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Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify's Joe Rogan controversy shows the newfound danger for podcast platforms that have moved away from open RSS distribution to high-profile exclusive deals — Every platform should be worried — This story originally ran in Hot Pod, The Verge's preeminent audio industry newsletter.
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Columbia Journalism Review, The Hill, @ashleyrcarman, @ashleyrcarman, @ashleyrcarman, @syracuseunews, @ultraviolet and @lucas_shaw
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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.”
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 …
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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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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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:
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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 …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T structures its WarnerMedia split as a spinoff, 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 …
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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:
@michellemanafy, @joshsternberg, @ashkan, @jeremymbarr, @stevekovach and @simonowens
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 — URL Copied! — DONATE … Chicago Public Media and the Chicago Sun-Times have made their partnership official Monday …
Discussion:
Chicago Sun-Times, insideradio.com, Barrett Media, @w_katz1, @mattmoog, @jimfriedlich, @danahoule, @davemckinney, Current, @whuntah, @mattmoog and 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 — HBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries. … This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria …
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TechCrunch, The Wrap, Reuters, Mashable, Advanced Television, CNET, Media Play News, 9to5Mac, The Streamable, Digital TV Europe, @jasonkilar, Broadband TV News, C21Media, Deadline, MediaPost and Next TV
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google's Q4 ad revenue came in at $61.24B, up 33% YoY; YouTube's ad revenue rose to $8.63B, up 25.4% YoY — - 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.
Discussion:
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, @richlightshed, @jasxnallen, @somospostpc and Wall Street Journal
Committee to Protect Journalists:
The Taliban arrests a reporter and a political presenter working for independent broadcaster Ariana News TV in Kabul for undisclosed reasons — The Taliban must immediately release journalists Waris Hasrat and Aslam Hijab and stop detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
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