The Guardian, @ezraklein, @ezraklein, @hunterw, @anthony, @benyt, Politico, @davewiner, @kittypurrzog, @mccarthyryanj, @caseynewton, @crtejada, @seamushughes, @mattyglesias, @karaswisher, @athertonkd, One Man & His Blog, @dlind, @clairlemon, @sethamandel, @nicktagliaferro, @harrysiegel, @ggreenwald, @katienotopoulos, @taylorlorenz, Boing Boing, Connecting Thoughts, Quorum, @mattyglesias, @wolfejosh, @jamesfdennin, @jordanzakarin, @espiers, @espiers, @chrisalbon, @joshsternberg, @espiers, @lwoodhouse, @dnvolz, @lindseyadler, @benjamingoggin, @alicefromqueens, @lisatozzi, @eisingerj, @will_bunch, @bernybelvedere, @davidsirota, @jmrivera02, @davidgross_man, @taylorlorenz, @digiphile, @joshconstine, @parkermolloy, @waxpancake, @nytimes, Inkcap, @nbashaw, Sunday Snapshots, @karaswisher, @emilygould, @noonanjo, @sorayaroberts, @sarthakgh, @blgtylr, @bro_pair, @davidyelland, @lukeplunkett, @ggreenwald, @oneunderscore__, bookforum.com and The Wazzock's Review, more at Techmeme »

Charlie Warzel / Galaxy Brain:

Charlie Warzel announces he is leaving NYT Opinion to launch a new Substack called Galaxy Brain, aiming to forge a deeper relationship with readers — Why I'm leaving (The) New York (Times). — 3 hr ago — Hello! Hi! I have a new job — you're looking at it. Welcome to Galaxy Brain, my humble internet outpost.

Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:
Bustle Digital Group confirms it is reviving Gawker under former Gawker writer Leah Finnegan

Discussion: @leahfinnegan, @stevekovach, The Wrap and @alexweprin

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Vox Media says it's buying Cafe Studios Inc., which publishes podcasts including one hosted by ex-US attorney Preet Bharara; Café Studios will remain as a brand — Bharara, a former Manhattan U.S. attorney, will join Vox Media as a host and creative director

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Vox Media, Variety, MediaPost, @matthewkeyslive, @jayshams, @nishatjaan, The Hill, @mtmoe1, @karaswisher, @ashleyrcarman, @jason, @nwquah, @alissamarie, @preetbharara, @jbenton, @preetbharara, @yashar, @joycewhitevance, @akruglov, RAIN News, The Wrap and @mtmoe1

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple is in early stages of developing a product that combines an Apple TV with a HomePod speaker and has a FaceTime camera and smart home functions — - Company also exploring Amazon-like speaker with iPad as screen — Apple has trailed Amazon, Google in the connected home market

Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:

Across the US, billionaires have decided that a newspaper is an essential part of the civic fabric and are buying local papers, often with mixed results — Billionaires aren't usually cast as saviors of democracy. But one way they are winning plaudits for civic-minded endeavors is by funding the Fourth Estate.

Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Bainum had a side arrangement with Alden CEO Heath Freeman to buy Baltimore Sun, but made his own Tribune bid after suspecting Alden changed terms

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @katerinareports, @timafranklin, @jowens510, @bangebguild, @stevedaniels27, @bgrueskin, @justingeorge, @roncharles, @ltaford, @lalpert1, @ssdance and @ianbassin

Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:

Will Smith says his film Emancipation will not shoot in Georgia due to the state's new voting law; Apple bought the film last June for a reported $130M — Said star Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua: “At this moment in time, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting …

Discussion: Variety, USA Today, Mediaite, Insider, New York Times, /Film, Rolling Stone, Collider, Forbes, The Playlist, The A.V. Club, @scottporch, @ethanbearman, @elizlanders and Just Jared

Edmund Lee / New York Times:

Inside a power struggle at WSJ between editor Matt Murray and publisher Almar Latour over how the paper should remake itself to attract new digital readers — A special team led by a high-level manager says Rupert Murdoch's paper must evolve to survive. But a rivalry between editor and publisher stands in the way.

Discussion: Media Nation, @edmundlee, @raju, @dmitryshishkin, @jbarro, @margotpatrick, Poynter, @ronlieber, Columbia Journalism Review, @jayrosen_nyu, @danielleiat, @nickkristof, @samhaselby, @briannawu, @knottmatthew, @mylesudland, Sree's Sunday Note, @niubi, @markberman, @davecbenoit, @karaswisher, @karaswisher, @fvogelstein, @jayrosen_nyu, @janemayernyer, @matthewstoller, @ryanchittum, @sdkstl, @tonyromm, @fenitn, @kvox, @janebsinger, @jenrossa, @jswatz, @moorehn, @krmaher, @adrianweckler, @sherman4949, @nytimes, @picardonhealth, @andreasharsono, @brianstelter, @bradleyhope, @bradleyhope, @tomgara, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @mattietk, @gorskon, @thirdwaykessler, @matinastevis, @nancook, @waltmossberg, @bakerluke, @crtejada, @iansalisbury, @lionelbarber, @raju, @batess, @davidclinchnews, @mccarthyryanj, @raju, @rafat and @ourand_sbj

