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Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify's Joe Rogan controversy shows the cost for podcast platforms that adopt high-profile exclusive deals over open RSS distribution — Every platform should be worried — This story originally ran in Hot Pod, The Verge's preeminent audio industry newsletter.
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Zack Sharf / Variety:
Graham Nash and India Arie also pull their music from Spotify to protest content on Joe Rogan's podcast; Arie calls out Rogan's “language about race” — Nash said in a statement that he “completely agrees” with his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Neil Young after …
Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:
Wendy Zukerman, host and executive producer of Gimlet's Science Vs, says she'll devote the fact-checking podcast to combating misinfo on other Spotify shows — The executive producer and host of Gimlet Media's Science Vs podcast said she would devote her fact-checking show exclusively …
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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
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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”
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Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
The NYT's internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz moves to The Washington Post as a columnist covering 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.
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The New York Times Company:
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 …
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Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sources: Vice Media secretly organized a music festival in Saudi Arabia; staff have raised concerns about its work in the country after Jamal Khashoggi's murder — Youth media company organised March 2020 event despite pledge to stop all work in Saudi Arabia
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
After a disappointing IPO, Jonah Peretti tells staff BuzzFeed is limiting hiring to critical positions and projects a high-teens increase 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 …
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T structures its WarnerMedia split as a spinoff, giving shareholders an estimated 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 …
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Claudia Morell / WBEZ Chicago:
Chicago Public Media completes its Chicago Sun-Times acquisition, after raising $61M in support for the deal; the funding is mostly pledged over five years — URL Copied! — DONATE … Chicago Public Media and the Chicago Sun-Times have made their partnership official Monday …
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Manori Ravindran / Variety:
HBO Max continues its European expansion, coming to 15 countries on March 8, including the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Croatia — HBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries. … This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina …
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Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Reuters botched a report on ivermectin's antiviral effect in test tubes, and the correction will likely be ineffective against a storm of misinformation — No, a Japanese company did not find that ivermectin was “effective” against the omicron variant in a clinical trial, as Reuters originally reported on Monday.
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google's Q4 ad revenue increased 33% YoY to $61.24B; YouTube's ad revenue rose 25.4% YoY to $8.63B — - Alphabet beat on the top and bottom lines for the fourth quarter. — The stock jumped in extended trading after the report. — The company also announced a 20-for-1 stock split.
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