Mediagazer: Journalists say Amazon's PR team uses aggressive, manipulative, and sometimes outright deceptive tactics to intimidate and mislead reporters (Ali Breland/Mother Jones)

7:15 PM ET, June 25, 2021

Top News:

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, @alisongow, HullLive, @seyiakiwowo, gbnews.uk, @marklittlenews, @mrjohncrowley, @jonbir90, @davidbartlett1, @davidhiggerson, @kristian_walsh, @rasmus_kleis and HoldtheFrontPage

Ali Breland / Mother Jones:

Journalists say Amazon's PR team uses aggressive, manipulative, and sometimes outright deceptive tactics to intimidate and mislead reporters — Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.

Discussion: @alibreland, @ericgeller, Newcomer, @zackwhittaker, @aaronhuertas, @marahvistendahl, @william_fitz, @bigblackjacobin, @anoushasakoui, @stokel, @amandamull, @evan_greer, @anthonyha, @ldobsonhughes, @willoremus, @aaschapiro and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »

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 …

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

AG Garland says he is planning an informal directive and new regulations to ban federal prosecutors from subpoenaing reporters or their phone or email records — Attorney General Merrick Garland has endorsed the idea of legislation to create an enduring ban on federal prosecutors subpoenaing reporters …

Discussion: @andy_geronimo and @jameeljaffer

Shirin Ghaffary / Vox:

Google is showing a warning on some searches that it may not have reliable sources to show, usually on trending topics — The company is notifying people when they search for rapidly evolving topics. — Google is testing a new feature to notify people when they search for a topic that may have unreliable results.

Discussion: The Verge, The Keyword, Beyond Search, Search Engine Land, The Guardian and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

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: TV Technology, @deborahabc17 and @spj_tweets

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.

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: Variety, New York Times and Digital Music News

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, American Press Institute and @helaineolen

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

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: Marketing Dive, Today in Digital Marketing, Tubefilter, Variety, @kintan, @highfiverpg, @techwontsaveus, @ashleyrcarman, @jyarow, @jesselehrich and AppleInsider

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 …