Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Filing: News Corp discovered a hack on January 20 that accessed emails and documents of some staff; an expert says the attack is likely linked to China — The attack, discovered on Jan. 20, affected publications including The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and the company's U.K. news operation
Discussion:
NPR, @alexbruell, Mediaite, CNET, The Register, Talking Biz News, Breitbart, @runasand, VICE, @mkarolian, Forbes, @kevincollier, The Guardian, @byrontau, @dionnissenbaum, @alexmartin, @racheltobac, MyNorthwest.com, @kimzetter, @bradleyhope, @bobmcmillan, @arekfurt, @daviduberti, @susancrabtree, @edmundlee, Engadget, @kittygreenwald, @williamturton, Christopher Six's Pick Six, The Verge, @williamturton, New York Times, ZDNet, Los Angeles Times and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Jenna McLaughlin / NPR: Hackers tied to China are suspected of spying on News Corp. journalists
Alexandra Bruell / @alexbruell: News Corp was the target of a hack that accessed emails, documents of some employees, including journalists, an incursion the company's cybersecurity consultant said was likely meant to gather intelligence to benefit China's interests. w/@sgurman https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
Jackson Richman / Mediaite: News Corp Gets Hit by Apparent Chinese Cyberattack
Bree Fowler / CNET: News Corp. hit by cyberattack attributed to Chinese hackers
Gareth Corfield / The Register: Suspected Chinese spies break into cloud accounts of News Corp journalists
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News: WSJ emails, documents hacked
Lucas Nolan / Breitbart: News Corp: Hack Targeting Journalists Came from China
Runa Sandvik / @runasand: Interesting bit about the News Corp breach: it was discovered in January 2022, but the compromise likely happened as early as February 2020. That's two years of access to all sorts of interesting media things. https://www.wsj.com/...
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE: News Corp Says It Will Not ‘Be Deterred’ After Getting Hacked
Matt Karolian / @mkarolian: You have to imagine this is happening far more frequently than realized and/or disclosed. https://twitter.com/...
Anna Kaplan / Forbes: News Corp Cyberattack Targeted Journalists — Cybersecurity Firm Says Attack Likely Linked To China
Kevin Collier / @kevincollier: A funny thing reporting the News Corp hack: the company is sharing its email to staffers this morn, and mentioned it in SEC filings today. But I believe only the WSJ has this detail. So even employees there have to read the WSJ to get the fuller story. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Byron Tau / @byrontau: News Corp, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, discloses a hack aimed at its journalists email accounts and documents that appears to have links to China and was believed to be conducted for intelligence purposes. https://www.wsj.com/...
Dion Nissenbaum / @dionnissenbaum: It seems that China is most likely behind a hack of the Wall Street Journal that gave hackers access to journalist emails and documents: https://www.wsj.com/...
Alexander Martin / @alexmartin: This is frightening news. Emails and documents belonging to journalists working for News Corp were accessed by a suspected China-linked espionage group. https://www.wsj.com/...
Rachel Tobac / @racheltobac: Fascinating, I wonder if they'll release the attack vector to help other orgs stay safe. So far the intrusion and target info sounds vaguely like social engineering (maybe phishing to gain access to email accounts to steal email and document data), but that remains to be seen. https://twitter.com/...
Kim Zetter / @kimzetter: Story says hack was discovered Jan 20, and intruders “accessed emails and documents of some employees, including journalists” but doesn't say how long the hackers were inside networks https://twitter.com/...
Bradley Hope / @bradleyhope: The good news is you never discuss sensitive sources or communicate with them on email or put their names in a Google Doc. The best thing journalists do is use Signal & similar systems OUTSIDE of company infrastructure https://twitter.com/...
Robert McMillan / @bobmcmillan: The intrusion at News Corp dates back till at least Feb 2020. Scores of employees affected. https://www.wsj.com/...
@arekfurt: I'm a little confused: Does this mean Mandiant doesn't know how the hack occured, or that WSJ couldn't get, uh, itself to share that info? “The method of the hack and the number of staffers whose email accounts and documents were accessed couldn't be learned.' https://twitter.com/...
David Uberti / @daviduberti: WSJ's parent company has been hacked. “Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China's interests.” https://www.wsj.com/...
Susan Crabtree / @susancrabtree: The WSJ has been instrumental in documenting China's Uighur persecution —> A cyberattack targeting News Corp affected publications including The Wall Street Journal and its parent Dow Jones, and the New York Post https://www.wsj.com/...
Edmund Lee / @edmundlee: China appears to have hacked into News Corp's newspapers, including @wsj, in an apparent intelligence gathering effort: https://www.wsj.com/...
Kitty Greenwald / @kittygreenwald: WSJ reporting on China is excellent. And now they've been hacked https://twitter.com/...
William Turton / @williamturton: “The investigation detected that the intrusion appeared to date to at least February 2020..” Stunning. “hackers were able to access reporters' emails and Google Docs, including drafts of articles...” https://www.wsj.com/...
Christopher Six / Christopher Six's Pick Six: Losing another landmark
Kim Lyons / The Verge: Wall Street Journal owner News Corp suffers cyberattack by hackers linked to China
William Turton / @williamturton: Have to assume this sort of thing happens much more often than is disclosed. (Good on WSJ for disclosing!) https://twitter.com/...
Katie Robertson / New York Times: News Corp says journalists' emails were hacked in an attack linked to China.
