Mediagazer: 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 (Sara Fischer/Axios)

3:00 AM ET, January 5, 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: @benyt, @dgelles, @reckless, Variety, @nhannahjones, @ashleyfeinberg, @zengerle, @dylanbyers, @dangillmor, @juliacarriew, @rachel, @dcbigjohn, @jason, @daveweigel, @rosental, @mayawiley, Mediaite, @sethklamann, @lpolgreen, @bristei, @s_m_i, @froomkin, @claremalone, @paperhaus, @ryanchittum, @justinhendrix, @jbflint, @comfortablysmug, @cliffordlevy, @alicialutes, @chaykak, @jswatz, @laurenzcollins, @ashleyfeinberg, @joshsternberg, @katie_roof, @susanpage, @davidcorndc, @jimwaterson, @lisatozzi, @benyt, @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, @nprinskeep, @kerrymflynn, @rmac18, @kromandavid, @bypatrickgeorge, @buzzfeedben, @karaswisher, @alexbruell, Financial Times, @digitalshields, @ariehkovler, @daisandconfused, @richardgrenell, @mhbaskin, @scottfeinberg, @ezwrites, @lebassett, @michaelroston, @toley88, @robinwigg, New York Magazine, @kazweida, @mattnegrin, @ungarino, @jswatz, @rosiegray, @jscros, @tomgara, @maxwelltani, @hamiltonnolan, @esotericcd, @samjmintz, @kampeas, @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

Clare Malone / New Yorker:

Q&A with Ben Smith on his new media venture, as plans like a launch date remain to be finalized: “We want to serve the highest common denominator” — The departing Times media columnist and former editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News wants to push the envelope but isn't yet ready to say just how.

Discussion: @newyorker, Puck, @nycsouthpaw, @ashleyfeinberg, @lmoses, @getembedded, @davidshepardson, @claremalone, @tomgara, @scottnover, @michaelluo, @froomkin, @hotlinejosh, @alexthomp, @eliotwb, @natsfert, @meredithshiner and @banikarim

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, @aagave, The Streamable, @sportswatch, @tvgrimreaper, @sportstvratings and nexttv.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Twitter permanently bans Politics For All, a UK news aggregator founded by 19-year-old Nick Moar, for violating platform manipulation and spam rules — Spokesperson says account ‘suspended for violating rules on platform manipulation and spam’ — Twitter has permanently banned …

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More News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Protocol adds 25 positions, aiming to bring its employee count to 80 by the end of 2022, and says it is 100% ad-supported and has 200K newsletter subscribers

Discussion: @wheidlage, @bennettrich, @sarafischer, @bendreyfuss, @owenthomas, @bennettrich, @bennettrich and @benbrodydc

Todd Spangler / Variety:
EVP and GM of Viacom Digital Studios Stefanie Schwartz leaves to join Jellysmack as the creator-centric video distributor's global head of platform partnerships

Discussion: Tubefilter

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

Discussion: @r2rothenberg

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

Discussion: Reclaim The Net, Fox News, @michaelshermer, @foxbusiness, @andymstone, @mccormickprof, @brithume, @bethanyshondark, @megynkelly, The Week, @mkhammer, @beccaturmo, @marshablackburn, @sethamandel, @tedcruz, New York Post, Mediaite and Jane Hampton Cook’s Substack

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

Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: Adweek

Jem Aswad / Variety:
David Bowie's estate sells the singer's publishing catalog to Warner Chappell Music, sources say for over $250M

Discussion: Billboard, Los Angeles Times, Complete Music Update, @variety, @scottwoodssays, @biiilyedwards and Hollywood Reporter

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 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

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”

Discussion: Axios, @hkcnews_com, T&I AsiaWatch, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Al Jazeera, @xinwenxiaojie, @hk_watch, @tomgrundy, @austinramzy and @lokmantsui

From Techmeme:

Lee-Anne Mulholland / The Keyword:
Google files its proposed remedies in the DOJ's search antitrust lawsuit, including letting browser companies have multiple default agreements across platforms

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

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