Mediagazer: 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 (Associated Press)

11:55 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, Reuters, @kevinroose, @katierogers, ScreenRant, Axios, Variety, @karaswisher, The Guardian, Insider, NPR, The Yay Club, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, @hshaban, @dhchait, @wfkars, @xor, @ofirahy, @sherman4949, @scott_tobias, @seanludwig, @helaineolen, @reckless, @nrarmour, @phillyd, @everyteam_mark, @jackmirkinson, @jonnelledge, @aedwardslevy, @benfritz, @isaacfitzgerald, @byjayking, @kfury, @shalomgood, @starfire2258, @nytguildtech, @bafeldman, @pjputh, @jasonschreier, @dharmesh, @starfire2258, @jessicalessin, @tonyajoriley, @adambvary, @grahamstarr, @levie, @ditzkoff, @tomcoates, @stshank, @chrisvannini, @jephjacques, @benadida, @parkermolloy, @manruss, @teroterotero, @dylanmatt, @ellievhall, @jonporty, @sayssimonson, @danlamothe, @jackmirkinson, @dcseifert, @andreawoo, UPROXX, @jonrussell, @sherman4949, @maxkennerly, @benjysarlin, @christinemhall, @sherman4949, @laurenpelley, @edmundlee, @emilybell, @brennacgray, @lpolgreen, @pkafka, @janinegibson, @marcoarment, @farnazfassihi, @daveyalba, @jbflint, @daveleeft, @brianstelter, @maggiekb1, @levie, @vogon, @damiencave, @sherman4949, @katienotopoulos, @asteadwesley, The Muffin por Mauricio …, @ofirahy, @alexweprin, @by_cjewett, @domdelport, @dongwon, @robertjimison, @reckless, @zackbeauchamp, @budgetben, @bdsams, @rodger, @levie, @jeremymbarr, @fredsmith914, @ernietedeschi, @bombur, @rover829, @engadget, @jbflint, The Register, Nieman Lab, Semiotech, The Comeback, Mediaite, Financial Times, Protocol, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, PC Gamer, The A.V. Club, Forbes, CNET and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

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

Zack Sharf / Variety:

Graham Nash and India Arie follow Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, pulling their music from Spotify to protest content on Joe Rogan's podcast — Nash said in a statement that he “completely agrees” with his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Neil Young after “having heard the COVID disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify.”

Discussion: Bloomberg, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone and SPIN

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 and Bloomberg

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”

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

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.

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, New York Post, The Wrap, CNBC, Insider, Axios, Next TV, Reuters, UPI, Media Play News, Bloomberg, Deadline, Advanced Television and Hollywood Reporter

Sara Fischer / Axios:

After a disappointing IPO, Jonah Peretti tells staff BuzzFeed will limit hiring to critical positions and projects a single-digit decline in commerce sales YoY — BuzzFeed is limiting hiring to only critical positions, and will not be adding any new jobs unless there's a business-case justification …

Discussion: @simonowens, @michellemanafy and @stevekovach

Manori Ravindran / Variety:

HBO Max continues its European expansion, arriving in 15 countries on March 8, including the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, and Croatia — HBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries. … This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria …

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

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, insideradio.com, @sarafischer, @brianmmunoz, @isalara, @adweek, Variety, Next TV and Bloomberg

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.

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

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Sources: Vice Media secretly organized a music festival in Saudi Arabia; staffers have raised concerns about its work in the country after Khashoggi's murder — Youth media company organised March 2020 event despite pledge to stop all work in Saudi Arabia — When social media influencers turned …

Discussion: @maryamalkhawaja, @ayocaesar, @rocco_castoro, @jwsal, @gumby4christ, @anthony, @adamjohnsonnyc, @emilybell, @jessehawken, @evanhill, @jimwaterson, @dralakbarov, @thoughtland, @ankaravoice, @joshspero, @mediaevan and @errolnazareth

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 11:55 AM ET, February 1, 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:

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: insideradio.com and Robert Feder

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: Next TV, Deadline and Barrett Media

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

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: @lisaocarroll

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 and @lotteleicht1

Earlier Picks:

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

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

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, @sarafischer, @moiradonegan and @stormmela

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: The Signal

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

Discussion: @benmullin, @asharma, A Media Operator, @benmullin, @christianism, 9to5Mac, @_inpractise, The Wrap, @dctvcinema_, @pkafka, @kimmasters, @richlightshed, @great_katzby, @ballmatthew, @jbflint and @ryangirdusky, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
The Nasdaq closes down 4%, with Meta down 7%, Nvidia down 6%, Amazon down 5%, and Apple down 4%, as the White House says Trump's tariffs on China now total 145%

Charles Rollet / TechCrunch:
The DOJ charges AI shopping app Nate's ex-CEO, Albert Saniger, with fraud, alleging the app relies heavily on workers in the Philippines; Nate had raised $50M+

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI recently gave staff and third-party groups just days, vs. several months previously, to evaluate risks and performance of its latest models

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