Mediagazer: Studios and production houses are delaying returns to filming as some cast and crew test positive for Omicron, to avoid expensive mid-shoot shutdowns (Anousha Sakoui/Los Angeles Times)

10:40 PM ET, January 5, 2022

Top News:

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:

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Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who works in publishing, alleging he targeted authors and others to steal unpublished book manuscripts — Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who worked in publishing, was charged with wire fraud and identity theft for a scheme …

Jem Aswad / Variety:

The Grammy Awards, planned for January 31 in Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena, have been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 concerns — 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, @claireatki, Billboard, TheGrio, WWD, CNET, UPI, TVLine, The Guardian, @variety, The Wrap, @amandasalas, Collider, @jennifer_su, The A.V. Club and Adweek

Shraddha Chakradhar / Nieman Lab:

Longform.org shuts down its nonfiction article recommendations service, but will continue to publish new weekly episodes of its Longform Podcast — Loyal readers of Longform, the nonfiction podcast and website dedicated to curating and recommending nonfiction articles …

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

NPR's All Things Considered host Audie Cornish is leaving, following exits by other prominent NPR hosts of color, including Noel King and Lulu Garcia-Navarro — 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.

Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:

Analysis: about half of 1,490 episodes from 20 popular political podcasts between the 2020 election and the January 6 riot contained election misinformation — A new study analyzed nearly 1,500 episodes, showing the extent to which podcasts pushed misinformation about voter fraud.

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

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

AMC Networks acquires Sentai, including its anime Hidive subscription streaming service, e-commerce platform SentaiFilmworks, Anime Network, and Sentai Studios — The deal includes the anime-focused HIDIVE subscription streaming service. — AMC Networks, the company behind …

Discussion: Variety, @vamptvo, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia and The Wrap

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

Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:

Paid Peacock subscribers will get live streaming access to all events at the Beijing Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 2 to February 20 — NBC is hoping another Olympics will give Peacock a boost. Ahead of the forthcoming Winter Games from Beijing next month, NBC announced …

Discussion: Deadline, The Streamable, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, @dougscripts, @thedragonfeeder, Awful Announcing and Adweek

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 — Calling legacy media “almost paralyzed,” two of journalism's top disrupters — Bloomberg's Justin Smith and Ben Smith of the New York Times …

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, @justin_b_smith, Reuters, @emilybell, @reckless, @nhannahjones, @dylanbyers, Washington Post, @kindahagi, @felixsalmon, @sarafischer, @daveleeft, American Press Institute, @dangillmor, @juliacarriew, @rachel, @dcbigjohn, @jason, @zengerle, @sewellchan, @ashleyfeinberg, Indigenous Wire, @benmullin, @hunterw, @ryanchittum, @laurenzcollins, @madisonoconn, @karaswisher, @jayrosen_nyu, @edmundlee, @richardgrenell, @benyt, @kampeas, @nprinskeep, @lionelbarber, @mayawiley, @jswatz, @om, @mattdpearce, @kazweida, @chaykak, @comfortablysmug, @apbenven, @bypatrickgeorge, @alexthomp, @mattzeitlin, @jscros, @jscros, @maxwelltani, @jswatz, @kromandavid, @froomkin, @marcbain_, @brianstelter, @rafat, @davidcorndc, @hunterw, @katie_roof, @froomkin, @buzzfeedben, @lebassett, @sethklamann, @alicialutes, @claireeshaffer, @meredithshiner, @rublekb, @mhbaskin, @ungarino, @esotericcd, @kerrymflynn, @rosiegray, @rosental, @parryravi, @claremalone, @sub8u, @ryanlcooper, @robinwigg, @michaelroston, @digitalshields, @daveweigel, @lpolgreen, @claremalone, @justinhendrix, @parismartineau, @natalieweiner, @yair_rosenberg, @ralstonreports, @jakesherman, @ariehkovler, @clairevtran, @howardkurtz, @chanders, @tomgara, @tomgara, @hamiltonnolan, @jason_kint, @robinwigg, @thekenyeung, @toley88, @bristei, @ashleyfeinberg, @ashleyfeinberg, @kerrymflynn, @s_m_i, @paperhaus, @joshsternberg, @davegershgorn, @tomscocca, @rmac18, @daisandconfused, @scottfeinberg, @michaelroston, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @edmundlee, @cliffordlevy, @susanpage, @jimwaterson, @lisatozzi, @pdmcleod, @ljkawa, @scottnover, @akarl_smith, @martinsfp, @carolynryan, @ezwrites, @mattnegrin, @tomgara, @samjmintz, @sonnybunch, @davidfolkenflik, @alexbruell and @patrickmcgee_

