Mediagazer: MoffettNathanson: US pay-TV services lost 637,000 subscribers in Q3 as gains from digital distributors failed to make up for cable and satellite provider losses (Jeff Baumgartner/Light Reading)

7:55 PM ET, January 4, 2022

Top News:

David Gelles / New York Times:

Ben Smith is leaving the NYT to start a global news organization with Justin Smith for the “200M people who are college educated, who read in English” — Mr. Smith will help start a new organization with Justin Smith, the chief executive of Bloomberg Media.

Discussion: @newyorker, @benyt, @dgelles, Puck, New York Magazine, Variety, @dylanbyers, @reckless, @ashleyfeinberg, @zengerle, @kampeas, @nprinskeep, Financial Times, @nhannahjones, @mayawiley, @jswatz, @daveweigel, @rosental, Mediaite, @sethklamann, @lpolgreen, @bristei, @s_m_i, @froomkin, @claremalone, @paperhaus, @justinhendrix, @jbflint, @comfortablysmug, @cliffordlevy, @alicialutes, @chaykak, @laurenzcollins, @ashleyfeinberg, @joshsternberg, @katie_roof, @susanpage, @davidcorndc, @jimwaterson, @lisatozzi, @jbflint, @parismartineau, @natalieweiner, @pdmcleod, @froomkin, @howardkurtz, @claireeshaffer, @yair_rosenberg, @ljkawa, @jscros, @ashleyfeinberg, @thekenyeung, @apbenven, @ralstonreports, @brianstelter, @meredithshiner, @rublekb, @brianstelter, @hunterw, @scottnover, @alexthomp, @edmundlee, @akarl_smith, @clairevtran, @rafat, @chanders, Defector, @kerrymflynn, @kfile, @tomgara, @patrickmcgee_, @om, @martinsfp, @davegershgorn, @carolynryan, @jakesherman, @tomscocca, @kerrymflynn, @rmac18, @kromandavid, @bypatrickgeorge, @buzzfeedben, @alexbruell, @digitalshields, Deadline, @ariehkovler, @daisandconfused, @mhbaskin, @scottfeinberg, @ezwrites, @lebassett, @michaelroston, @toley88, @robinwigg, @kazweida, @mattnegrin, @ungarino, @jswatz, @rosiegray, @jscros, @tomgara, @maxwelltani, @hamiltonnolan, @esotericcd, @samjmintz, @tomgara, @sonnybunch, The Hill and bookforum.com

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith steps down effective immediately to found a media company “that serves unbiased journalism”; Scott Havens to replace him as CEO — Mr. Smith, 52, sees opportunity to help address crisis in trust among news consumers

Jeff Baumgartner / Light Reading:

MoffettNathanson: US pay-TV services lost 637,000 subscribers in Q3 as gains from digital distributors failed to make up for cable and satellite provider losses — The US pay-TV industry shed another 637,000 subscribers in the third quarter of 2021 as gains from virtual multichannel video …

Discussion: @crupicrupicrupi, Fierce Video, The Streamable and nexttv.com

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.

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

The Institute for Nonprofit News raised a record $12M, including $6M in matching funds, for 2021's NewsMatch fundraising program and 300+ newsrooms participated — As 2021 came to a close, NewsMatch was just getting started. — The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) announced it raised $12 million …

Discussion: Institute for Nonprofit News, @inn and @inn

Vania Andre / THE CITY:

NYC-based independent and nonprofit news site The City appoints Richard Kim as EIC, starting on February 1; Kim was previously HuffPost's executive editor — THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to serving the people of New York, is delighted to announce the appointment of Richard Kim as editor in chief.

Discussion: @richardkimnyc, @craignewmark, @hilella, @lpolgreen, @j__velasquez, @sulliview, @jere_hester, @nicdawes, @moorehn and @zachdcarter

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

Axios:

Chartbeat survey of 4,000+ publishers globally: traffic declined 8% between 2020 and 2021 and nearly 20% between January 2021 and December 2021 — Engagement with news content plummeted last year compared to 2020, and given the ongoing decline in interest in news about COVID-19 and politics …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, @sarafischer, @kennymack1971, @jason_kint, @aubsn, @kristina_wong, @mattlargey, @scottnover, @kassien, @paulglader, @sarafischer and @blackamazon

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Atmosphere TV, which streams ad-supported video channels often without audio, raises an $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 …

Discussion: @s3ventures, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

NPR adds new shows and subscriber-only benefits to NPR+, and plans to launch an on-demand podcast bundle in H2 2022 as a benefit of membership to local stations — Today's Media Trends is 1,486 words, a 6-minute read. Sign up here. — 1 big thing: NPR's new pod push — Expand chart

Discussion: MediaPost, @sarafischer, @isalara, @nprinskeep, @sarafischer and @jeffjarvis

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 …

Chantal Flores / Study Hall:

Investigative journalists of color face safety risks, “objectivity” issues, editors worried about making white readers uncomfortable, and a lack of resources — When journalist Mary Annette Pember pitched a story on missing and murdered Indigenous women to mainstream media outlets years ago …

Discussion: @nicolemfoy, @jamunt, @carlykgraf, @aliyyaswaby, @mattderienzo, @scchak, @fvaraorta, @studyhallxyz, @tati_wm, @karenkho, @kaitwells, @jane_c_hu, @nahj and @pcheung630

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Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
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Discussion: @hkcnews_com, Axios, T&I AsiaWatch, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Al Jazeera, @xinwenxiaojie, @hk_watch, @tomgrundy, @austinramzy, @lokmantsui, Reuters, Dimsum Daily, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNN and BBC

Heidi Chung / Variety:
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From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: the new iPad Pro may launch with an M4 chip, kicking off Apple's AI strategy that will be expanded at WWDC; the new Pencil will have haptic feedback

Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers, TikTok staff, and others detail how TikTok lost the war in Washington, including due to CEO Shou Zi Chew's failure to build support on Capitol Hill

Karen Weise / New York Times:
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