Mediagazer: Quentin Tarantino says he will proceed with selling NFTs based on Pulp Fiction screenplay excerpts, defying a Miramax copyright lawsuit (Eli Tan/CoinDesk)

8:55 PM ET, January 5, 2022

Top News:

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:

FBI arrests Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who works in publishing, in a scheme that targeted authors and others to steal unpublished book manuscripts — Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who worked in publishing, was charged with wire fraud and identity theft for a scheme …

Discussion: Variety, @charlessoule, @mattblaze, @malwarejake, @_elizabethmay, @franklinleonard, @pgourevitch, @eriqgardner, @qjurecic, @nicoleperlroth, @qjurecic, @nytimesbooks, @xanalter, @markberman, @e_alexjung, @lrozen and @nicoleperlroth

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.

Discussion: GRAMMY.com, NPR, Billboard, CNET, @claireatki, TheGrio, WWD, UPI, The Guardian, The Wrap, TVLine, @variety, @amandasalas, Collider, @jennifer_su, The A.V. Club, Adweek 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.

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.

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, @audiecornish, @seanasaldana, @audiecornish, The Boston Globe, @davidfolkenflik, @rgay, @farhip, @rebekahentralgo, @rebekahentralgo and insideradio.com

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.

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: Poynter, @bgrueskin, @benyt, @dgelles, @emilybell, @reckless, @nhannahjones, @dylanbyers, Washington Post, @kindahagi, @felixsalmon, @sarafischer, American Press Institute, @daveleeft, @dangillmor, @juliacarriew, @rachel, @dcbigjohn, @jason, @zengerle, Indigenous Wire, Talking Biz News, @ashleyfeinberg, @ryanchittum, @laurenzcollins, @karaswisher, @richardgrenell, @benyt, @kampeas, @nprinskeep, @mayawiley, @jswatz, @om, @kazweida, @chaykak, @comfortablysmug, @apbenven, @bypatrickgeorge, @alexthomp, @jscros, @jscros, @maxwelltani, @jswatz, @kromandavid, @froomkin, @brianstelter, @rafat, @davidcorndc, @hunterw, @katie_roof, @froomkin, @buzzfeedben, @lebassett, @sethklamann, @alicialutes, @claireeshaffer, @meredithshiner, @rublekb, @mhbaskin, @ungarino, @esotericcd, @kerrymflynn, @rosiegray, @rosental, @digitalshields, @daveweigel, @lpolgreen, @claremalone, @justinhendrix, @parismartineau, @natalieweiner, @yair_rosenberg, @ralstonreports, @jakesherman, @ariehkovler, @clairevtran, @howardkurtz, @chanders, @tomgara, @tomgara, @hamiltonnolan, @robinwigg, @thekenyeung, @toley88, @bristei, @ashleyfeinberg, @ashleyfeinberg, @kerrymflynn, @s_m_i, @paperhaus, @joshsternberg, @davegershgorn, @tomscocca, @rmac18, @daisandconfused, @scottfeinberg, @michaelroston, @brianstelter, @edmundlee, @cliffordlevy, @susanpage, @jimwaterson, @lisatozzi, @pdmcleod, @ljkawa, @scottnover, @akarl_smith, @martinsfp, @carolynryan, @ezwrites, @mattnegrin, @tomgara, @samjmintz, @sonnybunch, @alexbruell, @patrickmcgee_, @jbflint, @jbflint, @kfile, New York Magazine, Defector and Vanity Fair

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

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.

Discussion: @daveyalba, Reclaim The Net, @tomgara, @mmfa, @zaleskiluke, @rasmus_kleis, @scout_finch, @matthewboedy, @tripgabriel, @puiwingtam, @mollyjongfast, @michaelkruse, @indivisiblecria and Brookings

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, @vamptvo, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia and @loudmouthjulia

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, Business Wire, IndieWire, ScreenRant, @morgan_chittum, The A.V. Club and Insider

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: The Streamable and CNET News, more at Techmeme »

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, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Broadband TV News, Tubefilter, TechCrunch, Media Play News, nexttv.com and Deadline

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, Deadline, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, @dougscripts, @thedragonfeeder and Adweek

Anousha Sakoui / Los Angeles Times:

Studios and production houses are delaying a return to filming as some cast and crew test positive for Omicron, to avoid costs tied to mid-shoot shutdowns — Tim Hillman was preparing to start work as location manager for the Fox Network show “9-1-1” in Los Angeles on Monday, but Omicron had other plans.

Discussion: @rverrier

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 and @ashleyrcarman

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