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

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:55 AM ET, February 1, 2022.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

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:

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

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

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

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

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, The Times, Press Gazette and @lisaocarroll

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, @terri_rupar, @stormmela, @sarafischer and @matthewschafer

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

Earlier Picks:

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

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:
Meta says it has paused new users from joining its social media tracking tool CrowdTangle as it works “through some staffing constraints”

Discussion: @melissaryan, @jordanguiao, @kevinroose and @antmandan

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

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