Mediagazer: NY AG's office says fake comments, including 8.5M funded by largest US ISPs, accounted for ~18M of the 22M+ net neutrality comments received by the FCC in 2017 (Makena Kelly/The Verge)

9:10 AM ET, May 7, 2021

Top News:

Esther Crawford / Twitter:

Twitter introduces Tip Jar, allowing everyone using Twitter in English to send tips, and a limited group, including journalists and experts, to accept tips — We $ee you - sharing your PayPal link after your Tweet goes viral, adding your $Cashtag to your profile so people can support your work …

Washington Post:

While Alden pledged $375M in cash for Tribune, one clause would let Alden finance the cash with debt or equity financing, possibly raising Tribune's debt burden — Experts say Alden Global Capital's offer to invest in the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers isn't what it seems

Discussion: @lenfestinst, @sarahellison, @jenwsheehan, @amyargetsinger, @mattlaslo, @saragregory, @hopnotes, @johnannese, @mcallguild, @ppvsrb, @whet, @cerconejeff, @elaheizadi, @os_guild and @baekdal

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Tribune Publishing Q1: net income of $6.1M on revenue of $173.6M; ad revenue fell 26.4% YoY, compensation expenses fell 35.8% YoY, and cash balance was $250.7M — Tribune Publishing posted a first-quarter profit but canceled its earnings call, citing the imminent completion of a deal to take the newspaper giant private.

Discussion: Tribune Publishing Company, @jimfriedlich, @jimfriedlich, @saragregory, @jimfriedlich, @jimfriedlich and @lalpert1

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

NY AG's office says fake comments, including 8.5M funded by largest US ISPs, accounted for ~18M of the 22M+ net neutrality comments received by the FCC in 2017 — The New York attorney general's office released a new report detailing the effort — The New York attorney general's office issued …

Olivia Messer / Study Hall:

The trauma of covering the pandemic has battered journalists, and the industry is losing a generation of reporters and editors to despair and moral injury — When I told my editors at The Daily Beast that I needed to quit my job as the newsroom's lead COVID reporter, I couldn't even say the word “quit.”

Discussion: @oliviamesser, @walldo, @oliviamesser, @kerrymflynn, @maiamajumder, @haleighhoffman, @bwdbwdbwd, @4lisaguerrero, @oliviamesser, @feliciasonmez, @jensabella, @steeletalk, @patriciamazzei, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @tonyromm, @jyangstar, @charlesornstein, @kerrymflynn, @dbcalabrese, @evaholland, @kocochristine, @joshsternberg, @brandyzadrozny, @apoorva_nyc, @jeremyadamross, @studyhallxyz, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @alanalevinson, @alexlaughs, @bgirledukate, @brosandprose, @adamweinstein, @deborahblum, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @danielleiat, @mtracey, @elenaiswriting, @oliviamesser, @jmsummers, @oliviamesser, @annehelen, @scottnover, @oliviamesser, @paigepfleger, @avitalrachel, @danielleiat, @jerrydunleavy, @emilyakopp, @oliviamesser, @milesperhoward, @oliviamesser, @oliviamesser, @jacoker2, @moorehn, @oliviamesser and @j__velasquez

Victoria Lewis / WPTV:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has barred local media from attending the signing of a voting restriction bill; the event is a “Fox News exclusive” — Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed Florida's elections reform bill into law. DeSantis signed SB90, which includes restrictions on voting …

Discussion: @stevebousquet, Washington Post, Poynter, @svdate, @dcherring, Miami Herald, @jonathanchait, @annaforflorida, Politico, @servethe901, @maggienyt, @ariberman, @timothypmurphy, @kevinmkruse, @jamessurowiecki, @wptv, Washington Post, CNN, Vanity Fair, Slate, Mother Jones, ABC News, VICE, Insider and Mediaite

News Corp:

News Corp Q3: net income of $96M on revenue of $2.34B, up 3% YoY; WSJ subscriptions up 21% YoY to 3.38M, of which 2.63M were digital; digital ad rev up 30% YoY — - Revenues were $2.34 billion, a 3% increase compared to $2.27 billion in the prior year, driven by the continued strong momentum across our key growth pillars

Discussion: Reuters

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the Athletic is no longer in merger talks with Axios, sees the NYT as the leading merger contender, and had ~$80M in revenue in 2020 with 600 staff — Publisher's talks with Axios are no longer active; New York Times Co. seen as leading contender for tie-up

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @jessicalessin, @damospin, @nbashaw, @donlday, @dcseifert, @keitholbermann, @seangriffey, @mathewi, @mathewi, @niubi, @subjectburst, @alexweprin, @rafat, @jasonschwartz, Insider, Awful Announcing, OutKick and The Hill