Jonathan Greig / ZDNet: News Corp reports January cyberattack targeting Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Dow Jones
RELATED:
Kimberly Chin / Wall Street Journal:
News Corp Q2: $235M profit on $2.72B revenue, up 13% YoY; Dow Jones' revenue hit $508M, up 14% YoY; News Corp news-media unit had $111M profit on $638M revenue — Publisher of The Wall Street Journal reports 13% increase in revenue as digital subscriptions grow
Discussion:
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News: WSJ parent reports increase in earnings, revenue
Sadie Gurman / @sgurman: On the bright side 👇🏻 https://twitter.com/...
Anthony DeRosa / @anthony: The Wall Street Journal averaged more than 2.9 million digital subscribers in the quarter, up 19% over the previous year. Including the print edition, the Journal averaged more than 3.6 million subscribers for the period https://www.wsj.com/...
Stephanie Mojica / Newser: Hack of News Corp Is Blamed on China
Jeff Schogol / Task & Purpose:
Top Biden administration spokespeople became hostile when reporters pressed them to provide at least some proof to back up their claims about Syria and Russia — If it's starting to feel like March 2003, that's because President Joe Biden's administration is definitely taking an “either you are with us or with the terrorists” vibe.
Discussion:
@feliciasonmez, @thehill, Washington Post, Politico, CNN, The White House, @humanistreport, @mattrinalditx, @akheriaty, @snowden, @jaketapper, @howardmortman, @maggienyt, @zaknafeindc, @chrislhayes, @elijahschaffer, @saragonzalestx, @marcthiessen, NPR, @presssec, @aaronjmate, @nprinskeep, @benjaminnorton, @taskandpurpose, @dionnissenbaum, @combatjourno, Eunomia, @aviation_intel, @kevinliptakcnn and @nprinskeep
Discussion:
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: At today's WH and State Dept press briefings, reporters pressed for evidence to back up U.S. gov't statements about recent events in Syria and Russia, respectively. In response, officials suggested those reporters might be more inclined to believe ISIS/the Kremlin. Yikes. 1/x
@thehill: Reporter: “It's an action that you say they have taken, but you have shown no evidence to confirm that. [...] This is like - crisis actors? Really? This is like Alex Jones territory you're getting into now.” Must-watch exchange between @APDiploWriter Matt Lee and @StateDeptSpox. https://twitter.com/...
Alexander Ward / Politico: Biden administration turns intel success into a media mess
CNN: U.S. government spokespeople bristle at reporters' skepticism, after they ask for proof of administration's claims on ISIS and Russia
@humanistreport: This was so damn good! Massive credit to @APDiploWriter! I was old enough to remember our government lying to us about Iraq having WMDs, and they will never get my trust back after that deadly lie. Scrutinize every claim they make, demand evidence and hold them accountable. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Rinaldi / @mattrinalditx: I'm going to try this in court. Judge: Where is the evidence of your claim? Me: The evidence is me saying it to you right now. https://twitter.com/...
Aaron Kheriaty / @akheriaty: Edifying to see a journalist demanding answers from a State Department actor providing only unfalsifiable circular reasoning. Watch the exchange. https://twitter.com/...
Edward Snowden / @snowden: This is wild. The State Department's spokesman can't comprehend why the Associated Press feels the need to distinguish between a claim and a fact, and becomes visibly offended—and then angered—by the suggestion that his claims may require evidence to be accepted as credible. https://twitter.com/...
Jake Tapper / @jaketapper: Important thread on the 'Trust everything your government says or you're a stooge of our enemies' approach the Biden administration is serving up to journalists today. Insulting to the intelligence of the public. https://twitter.com/...
Howard Mortman / @howardmortman: “AP reporter Matthew Lee @APDiploWriter offered a master class in dogged questioning when he refused to accept State Department spokesman Ned Price's assertion that the Biden administration's public statements alleging...” - @JeffSchogol @TaskandPurpose https://taskandpurpose.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Maggie Haberman / @maggienyt: It was less than a year ago that NYT uncovered that a drone strike heralded by the administration killed civilians, including children. Questioning government matters. https://twitter.com/...
Zachery Tyson / @zaknafeindc: How could the crack team of professionals who excelled at crisis comms during the fall of Kabul let us down? Oh wait. https://twitter.com/...
Chris Hayes / @chrislhayes: Both of these responses from Psaki and Price are completely dumb and gross and only make them, and the case they are making, look worse. https://twitter.com/...
Elijah Schaffer / @elijahschaffer: Journalist accused Biden admin of acting like Alex Jones and they had no response. This is amazing 😂 https://twitter.com/...
Marc Thiessen / @marcthiessen: They are trying to stop Russia from using fake pretext to start a war by declsssifying intelligence information. @APDiploWriter is demanding the sources and methods, which could burn those sources. Calling this “Alex Jones territory” is aiding and abetting Putin. https://twitter.com/...
Jen Psaki / @presssec: @feliciasonmez Context here is pretty important. I answered with below (which you did not include) Our focus has been providing as many confirmed details as we know at this point through many media briefings today. And of course it is a valid question and I treated it as such. https://twitter.com/...
@aaronjmate: US media has a long history of stenography, but Russiagate took it to a new level. Any allegation tied to Russia (Russian bounties; Havana Syndrome; Trump-Russia collusion; Russian bots; Russia's ally Syria using CWs) became accepted on faith. Biden admin isn't used to pushback: https://twitter.com/...
Steve Inskeep / @nprinskeep: This question, by @ayesharascoe, is a basic, fundamental, professional question reporters commonly ask of anyone. To reply “believe me, or believe ISIS” is not an answer. This country has tried war on the “You're with us or against us” model, and it didn't work then either. https://twitter.com/...
