Mediagazer: 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 (Elahe Izadi/Washington Post)

7:55 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, Axios, @kevinroose, Variety, @katierogers, The Guardian, Insider, @karaswisher, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, @nytguildtech, @asteadwesley, @vogon, Barrett Media, 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, @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, MyNorthwest.com, @sherman4949, @laurenpelley, @edmundlee, @emilybell, @brennacgray, @lpolgreen, @pkafka, @janinegibson, @marcoarment, @farnazfassihi, @daveyalba, @jbflint, @daveleeft, @brianstelter, @maggiekb1, @levie, The Register, @damiencave, @sherman4949, @katienotopoulos, Mediaite, @ofirahy, @alexweprin, @by_cjewett, @domdelport, @dongwon, @robertjimison, @reckless, @zackbeauchamp, PC Gamer, @budgetben, @bdsams, @rodger, @levie, @jeremymbarr, @fredsmith914, Deadline, @ernietedeschi, CNBC, @bombur, The Hollywood Reporter, @rover829, @engadget and @jbflint, 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.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Politico, New York Times, @mikeisaac, Columbia Journalism Review, Protocol, Reuters, @justinjm1, Bloomberg, The Drum, insideradio.com, The Verge, @spotifynews, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, @sarafischer, @reckless, @eldsjal, @lucas_shaw, @pkafka, CNN, The Crucial Years, Vanity Fair, @mikeisaac, @loudmouthjulia, Media Matters for America, Reason, Ty Burr's Watch List, The Information, MediaPost, Billboard, Don't Let It Go, RAIN News, Breitbart, Gawker, Bastonate per Posta, @mmasnick, The Why Axis, New York Post, Tubefilter, @aaronhuertas, Matt on Audio, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Wired, Reclaim The Net, Mindless Drivel, Webb Chatham Report, @sabivm, NPR, @willoremus, Rolling Stone, JOMO, TechCrunch, CNET, @karaswisher, Muzak, @jbflint, UPROXX, Insider, Bustle, @ruckcohlchez, @shanselman, @paulbernaluk, @molly0xfff, The Wrap and Light Reading, more at Techmeme »

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

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.

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

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

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, insideradio.com, @jczamora, Digital TV Europe, Forbes, Variety, Next TV, Bloomberg, Business Wire, @sarafischer, Deadline, @brianmmunoz, Hollywood Reporter, @isalara and @adweek

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 — Report says heightened dangers have prompted at least six to leave and many others to develop emergency exit plans

Discussion: @lotteleicht1, @birgitmschwarz, Bloomberg and Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

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: CNBC, Next TV, Reuters and Hollywood Reporter

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 — Two Canadian folk singers have forced Spotify to do what thousands of angry social media users could not. — Spotify on Sunday outlined a series …

Discussion: @lucas_shaw and @alexanderchee

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, CNET, The Streamable, Reuters, Digital TV Europe, Mashable, The Drum, Deadline, Advanced Television and Broadband TV News

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Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
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Associated Press:
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
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Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
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Sharon Moshavi / International Center for Journalists:
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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:
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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

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J. Clara Chan / Hollywood Reporter:
Podcast network Lemonada Media, which grew its annual revenue from $1.5M in 2020 to over $5M in 2021 and reaches 2M+ listeners per month, raises an $8M Series A

Reuters:
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From Techmeme:

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its App Store in China, after orders from the country's regulators citing national security concerns

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