Mediagazer: Sources: Vox Media is weighing several options to finance its expansion, including a SPAC merger or an IPO; Vox says it is buying drinks website Punch (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

9:15 AM ET, August 24, 2021

Top News:

Jim Friedlich / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

How the bipartisan Local Journalism Sustainability Act in US Congress would publicly fund local media orgs while letting them keep their editorial independence — The Philadelphia Inquirer is unique. The newspaper you are reading is the largest American news publication under nonprofit ownership …

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Vox Media is weighing several options to finance its expansion, including a SPAC merger or an IPO; Vox says it is buying drinks website Punch — Digital media company is buying a cocktail website founded by Bertelsmann SE's Penguin Random House — Vox Media LLC said Monday …

Discussion: Axios, @benmullin, @stevekovach, @bowtiedrobin, @jeremymbarr, @karanewman, Tubefilter, @sarafischer, @srussolillo, MediaPost, Eater and Adweek

Katherine Huggins / Mediaite:

CNN, Fox News, WSJ, NYT, WaPo, and others have successfully evacuated journalists from Afghanistan, including freelancers and interpreters — Multiple media companies have successfully evacuated journalists from Afghanistan, including Afghan freelancers and interpreters.

Discussion: @justinbaragona, @zpleat, Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail, @yarotrof, @katie_robertson, @tawnell, @dionnissenbaum, @susancrabtree, @betsylfisher, @jmalsin, The Jackal, Poynter and CNN

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Anguished reactions by some in elite US media about Afghanistan come from people who deeply bought into the war and are suddenly forced to confront its reality

Michael Savage / The Guardian:
UK agrees to visa waivers for more than 200 Afghan journalists who worked with the British media and their immediate family

Discussion: @jpmarthoz and @humayusuf

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBCUniversal says it is “assembling a full suite of interoperable measurement solutions”, as Nielsen's national TV ratings come under intense scrutiny — The TV industry has for decades relied on a single yardstick: Nielsen ratings. Now NBCUniversal has suggested it may have to accept multiple measurement benchmarks.

Discussion: @bristei, Advanced Television, @bristei, AdExchanger, Ad Age, nexttv.com, The Drum, MediaPost, The Wrap and Realscreen

Zeynep Tufekci / @zeynep:

[Thread] Zeynep Tufekci says her substack will soon turn into a free newsletter for a future book as she joins NYT as an opinion columnist — So the news is out. I'm going to be a regular columnist with the New York Times. I started blogging about a decade ago simply because I had things to say, and thought it would be good to have more academic voices in the public sphere. It's been a journey, for sure. https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: @cliffordlevy, The New York Times Company, @brittanygrogan, @tomgara, @craignewmark, @zoabehafeez, @mkhammer, @rinireg, @rogerpielkejr, @joshconstine and @ianbremmer

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

NY Post is requiring all employees to wear masks while away from their desks, after peddling anti-mask rhetoric and questioning mask mandates in editorials — New York (CNN Business)The New York Post, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that has peddled a high volume of anti-mask rhetoric during the pandemic …

Discussion: @michaeljstern1, The Wrap, Raw Story, @oliverdarcy, HuffPost, @badfoxgraphics, @cnnbusiness and @oliverdarcy

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Right-wing media pushed ivermectin, a deworming drug used for livestock, as a potential COVID-19 treatment despite FDA warnings that it can be unsafe for humans

Discussion: Raw Story, NPR, @bobosphere, @againcassandra and KNSD-TV

Variety:

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan is stepping down after 26 years and will be vice chairman; Matt Blank, former head of Showtime, will be interim CEO — Josh Sapan, a cable pioneer who has headed AMC Networks and its predecessors in the Dolan cable dynasty for more than 25 years, is seguing to the vice chairman role at AMC Networks.

Discussion: deadline.com, The Wrap, Bloomberg and @claireatki

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

Interview with Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO of UK publisher Future, on acquiring The Week publisher Dennis for £300M, plans for an expansion in the US, and more — Magazine publisher Future has been on an acquisitions drive over the past five years that's earned it the label of industry …

Discussion: @pressgazette, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @rafat

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Sources: Rachel Maddow has agreed to a new multi-year deal with MSNBC, which will include developing new projects with the network and NBCUniversal — Rachel Maddow will stay at MSNBC, according to two people familiar with the matter, after negotiating a new pact that will keep her at the cable-news outlet beyond 2022.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, @benmullin, @brianstelter, Mediaite, Too Much TV Newsletter, @ingridriley, Vanity Fair, Newser, @variety, Insider, The Hill, TVLine and Mediaite

Ben Smith / New York Times:

How Russia's crackdown has changed outlets like Meduza, which has an audience of 10M+/month and lost 95% of advertisers after being marked a “foreign agent” — Meduza, a leading independent news site, fights back with jokes and a stunning donation campaign. But can it stand up to the Russian state?

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, The Independent, @freedomofpress, @kevinrothrock, @latlands, @antontroian, @nytimes, @cernovich, @joelcpj, @crayonscrayons, @rasmus_kleis and @benyt

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

YouTube says its Partner Program has 2M creators and the number of new channels joining the program in 2020 doubled YoY as channels making $100K+ grew 35% YoY — The program to pay its creators launched 14 years ago — YouTube's Partner Program, which allows users to make money off their videos …

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, MediaPost, Digital TV Europe, @susanwojcicki, Pink's Bottom Line on Media …, Axios, Variety and Adweek

Laura Hayes / Washington City Paper:

A look at DC's spot news reporters who chronicle crime via their social media feeds, including DC REALTIME NEWS and Killmoenews, and compete with local TV news — City Paper turns 40 this year. Will you help fund the next 40 years of local news? — Every dollar you give goes back into creating the journalism you trust.

Discussion: @barnhardt, @laurahayesdc, @laurahayesdc, @marycheh, @nikkiusher, @amandabeadle, @laurahayesdc, @laurahayesdc, @consciousgiver, @justupthepike, @wcp and @chuckthies

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A look at the rise of “Consequence Culture” documentaries about celebrities like R. Kelly, which push audiences to consider old scandals with new sensibilities

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Earlier Picks:

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
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Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Chinese e-comics app Kuaikan, which has 50M MAUs, raises $240M Series F from CCB International, Tencent, and others, source says at a $1.25B valuation

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Discussion: @hartoutwest, @aropeik, @rebootingfuture, @coveringclimate and @copublicradio

Mark Stenberg / Medialyte:
This year's media startups are better funded than last year's, yet are similar in their emphasis on subscriptions, newsletters, and relatively small staff

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
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From Techmeme:

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its App Store in China, after orders from the country's regulators citing national security concerns

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that can create a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

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

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