Mediagazer: Univision and Televisa complete their merger and plan to launch the world's biggest Spanish-language streaming service in H1 2022, targeting nearly 600M people (Cassandra Garrison/Reuters)

9:35 AM ET, February 1, 2022

Top News:

The New York Times acquires Wordle, the simple word game that has amassed “millions of daily players”, for “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures” — Wordle, Josh Wardle's stimulating and wildly popular daily word game, is joining The New York Times's portfolio of original …

Discussion: @powerlanguish, New York Times, New York Times, @marcatracy, ScreenRant, Axios, @kevinroose, Variety, Insider, @katierogers, The Guardian, @karaswisher, The Muffin por Mauricio …, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Semiotech, @hshaban, @dhchait, Forbes, @wfkars, @xor, @ofirahy, @sherman4949, @scott_tobias, @seanludwig, @helaineolen, @reckless, @nrarmour, @phillyd, @everyteam_mark, @jackmirkinson, @jonnelledge, @aedwardslevy, @benfritz, Financial Times, @isaacfitzgerald, @byjayking, TechCrunch, @kfury, @shalomgood, Gawker, The Comeback, @starfire2258, @nytguildtech, @bafeldman, @pjputh, @jasonschreier, @dharmesh, @starfire2258, @jessicalessin, @tonyajoriley, @adambvary, @grahamstarr, @levie, @ditzkoff, @tomcoates, @stshank, @chrisvannini, @jephjacques, CNET, @benadida, @parkermolloy, @manruss, @teroterotero, @dylanmatt, @ellievhall, @jonporty, New York Post, @sayssimonson, @danlamothe, Nieman Lab, @jackmirkinson, @dcseifert, @andreawoo, Wall Street Journal, UPROXX, @jonrussell, @sherman4949, The A.V. Club, @maxkennerly, The Verge, @benjysarlin, @christinemhall, 9to5Mac, @sherman4949, @laurenpelley, @edmundlee, @emilybell, @brennacgray, @lpolgreen, @pkafka, @janinegibson, @marcoarment, @farnazfassihi, @daveyalba, @jbflint, @daveleeft, @brianstelter, @maggiekb1, @levie, The Register, @vogon, @damiencave, @sherman4949, @katienotopoulos, @asteadwesley, Mediaite, @ofirahy, @alexweprin, @by_cjewett, @domdelport, @dongwon, @robertjimison, @reckless, @zackbeauchamp, PC Gamer, @budgetben, @bdsams, @rodger, @levie, @jeremymbarr, @fredsmith914, @ernietedeschi, CNBC, @bombur, The Hollywood Reporter, @rover829, @engadget, @jbflint, Protocol, AppleInsider, The Wrap, NPR and IGN, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Ek / Spotify:

Spotify publishes its long-standing Platform Rules and says it is working to add a content advisory to podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19 — A decade ago, we created Spotify to enable the work of creators around the world to be heard and enjoyed by listeners around the world.

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Joe Rogan posts a video to Instagram defending booking contentious guests, apologizes to Spotify for the backlash, and says he may book more “experts” — 'I'm very sorry that this is happening to them.' — Joe Rogan has issued a response to the ongoing controversy …

Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day:

Spotify made an editorial choice by paying $100M to be Joe Rogan's publisher and can't shirk its responsibility by just adding a content warning to his episodes — Read to the end for Pumpkin Cowboy — Please Do Not Let Spotify Convince You That Joe Rogan Is A Content Moderation Problem

Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:

Host and executive producer of Gimlet's Science Vs podcast Wendy Zukerman says she'll devote the show to fact-checking misinformation on other Spotify podcasts — The executive producer and host of Gimlet Media's Science Vs podcast said she would devote her fact-checking show exclusively …

Discussion: Insider, Bloomberg and CNN

Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:

Capital B, a US local nonprofit news organization focused on Black audiences, launches with $9M in philanthropic backing and 16 employees with plans to hire 11 — Capital B, a new digital-media start-up, will provide hard news and investigative reporting aimed at Black audiences.

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

NYT internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz moves to The Washington Post as a columnist writing about technology, online life, influencers, business, and more — The star reporter with a massive online following thinks the Post gets the internet in ways other outlets don't.