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku beats estimates, with a Q1 net income of $76.3M on revenue of $574.2M, up 79% YoY; new active accounts grew 2.4M, reaching 53.6M, up 35% YoY; stock up ~7% — Roku gained 2.4 million new active accounts for the first quarter of 2021, showing that the pandemic-driven streaming momentum …

Discussion: Roku, MediaPost, Ad Age, FierceVideo and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Maas / The Wrap:

AMC Networks CEO says its five streaming services are on track to have at least 9M subscribers by the end of the year as Q1 streaming revenue grew of 14% YoY — But the company smashed Wall Street's earnings expectations — AMC Networks missed revenue expectations for the first quarter of 2021 …

Discussion: Variety, Digital TV Europe, AMC Networks Inc. and Hollywood Reporter

Sara Fischer / Axios:

YouTube to spend $7M on two year-long journalism programs: one for independent journalists who want to start channels, another to help digital-first newsrooms — YouTube is spending $7 million to fund two new programs to help journalists looking to build an audience on YouTube, executives tell Axios.

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A record 44% of the NYT's 301K new digital subscribers in Q1 were to non-news products like cooking, games, and audio — The New York Times on Wednesday said it added 301,000 new digital-only subscribers last quarter, its slowest quarter for digital subscriber growth in over a year.

Discussion: @alexthomp, @katzonearth, @caitlinpacific, @jayrosen_nyu, American Press Institute, @rmantri, @carlquintanilla, @nytmedia, @kerrymflynn, @anthony, @kbandersen and @mattgrossmann

Melissa Guerrero / New York Times:
NYT hires its first editorial director of Games, Everdeen Mason, responsible for growing the audience and ensuring puzzles reflect and cultivate diverse voices

Discussion: @adrienneshih, @nytimeswordplay and @jennaescribe

Protocol:

Netflix is surveying users about their interest in features such as podcasts and user-generated playlists of shows and music, for a project called N-Plus — In a survey, Netflix is asking users how they would feel about a “future online space” called N-Plus. — Custom TV show playlists?

Discussion: @bizcarson, @lanceulanoff, @pierce, @bizcarson, @andrewmartonik, Engadget and musically.com, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:10 AM ET, May 7, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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:

Jennifer Alsever / Fortune:
How publishers are using tech, including AI-generated voices for audiobooks, Google Lens AR, and Amazon's novella app Kindle Vella, to entice young readers

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
NY Post sources say Laura Italiano's resignation after an inaccurate story on Kamala Harris is a symptom of pressure for clicky content that stokes culture wars

Discussion: @danpfeiffer, @sarah_boxer and @joepompeo

Emily Bary / MarketWatch:
IAC beats Q1 estimates with revenue of $876M, up 28% YoY, with Vimeo posting $89.4M in revenue, up 57% YoY; shareholders set to vote on Vimeo spinoff May 14

Discussion: IAC

Anna North / Vox:
20 current and former staffers discuss their experience working for National Geographic since its 2018 recognition of past racist coverage and pledge to improve

Discussion: @emmacarew, @tlpix, @ridahb, @leahfeiger, @cococorycollins, @kiell, @duquannsweeney, @bryanformhals, @katduncanphoto, @alexanderrusso, @kainazamaria, @sonipaul, @annanorthtweets and @johnedwinmason

Sophie Huet / AFP Correspondent:
Restrictions in place due to COVID have led to the proliferation of press pools, which only allow for limited perspectives, and of events closed to the press

Earlier Picks:

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Q&A: Facebook Oversight Board director Thomas Hughes on upholding Trump's ban, why the Board isn't a PR stunt, Facebook refusing to answer its questions, more

Discussion: @therecount, @issielapowsky, @ennisnyt, 9to5Mac, @nicoleperlroth, Engadget, Daily Herald, New York Post and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Jemima Kelly / Financial Times:
Substack adds Sections so writers can set up and manage multiple newsletters or podcasts within one main publication, facilitating the creation of newsrooms

Discussion: @siruihua, @jemimajoanna, The Verge, blog.substack.com and Sub Pub, more at Techmeme »

Benedict Evans:
The novels and anti-vax books on Amazon's “Children Vaccination & Immunization” bestseller list point to poor indexing and content moderation issues

Discussion: @benedictevans, @benedictevans and @jackshafer

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
ViacomCBS Q1: 36M streaming subscribers, up 6M since Q4; streaming revenue grew 65% YoY to $816M; net earnings up 79% YoY to $899M, affiliate revenue of $2.08B

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, @bradmiska, @tvgrimreaper, @brenbrenchie, @thr, Hollywood Reporter, @loudmouthjulia, @alexweprin, Collider, Bloody Disgusting!, Deadline, Variety, The Streamable, Light Reading and TV Technology

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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