Mediagazer: Interview with journalism professor Nikki Usher on the return of partisan news outlets, how big news organizations are increasingly by and for elites, and more (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism)

1:10 PM ET, April 16, 2021

Top News:

NYT's Choire Sicha is stepping down as Styles editor to become a senior editor working on expanding the paper's newsletter portfolio — After a great run leading the Styles section, Choire is taking on a new challenge to help expand our newsletter portfolio. Read more in this note from Dean Baquet, Joe Kahn and Sam Sifton.

Discussion: @katie_robertson, @nytimespr, Daily Front Row, @choire, @emilybell, @genepark, @joshsternberg, @eiffeltyler, @jarroddicker, @backlon, @katie_robertson, @samsifton, @benyt and @mathewi

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

ViacomCBS combines CBS News and local stations in a single unit to be led by former ABC stations chief Wendy McMahon and former Hearst exec Neeraj Khemlani — Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon have been named to lead a new unit that combines CBS News and CBS local stations …

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Reuters is introducing a paywall: after registration and a free preview period, subscriptions will cost $34.99/month; it also plans to launch newsletters — Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business.

Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:

Simon & Schuster says it won't distribute the book written by one of the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor last year, to be published by Post Hill Press — Publishing giant Simon & Schuster has announced it will not distribute the book written by one of the police officers …

Discussion: Courier-Journal, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Associated Press, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, The Sun, Hollywood Reporter, TheGrio, @joyannreid, @tessaduvall, @shannoncoulter, @leablackmiami, New York Post and The Week

Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:

Substack announces Substack Local, a $1M initiative to help up to 30 independent writers build local subscription news outlets via a cash advance, advice, more — A panel of independent judges will work with Substack to select up to 30 local news writers to participate in the program.

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

In a letter to artists, Apple says it pays a penny per stream, roughly double Spotify, which pays an average of about one-third to half a penny per stream — Music-streaming services, seeking to win credibility and subscribers, open up about artist payouts

Discussion: The Wrap, Insider, Variety, Engadget, @lanceulanoff, The Verge, AppleInsider, @riegerreport, @ethanwsj, MacRumors and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Study: of the five values espoused by journalists, including oversight, transparency, and factuality, only factuality has the support of a majority of Americans — Ask almost any group of journalists to name the core values of their profession, and they'll probably deliver a list like this:

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:

Interview with journalism professor Nikki Usher on the return of partisan news outlets, how big news organizations are increasingly by and for elites, and more — In this episode of our podcast, we look at challenges around equity, diversity and sustainability with the help of Nikki Usher

Discussion: reutersinstitute …, @sharmasupriya, @nikkiusher, @fedecherubini, @averyholton, @rasmus_kleis and American Press Institute

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:

A look at the rise of independent media in Afghanistan, mostly owned and led by young people, under the threat of constant violence and a return to darker times — Under the threat of constant violence and a return to darker times, young editors and reporters refuse to give up, Raksha Kumar reports

Discussion: @rasmus_kleis, @dangillmor and Poynter

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

LA Times is launching a daily podcast, The Times, starting May 3, joining a slew of other outlets; it is also adding subscriber-only feeds to some podcasts — When the Los Angeles Times debuts “The Times: Daily News from the L.A. Times” next month, the newspaper publisher will be far …

Discussion: @gustavoarellano, @steakscience, @niemanlab and Hot Pod News

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

As news outlets grapple with whether to show the video of Adam Toledo's shooting, Block Club Chicago chose to run one version of the story with and one without — Body camera footage showing a Chicago police officer fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo was released on Thursday.

Discussion: @rhodes_dawn, Vanity Fair, @markberman, @eedugdale, Block Club Chicago, @awalkerinla, @niemanlab and Chicago Tribune

Megan Greenwell / @megreenwell:

[Thread] Megan Greenwell, editor of Wired.com and former EIC of Deadspin, announces she is leaving Wired next week, saying she's drained and needs a break — Hi, some news: I'm leaving @WIRED next week. Several journalists I admire, most recently @millie and @s_m_i, have been open about leaving their jobs because of burnout. Like them, I am totally drained, and I've realized I cannot do my best work without a break.

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More News:

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Firefox and major Chromium browsers, including Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi, decline to join FLoC, Google's proposed ad technology to replace third-party cookies

Discussion: Digiday, more at Techmeme »

Adweek:
Google adds brand safety feature intended for small advertising teams to create dynamic exclusion lists that automatically add new web pages and domains

Discussion: Search Engine Journal and @michellemanafy

Charlie Warzel / Galaxy Brain:
Q&A with the London-based author of the Suez Canal update website istheshipstillstuck.com, reflecting on the joys and stresses of going viral

Discussion: @_cingraham, @lukezim and @cwarzel

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
Twitter permanently suspends James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, for violating rules on platform manipulation and spam

Aye Min Thant / New Naratif:
Clarissa Ward's reporting in Myanmar for CNN endangered those who spoke to her and provided little information that local reporting hadn't already uncovered

Discussion: @tostevinm, @the_ayeminthant, @alannavagianos, @mymilkteh, @kemc, @matthewfsmith, @vidyakrishnan, @natrani, @eileenguo, @rover829, @veronicakoman, @tchau01, @kudsia_kahar, @rasmus_kleis, @elisewho and @newnaratif

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
A look at theguardian.org, The Guardian's US-based philanthropic arm, which raised $9M in the last year and seeks out subject-specific funding

Discussion: @sarahscire, @lenny_mendonca, @radiofreeasha, @miguel_castro, @niemanlab and What's New in Publishing

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Amazon says it spent $11B on video and music content in 2020 for Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music, up from $7.8B in 2019, as Prime passes 200M subscribers

Discussion: @alexweprin, Observer, CNBC, Digital TV Europe, @dee_bosa, Too Much TV Newsletter, Engadget, Insider, The Verge and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CBS, ABC, NBC, and other networks are demanding that Nielsen submit to a third-party audit, alleging it undercounted TV viewership during the pandemic

Discussion: MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter and Adweek

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Ziff Davis union is staging a 24-hour walkout after failing to reach a contract establishing a $65K salary floor with Ziff Davis, owner of PC Mag and others

Discussion: @zdcreatorsguild, @futureboy, @film_girl, @loudmouthjulia, @vickyleetuh, @tricia_gilbride, @bfnewsunion, @_emmahinchliffe, @andrewwrites, @realkrauswife, @markhachman, @morgan_sung, @futureboy, @dimeford and @jordanwminor

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Pearpop, which has built a marketplace for buying and selling TikTok collaborations among creators, has raised $16M and plans to expand to other social networks

Discussion: @nbashaw, @ljin18, @jmj, TechCrunch, Fast Company and Rolling Stone

Cassandra Garrison / Reuters:
Televisa Univision is launching its planned streaming platform in the US and Mexico next year before expanding elsewhere in Latin America and Europe

Discussion: @casslgarrison

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney confirms that Kim Godwin will be the next president of ABC News, taking over the role most recently held by James Goldston

Discussion: Radio & Television …, CNN, Associated Press, Poynter, @bristei, @mlcalderone, CNN, Vanity Fair, The Daily Beast, @soledadobrien, @kathleencarrll, @deannafrytv, @enrique_acevedo, @yamiche, @errolbarnett and @jonathanblakely

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: three media veterans are launching a subscription media company with funding led by 40 North Media and TPG Growth, to bundle journalists and resources

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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