Mediagazer: Recording Academy and its former CEO Deborah Dugan reach an agreement over her termination amid allegations of workplace bullying (Abid Rahman/Hollywood Reporter)

Top News:

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Google will delay plans to block third-party cookies from early 2022 to late 2023, to find ways to protect privacy without hurting ad-dependent publishers — It takes time to fix privacy problems without hurting ad-dependent websites, the search giant says.

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

BuzzFeed announces plans to go public via SPAC merger, targeting a $1.5B valuation, and will acquire digital publisher Complex Networks for $300M — BuzzFeed, a 15-year-old digital media company, announced Thursday it plans to go public via a merger with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.

Discussion: @felixsalmon, CNBC, @buzzfeedpr, Variety, CNN, @pkafka, The Verge, Insider, Vanity Fair, @froomkin, Axios, Business Wire, @emilybell, @ashkan, The Wrap, Digiday, @davecoion, @alexkotch, @kustoo, @rafat, @stevekovach, @ellievhall, @mathowie, @mylesudland, Vox, New York Times, BuzzFeed, The Hill, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, Bloomberg, Yahoo Entertainment, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Adweek and bookforum.com

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

UK's largest commercial publisher Reach says it will hire an online safety editor, the first of its kind in UK, to tackle “endemic” abuse of its journalists — Reach has created an online safety editor role, the first of its kind in the UK, to tackle “endemic” abuse and harassment of its journalists “head on”.

Discussion: Reach Jobs, HullLive, @alisongow, gbnews.uk, @mrjohncrowley, @jonbir90, @davidbartlett1, @davidhiggerson, @kristian_walsh, @rasmus_kleis and HoldtheFrontPage

Gabby Miller / Columbia Journalism Review:

NY's Ulster Publishing survived the pandemic by ceasing separate print editions for towns in the Hudson Valley and consolidating them into a countywide paper — In late March, just as the pandemic was beginning to ravage the news industry with a slew of furloughs, pay cuts, and more …

Discussion: @jcstearns, @__gabbymiller, The Guardian and @helaineolen

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Amazon acquires Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform, for an undisclosed sum — Art19 goes to Amazon Music — Amazon Music is getting more serious about its podcast endeavors. Today, the company announced that it's acquiring Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform for an undisclosed sum.

Discussion: @kintan, @ashleyrcarman, @jyarow, @highfiverpg, @jesselehrich, @techwontsaveus and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Richard Lawler / The Verge:

Microsoft adds integrations with local news creators and authors to highlight local sources and support people with donations in Windows 11 — Support local news with your leftover Microsoft points — Supporting local news sources is suddenly something the tech industry worries about …

Discussion: The Fix and @patreon

Abid Rahman / Hollywood Reporter:

Recording Academy and its former CEO Deborah Dugan reach an agreement over her termination amid allegations of workplace bullying — Dugan left the body that organizes the Grammys in acrimonious circumstances in March 2020.

Discussion: New York Times, Variety and Complete Music Update

Karen Fischer / The Verge:

How Navajo Nation radio stations connected with listeners during the pandemic, dealt with folk remedies for COVID, and helped with donations — KTNN radio station's headquarters in St. Michaels, Arizona is less than ten minutes away from the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock …

Jim Salter / Associated Press:

Three Al Jazeera journalists who were tear-gassed in Ferguson have settled a lawsuit with the county, which has agreed to pay $280K — Three journalists with Al Jazeera who were tear-gassed during a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, after Michael Brown's death in 2014 have settled a lawsuit …

Discussion: Kansas City Star, @melissakchan, @gregghoush, @coreyhutchins, @timjeby and Newsweek

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Innovid, an ad tech company focused on connected television, says it is going public via SPAC merger at an implied valuation of around $1.3B — - Innovid, a 14-year-old ad tech company focused on connected television, plans to go public via a merger with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.

Discussion: @megancgraham, AdExchanger and Adweek

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

OpenAP and AT&T's Xandr, once seen as staunch rivals, strike a strategic data alliance that would let Xandr clients use Open AP's defined audience segments — Open AP and AT&T's Xandr were once seen as staunch rivals. Indeed, WarnerMedia, one of Open AP's founders …

Discussion: Ad Age, FierceVideo, MediaPost and Adweek

Bob Papper / RTDNA:

Research: POC make up 27.7% of local TV news workforce in the US; all local TV newsrooms have women on the news team; 85% of radio news workforce is white — Graphics credits: Chandler Claire Dewgard / Syracuse University — This is the fifth and final installment of this year's RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.

Discussion: @deborahabc17 and @spj_tweets