Mediagazer: Researchers find evidence suggesting that IAB Europe's TCF lets many adtech vendors track and profile users even when they've rejected personalized ads (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

5:45 PM ET, December 17, 2021

Top News:

Documents and sources: WaPo execs weigh how to attract young readers and expand features content as the outlet faces a slump in readership and subscriber growth — News outlet's audience is down sharply, amid sector-wide declines; subscription growth has stagnated as readers look beyond politics

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

NYT fires a Wirecutter editor for “repeatedly invoking the NYT's name in an unprofessional way” in messages she allegedly left a gun rights advocacy group — Erin Marquis, a staffer for the popular product-review site, had also lashed out at a gun-rights organization on Twitter.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Post and @jeremymbarr

Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:

CNN plans to pull its original series off HBO Max and put them on its own streaming service, CNN+, which a source says has a planned March debut for $5.99/month — - News channel eyes $5.99 price and March launch date for CNN+ — CNN plans to pull its original series off HBO Max and put …

Discussion: @business, @gerryfsmith, @jeremymclellan, The Streamable, Gizmodo, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @neoavatara, TVNewser, @pnjaban, @juwanthewriter, @awallenstein and @loudmouthjulia

Randall Lane / Forbes:

Forbes says two of its editors testified about two old stories in front of a New York grand jury investigating Trump, after fighting subpoenas for months — Almost three months ago, I was subpoenaed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to appear before the grand jury investigating Donald Trump.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Biz News, Axios, @chasewithorn, @randalllane, @randalllane, Daily Herald and Raw Story

Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:

Polish parliament passes bill that limits foreign ownership of media, affecting Discovery-owned TVN, which is critical of the government; the bill may be vetoed — A bill to restrict foreign ownership of Polish media was unexpectedly passed by parliament today.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, Financial Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Broadband TV News, DW.COM, @notesfrompoland, Deadline, C21Media, Variety, @mooonlightbby, @globalfreemedia and @ecpmf

Erik Larson / Bloomberg:

Judge lets Dominion go ahead with Fox suit as Fox had “countervailing evidence of election fraud” and says commentators' “hyperbolic” rhetoric can be defamatory — - Fox had enough information to know claims false, judge says — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson also targets of lawsuit

Discussion: @benyt, @timobrien, Hollywood Reporter, @obarcala, MediaPost, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Raw Story, @svdate, @deanobeidallah, @obarcala, CNN, Washington Post and TVNewser

The Citizen Lab:

The phone of an exiled Egyptian TV news host was compromised in June using Cytrox's Predator spyware, delivered via a WhatsApp message with a link — Key Findings — Two Egyptians—exiled politician Ayman Nour and the host of a popular news program (who wishes to remain anonymous) …

Discussion: Cyber Defence News …, NPR, Futureprotech, @evacide, @ngleicher, @laughing_mantis, @sarahleah1, ScreenRant, The Register, Gizmodo, Wired, Bloomberg, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Researchers find evidence suggesting that IAB Europe's TCF lets many adtech vendors track and profile users even when they've rejected personalized ads — New research examining what happens after Internet users in Europe land on an ad-supported website and express their “privacy choices” …

Discussion: @johnnyryan, @kfranasz, @weareconfiant and @jason_kint

Gavin Bridge / Variety:

There were a record 1,923 original series in 2021 across TV and streaming platforms, beating the prior high of 1,628 in 2019 — - 2021 saw a record number of original series across TV & streaming — Subscription streaming is now the platform with the largest number of original shows

Discussion: The Streamable

William Turvill / Press Gazette:

Sources: Google delayed the US launch of News Showcase, live in 14 countries, to at least Q1 2022 as pubs find the offers underwhelming and doubt its efficacy — Google is struggling to persuade some of America's largest publishers to sign up to its News Showcase aggregation scheme, an investigation by Press Gazette has found.

Discussion: @newsalliance, @simonowens, @davidclinchnews, @pressgazette, @simonowens and @tomnamako

Katie Kilkenny / Hollywood Reporter:

Vice employee union reaches a three-year deal with Vice Media that raises minimum salaries to $63K, institutes anti-harassment measures for staff, and more — The new agreement, which consolidates four previously separate contracts, will offer salary floors of $63,000 by the end of the contract …

Discussion: Writers Guild of America …, Deadline, @greenhousenyt and bookforum.com

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Spotify acquires Australian company Whooshkaa, which helps radio broadcasters and others turn existing content into podcasts and sell ads around them — Spotify on Thursday said it acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast technology platform that specializes in technology for radio broadcasters to turn existing content into podcasts.

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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify rolls out a podcast ratings system that will let users rate a show from one to five stars only after listening to it

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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Alden sues Lee Enterprises, arguing Lee's board infringed on company bylaws by denying Alden's request to nominate three board members due to paperwork issues

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Alistair Gray / Financial Times:
Lord Rothermere secures enough shareholder votes to take Daily Mail and General Trust private at an £885M valuation

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Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Talent agency UTA acquires marketing and media consulting firm MediaLink, whose clients include NBCUniversal, AT&T, and Unilever, for $125M

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From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

David Pierce / The Verge:
Hands-on with the Rabbit R1: a fun and funky AI device that feels pretty nice and does a solid job with basic AI questions, but the Rabbithole app is unfinished

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
US prosecutors charge two founders of the Samourai Wallet crypto mixing service, saying it facilitated more than $100M in money laundering transactions

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