Benjamin Norton / @benjaminnorton: Reminder that this State Department spokesman, Ned Price, is former CIA The CIA, which brought us hits like WMDs, Russiagate, and Havana Syndrome, is now claiming Russia will do a crazy false-flag op, and you have to believe them, with zero evidence, because the US gov't says so https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@taskandpurpose: In several exchanges yesterday, White House and State Department officials accused reporters of siding with ISIS and the Kremlin when pressing on issues related to Ukraine and Syria https://taskandpurpose.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Dion Nissenbaum / @dionnissenbaum: I'm old enough to remember last August when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said an airstrike on a car in Kabul that killed 10 civilians was a “righteous” strike that killed terrorists. Three weeks later, they admitted it was a “terrible mistake.” @ayesharascoe https://twitter.com/...
@combatjourno: This is an interesting thread. Back in Afghanistan we mostly used to chase what the govt claimed and tried to cross—check it with other sources. This was not the case, at that time, back in the US & most countries as an SOP for journalists. It seems now it's finally happening. https://twitter.com/...
Daniel Larison / Eunomia: ‘Shut Up,’ They Explained — The Biden administration doesn't like being asked legitimate questions …
Tyler Rogoway / @aviation_intel: This is some exchange. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
In an interview, David Zaslav denies that John Malone, a Discovery board member who was critical of Jeff Zucker's CNN leadership, pushed for Zucker's ouster — Speaking to CNBC Friday morning in separate interviews, John Stankey and David Zaslav push back on claims of John Malone's involvement.
Discussion:
New York Times, Next TV, @kimmasters, Deadline, @benyt, CNN, New York Post, TVNewser and The Wrap
Discussion:
Daniel Frankel / Next TV: Did the Discovery Board Push Jeff Zucker Out? ‘None of Us Had Anything to Do With It,’ CEO Zaslav Says
Kim Masters / @kimmasters: “Jeff resigned, and the decision to resign was Jeff's decision.” “Papa Bear” Stankey not shooting too straight with that one. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Ted Johnson / Deadline: AT&T's John Stankey And Discovery's David Zaslav Avoid Talking Details Of Jeff Zucker's Exit: “Unfortunate Set Of Circumstances”
Ben Smith / @benyt: It is kind of hilarious that WarnerMedia/ATT claim that the cause of this meltdown is basically “corporate governance” and the normal functioning of a public company, while this does not actually really seem to be a normal way to run a company. https://twitter.com/...
RELATED:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
A 40-minute recording of a CNN staff meeting with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar showcases frustration and confusion over how and why Jeff Zucker was forced out — CNN staffers on Wednesday pummeled WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar with tough questions in the wake of the resignation of CNN boss Jeff Zucker …
Discussion:
@grynbaum, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Breitbart, Insider, RADAR, @miriamelder, @sherman4949, @noahshachtman, @dylanbyers, @ichotiner, @megjameslat, @jayrosen_nyu, @indivisibleteam, @vanityfair, @joepompeo, @jbarro, @sherman4949, @benyt, @keitholbermann, @soledadobrien, @noahshachtman, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @jbarro, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and The Daily Beast
Discussion:
Michael M. Grynbaum / @grynbaum: Here is the full exchange last night between Jake Tapper and Jason Kilar at a meeting in CNN's DC bureau: https://twitter.com/...
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times: CNN staffers grill their boss over Jeff Zucker resignation
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair: “This Does Not Fit the Crime”: CNN Employees Continue to Push Back on the Fall of Jeff Zucker
Joshua Caplan / Breitbart: CNN Reporter: Lawmakers ‘Devastated for our Democracy’ After Jeff Zucker's Resignation
Steven Perlberg / Insider: LEAKED AUDIO: CNN stars including Jake Tapper raise concerns about Jeff Zucker's exit in tense internal meeting
Whitney Vasquez / RADAR: Leaked Audio! CNN's Jake Tapper Pissed About Jeff Zucker's Resignation, Blames ‘Terrorist’ Chris Cuomo Over Boss' Ousting
Miriam Elder / @miriamelder: I'm just going to tweet this straight, but: Jamie Gangel says that in the wake of Zucker stepping down, she heard from congresspeople “who felt devastated for our democracy” as a result of his departure https://www.vanityfair.com/... by @joepompeo
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Some nuggets in this: *David Zaslav found out about Zucker's resignation just hours before CNN did. *Zucker isn't expected to return to CNN after the merger closes https://www.cnbc.com/...
Noah Shachtman / @noahshachtman: This is some State TV bullshit. Unacceptable at any newsroom, and especially by the folks in charge. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: Not included in here: @jamiegangel told Jason Kilar he was speaking in “corporate doublespeak,” and said she didn't think Kilar understood the impact his decision to fire Jeff Zucker would have on staff. https://twitter.com/...
Isaac Chotiner / @ichotiner: Gandhi. King. Mandela. Zucker. https://twitter.com/...
Meg James / @megjameslat: Among CNN's top stars expressing anger over Jeff Zucker's forced exit was @jaketapper, who told #WarnerMedia boss Jason Kilar that CNN would have become “benign, vanilla gruel” if not for Zucker's leadership. @stevebattaglio https://www.latimes.com/...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: “If we had not had Jeff here during the Trump administration, we would have probably been taken out and you would have something like Fox News lite on the air...” Acosta said. “It's a rather delicate time, not just for this country but this business.” https://www.latimes.com/...
@indivisibleteam: We felt devastated for our democracy when Jeff Zucker enabled Trump's campaign during the 2016 election. https://twitter.com/...
