Mediagazer: Nonprofit outlet Block Club Chicago receives a three-year, $1.6M grant from the American Journalism Project and Chicago Community Trust matches another $450K (Shamus Toomey/Block Club Chicago)

3:45 PM ET, January 11, 2022

Top News:

A look at the changes in Chicago's news ecosystem, as nonprofit news assumes a prominent role and public radio station WBEZ becomes a formidable player — With Nonprofit News on the March, There Are Plenty of Concerns, but Also New Feelings of Optimism — Chicago journalism is undergoing …

Shamus Toomey / Block Club Chicago:
Nonprofit outlet Block Club Chicago receives a three-year, $1.6M grant from the American Journalism Project and Chicago Community Trust matches another $450K

Discussion: @blockclubchi, @slulay2, American Journalism Project, @mina_bloom_, @jaydubward, @heidistevens13 and @chirpradio

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

The Associated Press will launch a photojournalism NFT marketplace built by blockchain tech provider Xooa on January 31, with sales used to fund its journalism — It's offering collectors ‘exclusive, historic, and stunning visual content’ — The Associated Press, or AP …

American Press Institute:

American Press Institute announces Michael D. Bolden as its new executive director and CEO, starting February 14 — The American Press Institute, an affiliate of the News Media Alliance dedicated to helping news publishers navigate and adapt to organizational and industry change to sustain journalism …

Discussion: @michaelbolden, @ampress, @christinakahrl, @timothyorourke, @jeffjarvis, @ckrewson, @garciaruize, @raheemfh, @newsceo, @jpalfrey and @talkopan

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Internal memo: Spotify shuts down Spotify Studios, also known as Studio 4; former employees say the podcast studio operated as a “junk drawer” for projects — The Studio 4 team, aka Spotify Studios, is being laid off — This story is part of a group of stories called

Discussion: @ashleyrcarman, @blackamazon, Deadline, Tubefilter, Variety, @joshsternberg, @podcastsincolor, @kitacookie, @loudmouthjulia and @nwquah

David Cohen / Adweek:

The Markup partners with Mozilla's data sharing project Rally on Facebook Pixel Hunt, a study to investigate Meta's data collection and tracking practices — Firefox users who opt into ‘Facebook Pixel Hunt’ will use tools in the Rally browser extension

Discussion: The Mozilla Blog, @baekdal, Gizmodo, @juliaangwin, @swodinsky, @jason_kint, @jkosseff, @rsbutner, @mmasnick, @glynmoody, @mediaevan, Forbes, Mozilla Rally and Digiday, more at Techmeme »

Lorenzo Tondo / The Guardian:

Profile of Italian outlet Fanpage, which started as a Facebook Page, attracts millions of readers with award-winning investigative scoops, and employs 67 — What started as a Facebook page is now an investigative news operation with millions of readers a day

Discussion: @frasermatthew, @risj_oxford and @bhopalhouse

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

After CDC objections, ABC posts the full interview with CDC chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky, which it had edited to remove crucial information about COVID-19 deaths — CDC Chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky took heat from the right and the left over an interview that turns out to have been edited …

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, HotAir, @drjudymelinek, Fox News, @maggienyt, @joshsternberg, @g17esiason, @brianstelter and Children of Liberty

New York Times:

NYT freelancer to be tried Wednesday in Zimbabwe on charges he helped NYT reporters enter the country illegally; government said its case was on “shaky ground” — The reporter, Jeffrey Moyo, has been accused of helping two Times journalists enter Zimbabwe from South Africa using bogus credentials …

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @pressfreedom, @rsf_inter, @cliffordlevy and @smith_jeffreyt

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Candle Media, the company led by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs that bought Hello Sunshine, acquires Faraway Road Productions and a stake in Will Smith's Westbrook — Candle Media, a new media rollup company backed by Blackstone and led by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer …

Discussion: Business Wire

Gabriel Snyder / Off the Record:

Justin Smith's plan to chase an elite global audience is a great pitch for sponsors, but a tough editorial product for Ben Smith to deliver — Justin Smith and Ben Smith's announcement brings back memories of the promise — and pitfalls — of an earlier global media startup.

