Top News:
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
While The Atlantic and others have covered the United States' teetering democracy, major publications have yet to make the topic a central focus — Journalists stepped it up in 2021, but now we need a concerted effort — In the year since the Jan. 6 insurrection, mainstream journalists have done a lot of things right.
Discussion:
@sulliview, The Boston Globe, @sulliview, New York Times, @mollyjongfast, @mmasnick, Raw Story, @nkulw, @joeabodnar, @zevshalev, @melaniesill, @froomkin, @tribelaw, Substack, @kat__stafford, David Weir’s Newsletter, @paulachertok, @amlwhere, The Week, @lutzfernandez, @emilybell, @bazzinyu, @drvolts, @rolandsmartin, @miafarrow, Fox News, @froomkin, @youngsinick and NPR
The New York Times Company:
WaPo's David Fahrenthold, who won the 2017 Pulitzer for an investigation into Trump's charitable giving, will join NYT's DC bureau as an investigative reporter — David is joining The Times's Washington bureau as an investigative reporter. Read more in this note from Elisabeth Bumiller.
Discussion:
@fahrenthold, @farhip, Poynter, @fahrenthold, @fahrenthold, @philiprucker, @teddyschleifer, @vivian, @bgrueskin, @petersagal, @jonathantamari, @harrylitman, @dataeditor, @evanasmith, @bensoskis, @seungminkim, @jeremybowers, @mikiebarb, Mediaite, @danielsgoldman, The Guardian, @shearm, @cliffordlevy, @agearan, @robreich, @colbyitkowitz, @markberman, @richarddeitsch, @aaronblake, @wesleylowery, @tomwatson, @ericmgarcia, @chelsea_janes, @rkellett, @felixsalmon, @edokeefe, @jdawsey1, @ichotiner, @levinecarrie, The Wrap and The Hill
Ben Smith / New York Times:
After leaving Meta, CrowdTangle co-founder Brandon Silverman has helped a bipartisan group of US senators craft a bill to boost social networks' transparency — The co-founder of CrowdTangle has been working with Congress on legislation to make tech companies disclose their inner workings.
Discussion:
@nytimes, @daveyalba, @dmccabe, @evelyndouek, @brianboland, @anthony, @travismayfield, @gchaslot, @chriscoons, Raw Story, Insider, @karaswisher, The Full Belmonte, @revkin, @sillyrobin, @donie, @daveyalba, @adrielhampton, @dangillmor, @apmckay, @elipariser, @kombiz, @justinhendrix, @benyt and @digitalshields
Gideon Lichfield / Wired:
Wired merges its US and UK websites, but will still publish two separate print editions, as it vows to reject “the optimist and pessimist views of tech” — The future begins here—again. — In the next few decades, virtually every financial, social, and governmental institution …
Discussion:
CNN, @glichfield, @glichfield, @lpramsey, @derektmead, @bmorrissey, @joonian, @tsnvaa, @jtemple, @mikejcasey, @kerrymflynn, @d_jaishankar, @kharijohnson, @gmochkofsky, @glichfield, @laurengoode, @ibogost, @caitlin__kelly, @jeffjarvis, @jeremywired, @parismarx, @avantgame, @wired, @fvogelstein, @jeffjarvis, @michaelzimmer, @jillianpstead and @jeffjarvis
Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
Independent Hong Kong news outlet Citizen News will close on Tuesday, citing “the rapid changes in society and worsening environment for media” — Independent online news portal to cease operations amid ‘worsening environment for media’ in city
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter completes its $1.05B sale of MoPub to AppLovin, which expects its unified platform with MoPub to process $15B+ of annualized advertiser spend by 2023 — Twitter announced today it has completed the sale of its mobile ad platform, MoPub, to the mobile game maker and marketing software …
Discussion:
Business Wire, Adweek and PR Newswire, more at Techmeme »
Heidi Chung / Variety:
2022 media trend predictions: subscription video streaming and global digital ad revenue will likely remain growth stories, and the M&A fever will rage on — Though the economy wasn't completely shut down in 2021, life and business were hardly normal. Despite those less-than-normal conditions …
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
A look at publishers' NFT experiments in 2021, including Decrypt Studios, Yahoo's NFT New York Fashion Week ad deal, and Turner Sports' NFT-based golf game — Many publishers closed out 2020 in a better financial position than they expected early on in the pandemic, giving them the flexibility …
Discussion:
@sarahmarshall
Jem Aswad / Variety:
David Bowie's estate sells the singer's publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music, sources say for over $250M — The catalog spans six decades and includes such songs as “Heroes,” “Changes,” “Space Oddity,” “Fame,” “Let's Dance,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Golden Years,” “Ziggy Stardust,” …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Atmosphere TV, which streams ad-supported video channels often without audio, raises a $80M Series C and $20M in debt, bringing its total funding to $140M — Companies like Muzak have made a big business out of building catalogues of licensed audio content for commercial venues …
Tyler O'Neil / Fox Business:
Facebook reinstates the ad account of conservative children's book publisher Heroes of Liberty, saying the account was permanently disabled in error — Heroes of Liberty publishes books about Amy Coney Barrett, Ronald Reagan and Thomas Sowell — Facebook has “permanently disabled” …
Stephen Lepitak / Adweek:
MediaRadar: between November 2020 and November 2021, US gambling ad spend reached $488M, including ~$336M on TV, up 63% YoY, and ~$140M on digital, up 52% YoY — The level of advertising spend over the last year in the country is estimated to have reached $336 million
Discussion:
@r2rothenberg, @ericporat, @wagersusa and @adweek