@vanityfair: “Reading between the lines, everyone's interpretation of this is that Chris Cuomo knifed Zucker.” Read the latest from @JoePompeo. https://vntyfr.com/j07Oukx
Joe Pompeo / @joepompeo: Here's one more tidbit from that fireworks-filled meeting between CNN's DC buro and Jason Kilar: @jamiegangel told Kilar she's gotten concerned calls from four congresspeople/one Jan. 6 committee member re: Zucker's ouster https://www.vanityfair.com/...
Josh Barro / @jbarro: Anyway a useful reminder that the internal politics of organizations are often about matters the insiders care deeply about and outsiders have no interest in.
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Jeff Zucker and David Zaslav are long-time buds, but his departure may ease Zaslav's integration of CNN, sources say. That's because Discovery sees CNN's value as part of a larger bundle of streaming content rather than a standalone news service, I'm told: https://www.cnbc.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Boring but plausible! https://twitter.com/...
Keith Olbermann / @keitholbermann: I mentioned yesterday that the Zucker-Gollust “this just happened” story was nonsense: that on a personal level I didn't care, but even I had figured out they were a thing, no later than 2006. New: reportedly, by then, it was already a decade old: https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Soledad O'Brien / @soledadobrien: This is an amazing read. Mostly because these journalists are telling on themselves when they think certain people should people should be held to different standards. (Again, no sleeping w subordinates w/o informing HR is a basic corporate rule). https://twitter.com/...
Noah Shachtman / @noahshachtman: How damaging is the dirt that CNN's probe uncovered? So bad, Jeff Zucker resigned before he could be fired “and is not poised to receive any severance,” @TatianaSiegel27 reports. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Reminds me of a certain moment from a popular television show about drama among powerful media executives...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Obviously a tough situation for Kilar, but he also probably didn't win over anyone in the room with quotes like “What has been said on this topic has been said. That is what has been communicated that is what is communicated, and that's what will be communicated.”
Josh Barro / @jbarro: So one read about what happened at CNN is there's more shoes to drop about Jeff Zucker, but another read is this was just some middle-school nonsense about Jason Kilar hating him. Certainly doesn't sound like Kilar dispelled the latter possibility. https://puck.news/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Heard the meeting between Jason Kilar and CNN DC staff did not go well. One source described it as a “shitshow,” another person said Kilar was pressed repeatedly on whether his poor relationship with Zucker played into his departure.
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: He confirmed he previously did not know about the relationship between Gollust and Zucker, and said CNN's new owners at Discovery were not involved in Zucker's not-so-willing resignation. https://www.politico.com/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Staffers asked whether the “punishment fit the crime,” and pushed Kilar to disclose whether more damaging info was likely to emerge from the outside investigation into the Chris Cuomo debacle. One employee said they felt “less safe” with Zucker gone. https://www.politico.com/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: A number of prominent on-air personalities including Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins, and Jim Acosta pressed Kilar for nearly an hour about Zucker's resignation https://www.politico.com/...
David Bauder / Associated Press: Zucker's ouster rattles CNN staff at a pivotal time
Tatiana Siegel / Rolling Stone:
Source: WarnerMedia's probe into Chris Cuomo advising his brother broadened to include ties between Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Andrew Cuomo
Discussion:
CNN, Mediaite, Fox News, CNBC, Breitbart, Puck, @brettmmurphy, Slate, @grynbaum, Variety, Washington Post, @jennifersey, Common Sense, @felixsalmon, Media Nation, Who the Heck Is Jim Treacher?, @rollingstone, @levinejonathan, @lucas_shaw, @marlownyc, @tvmojoe, Vanity Fair, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @dylanbyers, @andrewfeinberg, @dylanbyers, @brooklynmarie, New York Times, @stupolitics, Wall Street Journal, @jon_allsop, @akiperitz, @sanasaeed, @raesanni, @juddlegum, @mattgertz, @alexweprin, New York Post, Too Much TV Newsletter, Insider, @miriamelder, RADAR, Axios and Poynter
Discussion:
Colby Hall / Mediaite: Who Killed Jeff Zucker's CNN Career? Clues Point to Fox News Enthusiast John Malone
Brian Flood / Fox News: Jeff Zucker's CNN exit: Pressure grows for WarnerMedia to probe if Allison Gollust ‘lied’ about timeline
Dylan Byers / Puck: Inside the CNN Newsroom's Clash with Jason Kilar
Brett Murphy / @brettmmurphy: This is pretty astonishing https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Noreen Malone / Slate: Jeff Zucker's Resignation From CNN Doesn't Add Up—Until You Notice How It Happened
Michael M. Grynbaum / @grynbaum: Q: Were you aware of Jeff and Allison's relationship? A: “No, I was not aware of the relationship before this.” Q: When did you become aware? A: “Again, out of respect for this process, out of respect for Jeff, I am absolutely not going to answer.”
Brian Steinberg / Variety: After Jeff Zucker's Exit, CNN Staffers Grow Skeptical of WarnerMedia, Discovery
Erik Wemple / Washington Post: Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust personally pushed for Andrew Cuomo-Chris Cuomo interviews
Jennifer Sey / @jennifersey: Sure reads like a breach of ethics for a news organization purporting to be impartial. Tell me again how CNN is so much better than 🦊. They all seem bad right now sadly. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Nellie Bowles / Common Sense: TGIF: Protests, Resignations and Time-Outs
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: This is an absolute tour de force of investigative media reporting from @TatianaSiegel27. A must-read for anybody even the tiniest bit interested in the Zucker/Cuomo/CNN affairs. Boy are they all interlinked. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation: Drip, drip, drip — Tatiana Siegel reports in Rolling Stone that Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust …
Jim Treacher / Who the Heck Is Jim Treacher?: Finally, a Reacher Who Measures Up
@rollingstone: In relationships, timing is everything. And the timeline on Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust's coupledom is not only off by more than two decades — the CNN power couple also repeatedly lied about their relationship to their corporate bosses https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Jon Levine / @levinejonathan: CNN employs a fleet of media reporters. Hard to imagine they didn't know about any of this! https://twitter.com/...
