Mediagazer: ESPN, which planned to send four reporters to the Winter Olympics in China, says it won't send any personnel due to COVID-19 concerns and related restrictions (Andy Hall/ESPN Front Row)

7:30 PM ET, January 20, 2022

Top News:

Journalists covering the Olympics plan to use burner phones and laptops as they assume total surveillance by the government intent on controlling China's image — Journalists covering the Winter Olympics next month say they'll do their work in Beijing on brand-new cellphones and laptops.

Discussion: The Citizen Lab, @danackerman, USA Today, New York Post, @yaqiu, @chrisbohjalian, Insider, @jsrailton, @tonyajoriley, @julesboykoff, @mbgelman, The Guardian, Reclaim The Net and ScreenRant

Andy Hall / ESPN Front Row:

ESPN, which planned to send four reporters to the Winter Olympics in China, says it won't send any personnel due to COVID-19 concerns and related restrictions — Robust remote coverage plans will kick off prior to start of competition — Due to concerns about COVID-19 …

Discussion: The Hill, nexttv.com, Awful Announcing, @femme_thoughts, @darcymaine_espn, @espnpr and @wyshynski

Christine Brennan / USA Today:
NBC Sports says it won't send any Winter Olympics announcing teams to Beijing due to COVID-19 but still plans “a large presence on the ground”

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix reports Q4 revenue of $7.71B, up 16% YoY, net income of $607M, 222M paid subscribers, and $30B in 2021 revenue, up 19%; stock down 15%+ on weak guidance — Netflix ended 2021 with a slightly lower-than-expected subscriber gain in the fourth quarter, and its stock took a dive with a weak Q1 outlook.

Discussion: Variety, @natjarv, The Wrap, @natjarv, MediaPost, New York Post, Ad Age, CNBC, Adweek, Netflix, Protocol, Light Reading, The Verge, Axios, @edmundlee, @dangillmor, @lucas_shaw, @xpangler, Deadline, @dfriend and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Political reporter Robert Costa is leaving The Washington Post to become a full-time TV journalist at CBS News but will keep collaborating on some Post projects — The longtime Washington Post political reporter will take an on-air role covering campaigns and elections.

A.J. Katz / TVNewser:

Memo: David Firestone, NBC News Digital's executive editor and a former NYT reporter and editor, plans to retire in mid-May after 45 years in journalism — NBC News Digital executive editor David Firestone is retiring in mid-May after 45 years in the journalism business, the last five of them at NBC.

Discussion: @janestreet, @dethtron5000, @mike_hixenbaugh, @kalhanr, @oneunderscore__, @david_ingram, @d_arkin, @gingergibson and @philmccausland

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Docs from Congress' January 6 committee show Sean Hannity texting advice for Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, to Kayleigh McEnany, then WH press secretary and now at Fox — The Fox News host Sean Hannity had some blunt advice for President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 7, 2021: “No more stolen election talk.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Insider, Mediaite, The Hill, Select Committee …, The Independent, Vanity Fair, @grynbaum, @jaysbookman, @acyn, @acyn, @grynbaum, @joshsternberg, @azi and Raw Story

Mahira Dayal / The Information:

TikTok says it is testing letting creators charge subscriptions for their content — TikTok is testing the idea of allowing its creators to charge subscriptions for their content, a spokesperson told The Information. Earlier Wednesday, rival Instagram announced it was offering paid subscriptions to a small group of influencers.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Mac Observer, IGN, 9to5Mac, Observer, Wall Street Journal and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Mark Mulligan / MIDiA Research:

Research: global music subscribers hit 523.9M in Q2 2021, up 26.4% YoY; Spotify had 31% market share; Apple Music, 15%; Amazon Music, 13%, and YouTube Music, 8% — MIDiA's annual music subscriber market shares report is now available here (see below for more details of the report).