Discussion: @gabrielsnyder, @sdp, @rafat, @rafat, @daytenrose, @marissaaevans, @michellelegro, @dceiver, @weareyourfek, @mattiekahn and @alexljanin

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Comcast and ViacomCBS appoint Monty Sarhan as CEO of the joint venture streamer Sky Showtime, which will launch in 20 European markets this year — Comcast and ViacomCBS have appointed a CEO for soon-to-launch JV streamer Sky Showtime. — Monty Sarhan, who has been Comcast Cable's SVP …

Discussion: Variety, nexttv.com and Hollywood Reporter

Alex Richards / mirror:

UK court awards Premier League a minimum £157M payout in case against PPTV, which bought Chinese broadcast rights for £564M and never paid — The Premier League terminated its deal with PPTV, owned by the Suning Holding Group, in September 2020, after failing to receive a penny of its record £564million deal

Discussion: @tariqpanja

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:45 PM ET, January 11, 2022.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Technology Companies Editor, CA — WaPo

ESG & Climate Senior Editor, HK — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Reporter, Remote US — TechCrunch

Story Editor - Graphics, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Freelance News Reporter, London — Newsweek

Arts & Entertainment Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Assignment Editor, CT — NBCUniversal

Deputy Washington Editor, DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Reporter/Newsletter Writer, CO — BRL

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Managing Ed. - News, Remote US — The Athletic

Features Editor, GA — Gainesville Times

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Law and Justice Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Writer, CA — Hollywood Reporter

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
With US streaming subscribers expected to plateau in 2022, aggregators like Roku will gain and services will look to build new revenue sources like gaming

Discussion: @svideoalliance, @carlosferreri and @ctam

Wired:
Wired joins The Verge, Quartz, and other publications in making “on the record” the default when anyone in any official capacity talks to its reporters

Discussion: @reckless, @scottmstedman, @miarsato, @stokel, @jason_kint, @fantaalexx, @juliaangwin, @sarah_sloat_ and @laurengoode

Antoinette Siu / The Wrap:
NABJ calls for “immediate change” within the culture of the Black News Channel, after 13 women sued the network claiming unfair pay and a sexist workplace

Discussion: NABJ, @thewrap, FTVLive, Los Angeles Times, TheGrio and The Wrap

Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
Source: Apple has had substantial talks about carrying Major League Baseball games next season on Apple TV+

Discussion: Forbes, @walthickey, Huddle Up, Digital TV Europe, Cord Cutters News, @tlschwerz, @mattlanza, @andrewmarchand, @bizballmaury, @darrenrovell, @eaamalyon, @francoolivera, iMore, Awful Announcing, The Streamable, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute for the Study …:
Survey of 246 media leaders in 52 countries: 59% say revenue grew in 2021 and 47% worry subscription models may be excluding less affluent audiences

Earlier Picks:

Mark Joyella / Forbes:
Fox News names Jesse Watters as the permanent host of its 7pm EST opinion show, Jesse Watters Primetime, as of January 24, after a year of rotating guest hosts

Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Axel Springer names Goli Sheikholeslami as CEO of Politico Media; Sheikholeslami has been the president and CEO of WNYC for the past two years

Aamer Madhani / Associated Press:
Joe Biden has held fewer news conferences than any of his five immediate predecessors after nearly one year in office

Discussion: @chriscillizza, @conorjrogers, @helenkennedy, @joshuahol, @mattnegrin, @atrupar, @mistergeezy, @ericboehlert, @bmarchetich, @jenmercieca, CNN, Politico, @abigailmarone, @bhweingarten and @mirandadevine

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Discovery takes a minority stake in Open AP, a joint venture between Fox, NBCUniversal, and ViacomCBS to define video audience segments for advertisers

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @megancgraham, @blackamazon, Radio & Television …, openap.tv, Marketing Dive, Beet.TV, Deadline, MediaPost, The Hollywood Reporter, nexttv.com and Ad Age

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Microsoft invests $1.5B in Abu Dhabi-based AI group G42 for a minority stake, after G42 severed ties with Chinese suppliers; Brad Smith will sit on G42's board

Artificial Intelligence Index:
Stanford's AI Index report: training top AI models is way more expensive, AI still trails humans on complex tasks, people are more nervous about AI, and more

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
EU antitrust regulators are questioning Broadcom about changes to VMware's licensing conditions, following complaints from EU business users and a trade group

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page