Edmund Lee / New York Times:
A look at WSJ's internal study, The Content Review, which recommended ways for WSJ to attract new readers, specifically, women, POC, and younger professionals

Discussion: @edmundlee, @derjarjour, @edmundlee, @jbflint, @tomnamako, @cristymsilva, @cristymsilva, @cristymsilva, @tomcritchlow, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, @edmundlee and @edmundlee

Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed News:

Reporting on tech from India “feels like having a front-row seat to the country's rapid slide into authoritarianism”, as Big Tech companies remain silent — I love writing about tech. But covering how a Hindu nationalist government is using it to destroy a secular democracy isn't what I signed up for.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @beingmirchi, @nehapoonia, The India Cable, @nilanjanaroy, @roopalisriv, @deblebrown, @reckless, @sbengali, @pranavdixit, @shivamshankars and @carolecadwalla

Wall Street Journal:

Erroneously unredacted court docs reveal Google ran a secret program called “Project Bernanke” that used past bid data to boost its win rate in ad auctions — Program used past bid data to boost tech giant's win rate in advertising auctions, according to court filing

Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:

Vice launches an affiliate vertical called Rec Room, after a post during its six month trial led to more than 600 sales with a conversion rate of 9% — Refinery29 set the example for what a successful commerce strategy looks like at Vice Media. With that inherited foundation …

Youkyung Lee / Bloomberg:

Kakao Entertainment, the digital comic and movie unit of South Korean mobile giant Kakao, says it is considering a US IPO, seeking a valuation of $17.8B+ — - Kakao's digital comics arm seeks more than $17.8 billion value — KakaoBank and Kakao Pay are other Kakao units that could list

Discussion: @wolfofharcourt and @cestlavie9090

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

BuzzFeed UK had revenues of £18.9M in 2020, down from £22.4M YoY, with operating losses down 60% to £2.9M, driven by the sale of Germany and Brazil units — Buzzfeed has said the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to a 16% drop in revenues from its editions outside the US …

Discussion: @pressgazette

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:40 PM ET, April 12, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Writer, CA — Hollywood Reporter

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sources: a record ~110K viewers complained about BBC coverage of Prince Philip's death; 116 complained that BBC is making it too easy to complain about coverage

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @jaspjackson, @lizsly, @tinabop29, @ascottreid, @scottygb, @lauraph222, @ianvisits, @claire_phipps, @jimwaterson and The Guardian

Bloomberg:
Sources: Ofcom chair shortlist includes former UK culture secretary Ed Vaizey, former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, and others

Discussion: @jasminedotiwala

Rebecca Ratcliffe / The Guardian:
Cambodia condemns Vice for publishing colorized victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, with some apparently edited to add smiles to the victims' faces

Discussion: @vinkjohn, @theycallmelyd, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, @williamcson, @whoresofyore, @rob_hoffman, @williamcson and Boing Boing

Yuan Yang / Financial Times:
Sources: Tencent Music, a joint venture with Spotify, gave up some licensing deals in recent months as it prepares for a Chinese antitrust investigation

Discussion: New York Times and @andreaslandwehr, more at Techmeme »

Clayton Davis / Variety:
In 2020 Oscar nominations, only 4 of the 23 categories had any form of Latino representation; 2021 is likely to have more Latino nominations

Discussion: @ms_lizc, @dennsgonzalez, @ashkan, @anantlife, @antonionegret, @rosasreviews, @seranzoategui, @josemolinatv, @chrissiefit, @awardscircuit, @variety and @analydiamonaco

Earlier Picks:

Priya Sippy / Rest of World:
Tanzania's late president limited broadcasters' political coverage and revoked newspapers' licenses; activists hope his successor restores their digital rights

Discussion: @yinkawrites, @mvzelenks and @rasmus_kleis

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
How a gamer calling themselves Kacey Montagu posed as a reporter for fictitious White House News and managed to fool journalists and the Biden administration

Discussion: @mathewi, Public Sphere, Mashable, @mrtegdif, @isavage_pi, @kennerly, @evandonovan, @mikebarnicle, New York Post, @emilcdc, @nycsouthpaw, @nycsouthpaw, @secmontagu, @anthony and @mattzeitlin

Alan C. Miller / Poynter:
An interview with Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th, after the outlet's first year: it has ~10K subscribers and a 2021 budget 50% higher than 2020's

The Markup:
YouTube blocks advertisers from using terms like “Black Lives Matter” to find videos to advertise against but was letting them use phrases like “White power”

Discussion: NBC News, @cstross, @johnfrost, @doctorow and Naive Weekly

From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
The US Senate reauthorizes FISA's Section 702; some communication service providers had threatened to stop cooperating with the US government in case of a lapse

George Steer / Financial Times:
Nvidia closed down 10% on Friday, falling the most since March 2020 and losing more than $200B of its market value, as investors pull back from AI bets

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page