Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
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
Discussion:
@benmullin, Nieman Lab, @alexbruell, Breitbart, @noahchestnut, @noahchestnut, @noahchestnut, @noahchestnut, @noahchestnut, @noahchestnut, @sewellchan, Poynter, @claremalone, @drewsav, @karaswisher, @pressgazette, @joshsternberg, @dellavolpe, @jbenton, @budkennedy, @stephengutowski, @chuckrossdc, @alexthomp, @walldo, @justupthepike, @millie, @ylichterman, @genepark, @daviduberti, @bmorrissey and @asharma
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 …
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.