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: It's going to be very fun in 6 months to go back and see what of the Rogan (and zucker) coverage holds up.
Marlow Stern / @marlownyc: not surprised in the least about this. can we also get an internal investigation into communications between zucker and trump's team during the 2016 election because would love to see those https://twitter.com/...
@tvmojoe: Tatiana should temporarily change her byline to TEA-tiana Siegel, because this story spills, as the youth say, all the tea. https://twitter.com/...
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair: “It's Like the Ending of Reservoir Dogs”: Insiders See the Hand of Cuomo Behind Jeff Zucker's Abrupt Departure From CNN
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: This is good by @DylanByers - I'd add to his point about CNN employees being genuinely concerned with Zucker's absence that CNN+'s biggest champion in a merged company with Discovery may also be out now. (Hence this: https://www.cnbc.com/...) https://twitter.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Also: This is a window into Zaslav's streaming thinking — he's clearly set on taking on Netflix and Disney rather than dabbling with a bunch of niche products. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: @PuckNews + The Rolling Stone report on the CNN investigation expanding to probe a Zucker-A. Cuomo tie is incorrect in one regard: As Kilar told CNN staff last night, and as representatives for both WarnerMedia and Zucker told me today, the investigation has closed. https://puck.news/...
Andrew Feinberg / @andrewfeinberg: This is beyond bad. Discovery needs to clean house and bring in a bunch of print editors who haven't been ruined by TV to run the place. https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers: @PuckNews + Despite contrary reports, WarnerMedia's investigation into Jeff Zucker is a closed matter. So if there is another shoe to drop, they aren't dropping it. ... https://puck.news/...
Brooke Binkowski / @brooklynmarie: So hopefully at some point soon we can start having a conversation about the effects that incredibly toxic people have on the media companies they hold such high positions in. It affects internal culture - how could it not? - and in turn, society at large. https://twitter.com/...
Stuart Rothenberg / @stupolitics: Drip, drip, drip. I've never met Zucker — I was a CNN analyst during the Hannon and Kaplan eras — and I have noticed that many CNNers have had nice things to say about Zucker. But there are a growing number of questions about CNN management. https://twitter.com/...
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal: Chris Cuomo's Legal Team Raised Questions About Jeff Zucker's Relationship
Jon Allsop / @jon_allsop: I swear this will be my only ever Succession tweet, but this article reads like a script that got chucked for implausibility https://twitter.com/...
Aki Peritz / @akiperitz: So Zucker in large part gave us Donald Trump, then wrecked his golden career and his family *and* he won't get severance? What is this world coming to? https://twitter.com/...
Sana Saeed / @sanasaeed: Incredible reporting by @TatianaSiegel27. This corruption worsens erosion of trust that audiences already have with basic news reporting. When your most powerful exec is doing politics & PR for a governor, for whom the network is his pulpit - what is that? https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Rae Sanni / @raesanni: Maybe it's my obsession with Succession but this story is fascinating as hell to me https://twitter.com/...
Judd Legum / @juddlegum: .@RollingStone gets to the heart of the Zucker scandal: “The source says the investigation suggests Zucker and Gollust were advising the governor at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in ways not dissimilar to what led to Chris Cuomo's dismissal.” https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
Matthew Gertz / @mattgertz: Per this source, the reason that the manifestly unethical Cuomo brothers interviews were happening is because Zucker and Gollust were simultaneously booking the interviews and giving Andrew talking points for them. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: This answer doesn't quite square with what @TatianaSiegel27 reports here: https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Rebecca Cohen / Insider: CNN's Zucker and Gollust may have advised former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo on how to respond to Trump's attacks, Rolling Stone reported
Miriam Elder / @miriamelder: @joepompeo Sources tell @joepompeo Cuomo's team has been shopping around the story of Zucker and Gollust's relationship, while lawyers retained by WarnerMedia to investigate the Cuomo matter began asking about the two in recent weeks https://www.vanityfair.com/...
Ryan Naumann / RADAR: Insiders Tell Why Jeff Zucker Had To Go At CNN: ‘He & Gollust Had A Colossal Conflict Of Interest’ In Chris Cuomo Firing
Sara Fischer / Axios: Misbehaving media men finally prove they aren't invincible
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Jeff Zucker's legacy is defined by his pursuit of TV ratings at NBC and CNN and his relationship with Donald Trump, whose persona he helped create and burnish
Discussion:
Poynter, New York Times, @rasmus_kleis, PRESS RUN, Insider, @sree, @jayrosen_nyu, @carlcannon, @sulliview, @dbernstein, @davidgura, @pilhofer, @dankennedy_nu, @colmorrisdavis, Politico, Media Nation, @jeffjarvis, @dominicholden, @jrubinblogger, @mrdanzak, CNN, Newser, Columbia Journalism Review, @brianstelter, Insider, Substack, @lisabloom, The Wrap, @levinejonathan, @oliverdarcy, @nymag, @megynkelly and @kellyannepolls
Discussion:
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen / @rasmus_kleis: This. There is a lot of unease and individuals have spoken up, but not at all clear to me US cable news media have reckoned with their role in the run-up to 2016 and what followed, or decided on what to do different in the elections ahead. https://twitter.com/...