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”

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, Forbes, TechCrunch, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, The Wrap and Deadline

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 »

David Bauder / Associated Press:

Sean Hannity, who has claimed he is and is not a journalist, and Fox face ethical issues again after revelations about Hannity's texts to the White House — NEW YORK (AP) — For years, Sean Hannity has skirted ethical boundaries with his role on a television network with “news” in its name.

Discussion: Washington Post, @dbauder, @allanmargolin, Vanity Fair, Media Matters for America and Washington Post

Anousha Sakoui / Los Angeles Times:

Studios and production houses are delaying returns to filming as some cast and crew test positive for Omicron, to avoid expensive 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: @maxjgao and @rverrier

Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:

The NLRB files a complaint claiming the NYT interfered with employees' rights when it told some tech employees to stop pro-union activities — The New York Times Co. illegally restricted employees' union activism, federal labor officials alleged in a complaint that accuses the company …

Discussion: New York Times, @josheidelson and @ntabrizy

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Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Jared Hohlt, Slate editor-in-chief and former New York magazine editor for nearly two decades, is stepping down after nearly three years

Discussion: @katzish

Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:
Sundance Film Festival in-person events, planned to start January 20 in Park City, Utah, are moved online, making the event entirely virtual for the second year

Discussion: NBC News, @thejoelynch, @cassianelwes, @carriecnh12, Gizmodo and The Wrap

Max Goldbart / Deadline:
BAFTA merges its LA and New York entities into a single North America board; Starz Original Programming President Kathryn Busby will be its chair

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Alec Karakatsanis / @equalityalec:
[Thread] How the NYT used spin from the LAPD to run a sympathetic profile of a “good guy” cop that killed a teenager in an LA clothing store dressing room

Discussion: @thepacketrat, @mmasnick, @bloodjetpoetry, @jfslowik and @jathansadowski

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Comscore launches Comscore Everywhere to measure unduplicated audiences across various media and screens, with plans to add new phases throughout 2022

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Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Livepeer, an Ethereum-based decentralized video streaming service, raises a $40M Series B from Tiger Global and others, bringing its total funding to $51M

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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
NBCUniversal unveils NBCUnified, a first-party identity platform to let advertisers track and monitor users without cookies or device IDs

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
TikTok partners with Atmosphere to bring curated TikTok videos to Atmosphere's ad-supported streaming service for commercial venues

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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

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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK press regulator IPSO, which has launched no investigations since its 2014 inception, declines calls to investigate the Jewish Chronicle for repeated libel

Discussion: @hackinginquiry and Hacked Off

Priya Anand / Bloomberg:
Popcorn Time, an open-source streaming service for pirated content launched in 2014, shuts down; in 2015, Netflix warned investors about Popcorn Time's rise

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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

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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

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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

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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

Discussion: @isalara, @nprinskeep and @sarafischer

From Techmeme:

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Okta fixes a flaw present since July 23, 2024, that let users log in under specific circumstances with any password if the account's username had 52+ characters

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Amazon's plan to rearchitect Alexa around LLMs could finally help Alexa understand what users actually want and reduce the awkward syntax needed to use Skills

Stephen Groves / Associated Press:
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP “probably will” try to repeal the CHIPS Act, but then walks it back, saying the GOP may “further streamline” the bill

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