Discussion: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, @johnlmacfarlane, @johnkoetsier, The Verge, JOMO, @mintroyale, @mark_mulligan, @mark_mulligan, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Forbes, Complete Music Update and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:

ABC announces a Good Morning America podcast and entertainment podcast Close Up as part of a renewed audio focus, starting on February 9 — A ‘Good Morning America’ podcast and new programming are part of the renewed audio focus. — ABC News is planning a fresh podcast push …

Discussion: ABC News, @kelleylcarter and @emarvelous

Michael Malone / nexttv.com:

Peacock launches 24/7 local news channels for NBC-owned stations, starting with Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Miami; the channels won't be geo-targeted — WMAQ Chicago, WCAU Philadelphia, WBTS Boston and WTVJ Miami have debuted on streaming platform — Peacock is launching 24/7 local …

Discussion: Too Much TV Newsletter, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, Robert Feder and Daily Herald

AAP:

Former Sydney Morning Herald editor Lisa Davies is named AAP's chief executive, replacing Emma Cowdroy, who is stepping back from the role but staying with AAP — Emma Cowdroy to step down from heading Newswire service, which was saved from attempted closure by News Corp and Nine

Discussion: @lisazdavies

Tom Jones / Poynter:

Q&A with NBC News president Noah Oppenheim about advocacy journalism, the future of the NBC News NOW streaming service, what makes Dateline addictive, and more — 'We are ferociously defending the traditional approach to journalism ... that it's possible to hold the middle ground and be objective and nonpartisan.'

Discussion: TVNewser, @poynter, @nbcnewspr, @jmacnyc, @oliverdarcy and Mediaite

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:30 PM ET, January 20, 2022.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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:

Lydia Moynihan / New York Post:
Sources: TikTok ousted its marketing chief Nick Tran for “going rogue” with plans like TikTok Kitchen, NFTs by Lil Nas X and others, and TikTok Resumes

Discussion: The Verge, @bmorrissey, Pandaily, @markmilian, @caseynewton, @tomgara, @joshsternberg, @alexeheath, @dinafierro_, @thedragonfeeder, MediaPost and Protocol, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
A judge in Peru sentenced a journalist to prison and fined him $100K, in a politician's defamation lawsuit, as part of a trend of using courts to punish media

Discussion: @cathyrosegarcia, @nytimesworld, @melissajpeltier, @chrissabatini, @penamerica, @kenroth and @gijn

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Brat TV, which produces content aimed at teens, launches an ad-supported app that offers all of the shows it distributes via YouTube and on services like Tubi

Discussion: @dangillmor, @brat, @sarafischer and @richlightshed

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney reorganizes its streaming business, including installing former head of Disney+ marketing and operations Joe Earley as president of Hulu

Earlier Picks:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Three philanthropies invest $20M+ to launch an independent nonprofit news operation in Houston with about 40 journalists in late 2022 or early 2023

New York Times:
André Leon Talley, US Vogue's former editor-at-large and a rare Black fashion editor, dies at 73

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
Edelman: 67% of people globally say the media purposely tries to mislead, up from 59% in 2021; faith in the media fell in 15 countries and rose in nine

Discussion: @mattnavarra, @mattnavarra, @pressgazette, @paulwallbank, @ruthbenghiat, @russcontreras, @taraemcg, Axios, @axios, @jimvandehei and Insider

David Roeder / Chicago Sun-Times:
Chicago Public Media's board approves the Chicago Sun-Times acquisition, set to close on or about January 31, which will convert the Sun-Times into a nonprofit

Discussion: Media Nation, MediaPost, Washington Post, @clarajeffery, Talking Biz News, The Illinoize, @thetedallen, @kschorsch, WBEZ Chicago, @pattonoswalt, @stevewarmbir, Arooj's Index, @kategrossman1, @chrishagan, @carlquintanilla, @chicagotribune, @tlangford, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, WBEZ Chicago, @inkyamy, @youranonnews, @tananarivedue, @tracylbrown, @vabvox, @robertmccoppin, @walldo, @jpelzer, @asmamk, @nprinskeep, @nprinskeep, @nprinskeep, @garveymcvg, @doctaj, @doctaj, @charlesjaco1, @ejdionne, @mizamudio, @msjanicemorris, @mgerrydoyle, @dmihalopoulos, @satchelprice, @stellinitweets, @lynnsweet, @suntimes, @jrichardoneill, @leighgiangreco, @robneyer, @seidelcontent, @nprinskeep, @patrickfinley, @michaelsobrien, @robertloerzel, @sdkstl, @jayrosen_nyu, @localnewsini, @localnewsini, @davidearllive, Current, @mgerrydoyle, @billruthhart, @naderdissa, @davemckinney and American Press Institute

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration exempts smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from “reciprocal tariffs”

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a lighter and cheaper Vision Pro and a Mac-tethered model with ultra-low latency; iPadOS 19 overhaul will make it more like macOS

Sankalp Phartiyal / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple produced $22B worth of iPhones in India in the 12 months ended March 2025, up nearly 60% YoY, and now makes 20% of its iPhones in the country

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