Eric Boehlert / PRESS RUN: Zucker's CNN legacy — selling drama over news
Sophia Ankel / Insider: Jeff Zucker wanted to stay at CNN until the spring, but was refused and asked for an immediate resignation, report says
Sree Sreenivasan / @sree: .@sulliview, writing before the Cuomo revelations, highlights what we should really be holding Zucker responsible for: Helping make Trump president. “Why is American democracy in peril?” she asks. A portion of the blames belongs to Zucker, she says. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: “When the dust settles, Zucker's relationship with Donald Trump will define his legacy. Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona... The through line? Nothing nobler than TV ratings.” —@Sulliview https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Carl Cannon / @carlcannon: Wish I had seen this smart @Sulliview column on Jeff Zucker before my podcast today. She cut straight to the heart of the matter: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@sulliview: Questions swirl around Jeff Zucker's abrupt departure as CNN president. But there should be *no* question about how to remember him. My column https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
David S. Bernstein / @dbernstein: “You're hypocritical for pointing out my hidden conflict of interest” doesn't actually absolve you of hiding a conflict of interest. https://twitter.com/...
David Gura / @davidgura: “When the dust settles, it will be [Jeff] Zucker's relationship with Donald Trump that defines his legacy,” @Sulliview writes. “Zucker, as much as any other person in the world, created and burnished the Trump persona.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Aron Pilhofer / @pilhofer: Once again, @Sulliview hits the nail squarely on the head. Zucker has a lot to answer for. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Dan Kennedy / @dankennedy_nu: New at Media Nation: Scandal aside, Zucker gave us Trump and presided over a ratings collapse at CNN. https://dankennedy.net/...
@colmorrisdavis: And for Heaven's sake, don't criticize @jaketapper for his role in normalizing Trump. Jake interviewed TFG a few days after the 6/16/15 escalator ride and it aired on @CNNSotu on 6/28/15. When I said it was a mistake, I got a nasty DM from Jake and never invited back to @CNN. https://twitter.com/...
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation: Scandal aside, Zucker gave us Trump and presided over a ratings collapse at CNN
Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis: Has anyone seen anyone from CNN go on the record being glad that Zucker is gone?
Dominic Holden / @dominicholden: Extremely grateful Sullivan covered this story with an ethical lens. Journalism is always an exercise in ethical judgement, but the gossipy, supposedly-impartial media coverage we've seen largely ignores the deep ethical failures of Zucker and CNN. Glad to see this hit head-on https://twitter.com/...
Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin / @jrubinblogger: Every word of this —> https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Dan Zak / @mrdanzak: Here we go. Zucker wanted ratings, so Zucker gave us Trump: first as a reality TV star, then as a U.S. president. We will forever live in the surreality that Zucker helped to create. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Bob Cronin / Newser: Zucker Will Be Remembered for the Ascent of Trump
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review: Zucker punches out of CNN
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: Since the minute Zucker resigned, @OliverDarcy and I have been speaking with dozens of sources, including people close to WarnerMedia management and people close to Zucker. Here's what we know so far. (We're gonna go find lunch now.) https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/ ...
Sophia Ankel / Insider: CNN insiders suspect Chris Cuomo flagged Jeff Zucker's workplace relationship as revenge for firing him, reports say
Dave Pell / Substack: The Rating Game — To the casual observer, Jeff Zucker's shocking resignation from CNN might appear …
Lisa Bloom / @lisabloom: Consensual relationship between 2 high ranking executives = minor workplace issue, yes. Failing to disclose it when company policy requires disclosure = bigger issue. These disclosures are to avoid sexual favoritism, a form of sexual harassment. Rules apply even to Jeff Zucker https://twitter.com/...
Sharon Waxman / The Wrap: Jeff Zucker's Complicated CNN Legacy: Leaked Insider Texts Say He ‘Destroyed’ the Network
Jon Levine / @levinejonathan: Fun Fact ... Radar had the Zucker/CNN story a month ago 👀👀 https://radaronline.com/...
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy: Staffers inside CNN are in absolute shock right now. Employees at the company learned of Zucker's sudden departure all at once via a company-wide email that went out just after 11am. https://www.cnn.com/...
@nymag: Jeff Zucker's office romance has been an open secret for years. So why is he really leaving CNN? @ShawnMcCreesh reports that for many staffers there, something isn't adding up https://nymag.com/...
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Amazon spent $13B on TV, movie, and music content in 2021, up 18% YoY, a significant slowdown from 2020, when spending grew 41% — The ecommerce giant disclosed total video and music expense for 2021 in its annual SEC filing Friday. That total is compared with $11 billion the year prior, which was up roughly 40% versus 2019.
