Mediagazer: A look at some former Hong Kong journalists' new jobs after their outlets were shuttered; one says “there is no point being a journalist anymore” (Viola Zhou/VICE)

12:50 PM ET, January 26, 2022

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T reports Q4: WarnerMedia revenue rose 15.4% YoY to $9.9B and DTC subscription revenue rose 11.5% YoY to $1.9B; Discovery merger is expected to close in Q2 — The company also announced that it expects the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger with Discovery to close in the second quarter …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Wrap, The Streamable, Variety, MediaPost, @alexweprin, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @thr, @thewrap, @xpangler, Media Play News, AT&T, @brianstelter and @xpangler

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

HBO and HBO Max ended 2021 with 46.8M subscribers in the US, up 5.3M over 2020; AT&T reported earlier that the services had 73.8M subscribers globally — HBO Max closed 2021 with 46.8 million domestic subscribers when combined with linear HBO, up 5.3 million over 2020, parent AT&T disclosed in its fourth-quarter earnings report.

Discussion: Next TV and The Streamable

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

WaPo names Matea Gold as National editor and Philip Rucker as deputy National editor, as part of plans to expand coverage with a focus on visual storytelling — The Washington Post has named Matea Gold as national editor and Philip Rucker as deputy national editor, with plans to expand …

Discussion: Washington Post, @mateagold, @froomkin, @froomkin, @nataliejennings, @danlamothe, @petereporter, @newsbysamuels, @vermontgmg, @philiprucker, @waposean, @postroz, @owillis, @anniegowen, @philiprucker and @ashleyrparker

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Profile of Colorado-based Real America's Voice, an upstart network run by a little-known media exec, which distributes Steve Bannon's talk show to ~8M homes — ‘War Room’ is at the center of a fledgling network monetizing what some employees saw as ‘Trump propaganda.’

Discussion: Pew Research Center, @tomfitton, @therickwilson, @carolleonnig, @tribelaw and Mediaite

Andrew Kersley / Press Gazette:

Slow news outlet Tortoise raises £10M to invest in audio and events, and reports a £8.5M loss for the year to December 2020, up from £5.4M in 2019 — “Slow news” start-up Tortoise has secured £10m of new funding to invest in audio journalism, events and growing its membership revenue.

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Substack plans to launch a native video player in beta next week that will let creators upload or record a video and embed it directly in a Substack post — Substack plans to launch a native video player next week in an effort to lure new creators to the platform, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.

Discussion: The Verge, On Substack, @ewerickson, @renan, @ckrewson, @substackinc, @simonowens, @protocol, @sarafischer and Sub Pub

Bloomberg:

NewsGuild complains to NLRB that NYT's proposal to exclude union members from three paid holidays is meant to discourage NYT tech staff from voting for a union — A New York Times Co. employee union is accusing the publisher of violating federal labor law by excluding unionized employees from three paid holidays.

Discussion: @chactivist, @nytimesguild and @josheidelson

Abid Rahman / Hollywood Reporter:

Disney says Disney+ will launch in 42 countries and 11 territories this summer, including South Africa, Turkey, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates — The streaming service will debut in new countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Discussion: The Streamable, The Verge, Broadband TV News, Digital TV Europe, Variety and C21Media

Peter White / Deadline:

Sources: ViacomCBS reverses a plan to rename Paramount Network as Paramount Movie Network due to Yellowstone's success and production-related COVID-19 slowdowns — EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Network is safe, for now. — ViacomCBS has reversed plans to rebrand the cable network …

Discussion: ScreenRant, SlashFilm and Variety

Viola Zhou / VICE:

A look at some former Hong Kong journalists' new jobs after their outlets were shuttered; one says “there is no point being a journalist anymore” — The demise of the city's independent news outlets has left hundreds of journalists out of a job. Many are not coming back. — VZ

Discussion: @arjayabanto, @juwonreports, @mbrookerhk, @brittclennett, @jerometaylor, @viviennechow, @alicemuwu, @violazhouyi, @stand_with_hk, @tommywalkerco, @benedictrogers, @melissakchan and @joefree215

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:

Ipsos MORI: Apple News was the most widely used UK news app in December 2021, slightly ahead of BBC News; the BBC had 2.2B minutes spent, the most of any app — The Apple News app narrowly beat BBC News to take the spot of most popular news app in the UK in December, according to data …

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google shutters FLoC, its controversial ad tech for replacing third-party cookies, and proposes Topics, which categorizes the sites users visit into 300+ topics — FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), Google's controversial project for replacing cookies for interest-based advertising …

Wall Street Journal:

Visa, P&G, and other major advertisers are skipping the 2022 Olympics ad blitz, caught between the US' stance on Uighurs and China's ability to punish brands — Visa, P&G and Coca-Cola are keeping a relatively low profile as Washington highlights human rights in Xinjiang

Discussion: Reuters, @vranicawsj, @stuwoo and Front Office Sports

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Two House Energy and Commerce Committee members send a letter to NBC Universal's execs asking whether China or the IOC have influenced NBC's Olympics coverage

Discussion: @axios, @axios, The Hill, Mediaite, Deadline, Next TV and Barrett Media

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

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AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

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Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

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Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

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