Top News:
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.
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Justin Smith will be CEO of the new venture, which will focus on digital consumer subscriptions and premium advertising, and Ben Smith will lead its newsroom
Discussion:
@sarafischer, @sarafischer, @craigsilverman, @sarafischer, @samro and @jrubinblogger
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”
Discussion:
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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
Discussion:
@justin_b_smith, Reuters, Vox, @benmullin, @sewellchan, The Rebooting, @benmullin, @benmullin, @chriscillizza, @hunterw, @jbarro, @madisonoconn, @niketa, @jayrosen_nyu, @laurawags, @edmundlee, @mccarthyryanj, @carloslozadawp, @michaelluo, @digiphile, @lionelbarber, Variety, @richard_florida, @mattdpearce, @jkempenergy, @mattzeitlin, @marcbain_, @benmullin, @parryravi, @claremalone, @sub8u, @ryanlcooper, @robinwigg, @michaelroston, @jason_kint, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik, @seangriffey, @seangriffey, @jbflint, @pkafka, @pkafka, Talking Biz News, Today in Tabs, Deadline, MediaPost, New York Post, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter
Jem Aswad / Variety:
The Grammy Awards show, planned for January 31 in Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena, has been postponed indefinitely due to concerns over COVID-19 — As expected, the Grammy Awards have been postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus-related concerns, an Academy spokesperson has confirmed to Variety.
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GRAMMY.com, NPR, CNET, Billboard, The Wrap, Adweek, UPI, The Guardian, WWD, @amandasalas, @jennifer_su, Collider, TVLine, The A.V. Club, @variety, Rolling Stone, CBS Los Angeles and CBS New York
Shraddha Chakradhar / Nieman Lab:
Longform.org says it is shutting down its article recommendations service, but will continue the weekly Longform Podcast — Loyal readers of Longform, the nonfiction podcast and website dedicated to curating and recommending nonfiction articles, learned Wednesday that the article-recommendation component is no longer.
Discussion:
@longform, @dave_schilling, @thebrowser, @everettcook, @bettinamak, @jaycaspiankang, @francescamari, @maxlinsky, @zachbaron, @samdiss, @bombur, @meagan_flynn, @elongreen, @davidwolman, @longreads, @pappademas, @patcaldwell, @jduffyrice, @thrasherxy, @bobbie, @stevekandell, @taffyakner, @harrymccracken, @jacobfeldman4, @karenkho and @nbj914
Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:
Analysis of about 1,500 episodes from 20 popular political podcasts between the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot finds about half contained election misinfo — A new study analyzed nearly 1,500 episodes, showing the extent to which podcasts pushed misinformation about voter fraud.
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks buys anime streamer and distributor Sentai, including its anime-focused Hidive subscription streaming service, Anime Network, and Sentai Studios — The deal includes the anime-focused HIDIVE subscription streaming service. — AMC Networks, the company behind …
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia and @loudmouthjulia
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Audie Cornish, a host of NPR's “All Things Considered”, is leaving her job, following recent exits by other prominent NPR hosts of color, including Noel King — Audie Cornish, a host of NPR's “All Things Considered,” is leaving her job, becoming the latest prominent person of color to leave the public broadcaster.
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
AT&T CFO says HBO Max and HBO ended 2021 with about 73.8M subscribers, ahead of the company's forecast — The WarnerMedia streamer's fourth-quarter content slate included ‘Succession,’ ‘Dune’ and ‘Sex and the City’ sequel series ‘And Just Like That.’
Discussion:
Variety, Forbes, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, nexttv.com, Tubefilter, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Deadline, Broadband TV News and Media Play News
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon says it sold over 150M Fire TV devices worldwide, announces Ford and Stellantis deals to bring Fire TV to their in-car entertainment systems — Amazon is touting a major milestone for Fire TV, claiming it has sold more than 150 million of the streaming devices worldwide.
Discussion:
CNET News and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Eli Tan / CoinDesk:
Quentin Tarantino says he will proceed with selling NFTs based on Pulp Fiction screenplay excerpts, defying a Miramax copyright lawsuit — The famed director is moving forward with his Secret Network NFT sale later this month. — After being sued for copyright infringement …
Discussion:
New York Times, ScreenRant, Business Wire, IndieWire, @morgan_chittum, The A.V. Club and Insider
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Sources: ill-suited or blocked programmatic ads are airing on some podcasts, showing that early trust between networks and ad tech providers could break — This story is part of a group of stories called — The podcast industry is working up to something big; you can see it in the acquisitions.
Discussion:
@marcoarment, @marcoarment, @profcarroll, Podcast Movement, @marcoarment, @stephenrobles, AdExchanger, @ismh, @ashleyrcarman and RAIN News
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
Paid Peacock subscribers will get access to live streams of all events at the Beijing Winter Olympics, scheduled February 2-20 — NBC is hoping another Olympics will give Peacock a boost. Ahead of the forthcoming Winter Games from Beijing next month, NBC announced that Peacock subscribers …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Variety, Adweek, @dougscripts, @thedragonfeeder, Deadline and Hollywood Reporter
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Court docs: Mail on Sunday will pay Meghan Markle just £1 for invading her privacy, on top of confidential sums for infringing her copyright; MoS won't appeal — Newspaper accepts defeat and will pay additional unspecified sum for infringing her copyright
Discussion:
The Hill, Forbes, The Independent, Us Weekly, Associated Press, Gawker, The Daily Beast, UPI, Daily Mail and Insider
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