Discussion: @taylorlorenz, Washington Post, @micsolana, @miriamelder, @philiprucker and @charlottetklein

Cassandra Garrison / Reuters:

Univision and Televisa complete their merger and plan to launch the world's biggest Spanish-language streaming service in H1 2022, targeting nearly 600M people — Mexican broadcast powerhouse Grupo Televisa and U.S. based Univision (UVN.UL) are preparing to launch what would be the biggest …

Discussion: Adweek, @jczamora, Variety, Next TV, Bloomberg, Business Wire, insideradio.com, @sarafischer, Deadline, @brianmmunoz, Hollywood Reporter, @isalara and @adweek

Wall Street Journal:

Antenna: Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, and others struggle to retain US subscribers who joined to watch a hit show or movie; many unsubscribe within a few months — Roughly half of U.S. viewers who joined right after ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ were gone in six months, data show

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T will spin off WarnerMedia rather than split it off, giving shareholders ~0.24 shares of WarnerMedia-Discovery stock for each share of AT&T stock — The transaction will spin off 100% of AT&T's interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T's existing shareholders in a pro-rata distribution …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Insider, Axios, Next TV, Reuters, UPI, Deadline, Advanced Television and Hollywood Reporter

Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:

The FT's US journalists seek to unionize with the NewsGuild, ask for voluntary recognition from the FT, and say their 40-person unit has over two-thirds support — Journalists at the Financial Times are seeking to unionize the publication's U.S. operation, the latest in a wave of organizing efforts in the news media.

Discussion: @josheidelson, @greenhousenyt, @anastasiakeeley, @demfromct, @bigblackjacobin, @davidgura, @moisenoise, @mshannahmurphy, @josheidelson and @josheidelson

Associated Press:

A fourth Mexican journalist, who was enrolled in the government's protection program, has been murdered in less than a month, after killings sparked protests — MEXICO CITY (AP) — An online news outlet in Mexico said Monday that one of its journalists was shot to death …

Discussion: The Guardian, @_richardhall, Al Jazeera, @ianbirrell, MyNorthwest.com, @martinxhodgson, @ema_sasic and @keegan_hamilton

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Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

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Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

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More News:

Claudia Morell / WBEZ Chicago:
Chicago Public Media completes acquisition of Chicago Sun-Times, having raised $61M in support for the deal; the funding is mostly pledged over five years

Discussion: Robert Feder

Manori Ravindran / Variety:
HBO Max continues its European expansion, arriving in 15 countries on March 8, including the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, and Croatia

Discussion: TechCrunch, Reuters, CNET, The Streamable, Light Reading, 9to5Mac, @jasonkilar, Digital TV Europe, Mashable, Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, Deadline and C21Media

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
UK media regulator Ofcom launches an investigation into an incident at Red Bee that led to a subtitle outage at Channel 4 for several weeks in 2021

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
NBCUniversal names Valari Dobson Staab as the chair of its local content division and says NBC's RSNs will launch a direct-to-consumer offering later this year

Discussion: Deadline, Awful Announcing, Barrett Media and Next TV

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon paid $100M+ for exclusive ad and distribution rights to the podcast My Favorite Murder and all other Exactly Right Media shows

Discussion: insideradio.com, @alexanderchee and @lucas_shaw

Josh Sandiford / BirminghamLive:
UK police seek a court order under the Terrorism Act to reveal sources from a journalist who helped overturn convictions in the 1974 IRA Birmingham bombings

Discussion: The Guardian, @lisaocarroll and Press Gazette

Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
Survey: at least six foreign journalists have left China amid increased intimidation through online trolling, physical assaults, hacking, and visa denials

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @lotteleicht1 and @birgitmschwarz

Earlier Picks:

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
With SCOTUS eager to revisit precedent, Sarah Palin's NYT lawsuit is a serious challenge to the press-friendly standard for libel set by Times vs. Sullivan

Discussion: @porter_anderson, @brianlehrer, @moiradonegan, @stormmela and @sarafischer

Sharon Moshavi / International Center for Journalists:
Velocidad, a media accelerator that invested nearly $1.5M in 10 Latin American news outlets, says its grantees generated new revenue over six times their grants

Glen Owen / Daily Mail:
Source: UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is planning legislation where the DMU force Meta, Google, and others to negotiate payment deals with news publishers

Discussion: @benedictevans, The Signal, @matthewlesh, @benedictevans, @s8mb and @benedictevans

Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:
ProPublica's Richard Tofel reflects on 20+ years as a newsroom attorney: preventing cases from being filed, the need for newsroom counsel independence, and more

Discussion: American Press Institute

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
The Seattle Times says it now has 81,000 digital-only subscribers, up 10% over the past 12 months and almost doubling its 41,000 subscribers in January 2019

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Pigeon 605, which sells ads and sponsored posts, emails news to 4K of 200K residents in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, based on interest topics users pick

Discussion: Pigeon605

From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Cybersecurity startup Wiz acquires Dazz, a specialist in security remediation and risk management; sources say the cash-and-stock deal is valued at $450M

Paige Smith / Bloomberg:
The CFPB will supervise tech companies with digital wallets, like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo, with 50M+ annual transactions, treating them more like banks

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