Discussion:
SEC.gov, MediaPost, Observer, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Business Wire and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Sarah Mahoney / MediaPost: Amazon Hikes Prime Fees, Wins Big With Ad Services
Sissi Cao / Observer: Amazon's Huge Q4 Profit Has Nothing To Do With Its Core Online Retail Business
Dade Hayes / Deadline: Amazon Has Tripled The Number Of Original Films And Series Since 2018, Says It Spent $13B In 2021
RELATED:
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Amazon breaks out advertising services revenue for the first time, reports $9.7B for Q4, up 32% YoY, $31.2B for FY 2021; subscription services grew 15% to $8.1B
Discussion:
@benedictevans, @benyt, Axios, The Diff, MediaPost, @chuck_gopal, BIG by Matt Stoller, Barrett Media, I have some questions, @ryan_browne_, @alextcone, @benedictevans, @stacyfmitchell, @stacyfmitchell, @stacyfmitchell, @stacyfmitchell, @tomgara, @daveleeft, @mattrosoff, @sarthakgh, @0xdabbad00, CNBC, @rakeshlobster, @pathedger18, @benyt, @edmundlee, @pkafka and @craigsilverman, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Benedict Evans / @benedictevans: I wondered when Amazon would start disclosing advertising revenue. Answer: $31bn in 2021 - roughly the same size as the entire global newspaper industry. AWS produced $18.5bn operating income - it's plausible that the ad business is now more profitable. https://twitter.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Just a huge media story https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / Axios: Amazon finally reveals the size of its massive ad business
Byrne Hobart / The Diff: What Happens When You Buy at an All-Time High?
Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost: Amazon Ad Business Reaches $31B Annually, Solidifies Position In Digital's Big 3
Deepak Gopalakrishnan / @chuck_gopal: Insane. Amazon makes 31b through advertising. The genius of which is, all of it leads to their products, on which there is further commission. What a business. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Stoller / BIG: As the Big Tech World Turns
Ian Casselberry / Barrett Media: Amazon Ad Revenues Show ‘Thursday Night Football’ Isn't Causing Prime Increase
Mike Shields / I have some questions: Facebook is suddenly paying dearly for big misses on shopping and video
Ryan Browne / @ryan_browne_: Amazon has an advertising business the size of one whole YouTube https://www.cnbc.com/...
Alex Cone / @alextcone: What's that sound? It's the sound of Google competition lawyers shouting “hallelujah!” https://twitter.com/...
Benedict Evans / @benedictevans: Wondering how long it will be before a newspaper's lawyers, probably in Australia, invent an argument that they are entitled to some of this money https://twitter.com/...
Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell: 1. Altogether, in 2021, Amazon took in $120 billion in revenue from the fees it imposes on third-party sellers. That's massive. For every $100 in sales a seller made in 2021, Amazon pocketed $34. That's up from $19 in 2014.
Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell: 3. Much of this growth in fees has been from “advertising.” Sellers used to rely on good ratings to land their products on the first page. Now they have to buy ads. In 2021, on top of $46 billion in referral fees, Amazon levied $17 billion in ad fees on sellers.
Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell: 2. Amazon is a gatekeeper to the online market, and it makes money by imposing steep and growing fees on businesses that want and need to reach that market.
Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell: 4. These fees are monopoly rents. And they are a direct product of bad antitrust policy. The way to side-step the “consumer welfare” standard that warped antitrust beginning in the 1980s is to raise prices on someone other than consumers.
Tom Gara / @tomgara: This enormous “advertising” number makes me wonder how much Walmart makes from deals with brands to get the best shelf space etc https://twitter.com/...
Dave Lee / @daveleeft: Amazon generated more revenue from advertising last year than the entire global newspaper business. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Rosoff / @mattrosoff: Amazon is now one of the biggest advertising companies in the world, far surpassing many pure-play ad companies like Snap and Pinterest. It's a testament to the company's continuing diversification strategy, after turning cloud com...https://www.linkedin.com/ ... https://www.cnbc.com/...
Sar Haribhakti / @sarthakgh: That's as large as Youtube's ad revenue https://twitter.com/...
Scott Piper / @0xdabbad00: There are probably some AWS folks that have been proud they don't work at an ad company. Every tech company, if it gets big enough, ultimately becomes an ad company. https://twitter.com/...
Rakesh Agrawal / @rakeshlobster: $AMZN ad business is bigger than YouTube. Wow. Likely higher margin given lower cost. https://twitter.com/...
Patrick Hedger / @pathedger18: Also, so much for the online advertising “duopoly” of Facebook and Google. How much more of the prevailing antitrust narrative can the market make a mockery of in one day? https://twitter.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: @pkafka All the interesting media stories this week are being announced by public companies
Edmund Lee / @edmundlee: Amazon used to stick is ad business figures in its “other” line item but it looks like it finally broke it out? Q4 ad sales — arguably a coop fee/tax on 3rd party merchants who sell on Amazon — accounted for a third of all revenue. And by itself ads is a $30B/yr business $amzn https://twitter.com/...
Peter Kafka / @pkafka: This is true. https://twitter.com/...
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Although Kara Swisher, LAT reporters, and others implicated Section 230, Spotify's right to publish Joe Rogan is, in fact, protected by the First Amendment — I really wasn't going to write anything about the latest Spotify/Joe Rogan/Neil Young thing. We've posted older case studies …
Discussion:
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick: Because a lot of people seem to be confused about this, I wrote a post trying to explain why the Rogan/Spotify thing is not a Section 230 issue. At all. https://www.techdirt.com/...
Peter Kafka / @pkafka: Spotify and Joe Rogan has nothing to do with platforms, Section 230, content moderation or any other other chin-scratching deflection/rabbit hole. Spotify bought content, published it, and plans to continue publishing it. https://twitter.com/...
Benjamin Perry / @faithfullybp: This whole article is phenomenal but this paragraph especially. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Robert Caruso / @robertcaruso: “The accountability feels like oppression” is too trite in 2022, and will never resonate with the intended audiences anyway. I think Gay is right here, and sees it for what it is: even casual discussion of curation means the free thinker is crushed by the tyrannical censors. https://twitter.com/...
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate: Why Spotify Will Win — In his I'm-Sorry-if-You-Were-Offended apology posted on Sunday night …
Marc Schneider / Billboard: Neil Young Struck a Nerve. Did He Really Start a Movement?
RELATED:
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Audio: Daniel Ek says Spotify needs exclusives for leverage to land deals with Amazon, Google, and others, and that Spotify is a platform, not a publisher
Discussion:
Vulture, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Post, Slate, @mattdpearce, Mediaite, The Hill, UPROXX, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, Podcast Movement, The Guardian, Poynter, Heb je nog een podcasttip?, Music Ally, @ebonyteach, @mmasnick, @ashtonpittman, @xtrixcyclex, @ashleyrcarman, @tbonier, Insider, insideradio.com, The bi-weekly-ish newsletter …, @dada_drummer, Barrett Media, @tsnotyaw, @gerryconway, @megpillow, Protocol, @chrismessina, @adrs, Washington Post, @nytopinion, @drjengunter, @nitashatiku, High Absolute Value, @rgay, @johnmoe, @mattdpearce, @bheater, @reckless, @carnage4life, @dkiesow, @karlbode, @reckless, @camfaulkner, @reckless, The Daily Beast, @andyboxall, @econ_marshall, @tommytomlinson, The Wrap, @chriswelch, @accessnow, Tubefilter, CNN, The A.V. Club, @willoremus, @aweiss, @baekdal, @wagatwe, @evan_greer, @reanimike, @ahmedbaba_, @jamessurowiecki, @markmilian, @mcwm, @justinhendrix, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @pashulman, @heerjeet, @broderick, RAIN News, Variety, The Week, The Wrap, Engadget, PRWeek, Dirt, CNN, Insider, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post
Discussion:
Nicholas Quah / Vulture: Like It or Not, Joe Rogan Is Spotify's Future
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review: Of platforms, publishers, and responsibility
Samantha Ibrahim / New York Post: Joe Rogan back at Spotify, responds to backlash — and stays controversial
Lizzie O'Leary / Slate: Spotify Has Convinced Everyone to Debate the Wrong Issue
Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce: NEW: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told employees Spotify doesn't edit Joe Rogan because he sees the company as a platform for Rogan's show, not as a publisher. Some Spotify employees are skeptical, given Rogan's exclusive ~$100 million deal. With @thewendylee: https://www.latimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Leia Idliby / Mediaite: Spotify CEO Defends Joe Rogan as Vital to Platform's ‘Bold Ambitions’ in Charged Meeting with ‘Upset’ Employees
Mike Redmond / UPROXX: The Joe Rogan Fiasco Continues As The CEO Of Spotify Faces Off With Furious Employees
Nardine Saad / Los Angeles Times: Jon Stewart calls ‘overreaction’ to Spotify's Joe Rogan debacle ‘a mistake’
Simon Kent / Breitbart: Spotify CEO Defends Joe Rogan to Staff: 'We're Not in the Business of Dictating the Discourse' of Creators
Nadia Khomami / The Guardian: How $1bn push into podcasts led to Spotify's growing pains
Josie Hollingsworth / Poynter: How to fact-check Joe Rogan, and other questions from the fact-checking community
Lieven Heeremans / Heb je nog een podcasttip?: Mijn bestorming van bastion Hilversum
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas / @ebonyteach: Last March, I said #onhere, “Curation isn't cancellation.” Love to see it! This needs to be the conversation: https://twitter.com/...
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick: Ah yes, the marketplace of ideas apparently only works if @eldsjal locks up more voices in a proprietary audio format only available through Spotify, rather than the open protocol podcasts built on MP3s/RSS. 🙄🙄🙄 https://twitter.com/...
Ashton Pittman / @ashtonpittman: I wish I had a Spotify subscription just so I could cancel it for this quote alone. https://twitter.com/...
@xtrixcyclex: Check your ambitions, @Spotify. The same justification has been used for every atrocity since the dawn of time. https://twitter.com/...
Ashley Carman / @ashleyrcarman: NEW: inside spotify's employee-only town hall. we have the full transcript from ceo daniel ek's speech to employees, and... there's a lot. like, him suggesting the only solution to rogan is actually more exclusives with more voices https://www.theverge.com/...
Tom Bonier / @tbonier: Shorter version of Spotify CEO @eldsjal's statement to his employees: I like money more than I dislike what Joe Rogan is saying, and you should too. https://twitter.com/...
Kelsey Vlamis / Insider: Jon Stewart said musicians like Neil Young pulling their music from Spotify is an ‘overreaction’ to Joe Rogan and a ‘mistake’
Marcel A. Wiebenga / The bi-weekly-ish newsletter …: Bi-Weekly-ish newsletter of Marcel A. Wiebenga - Issue #12
Damon K / @dada_drummer: I always find these Spotify earnings calls illuminating, if nothing else for the vocabulary. “Music” is not mentioned. Here's Daniel Ek, CEO, doing all he can to avoid the term https://seekingalpha.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Ryan Hedrick / Barrett Media: Daniel Ek: Too Early to Know if Joe Rogan Controversy Will Impact Spotify
@tsnotyaw: We have similarly made the decision to remove our podcast from Spotify. We're sorry if it inconveniences any of our listeners, but we're hoping they will understand, and find one of the many other platforms we're available on to get their TSNOTYAW fix. https://twitter.com/...
@gerryconway: The “@SpotifyUSA isn't a publisher” nonsense doesn't hold water— if you *pay* for the exclusive right to broadcast/host/transmit/convey a communication you are *publishing* it, and thus you *endorse* it as a product. Own your choices, #Spotify. https://www.theverge.com/...
Meg Pillow / @megpillow: “I am not looking for purity; it doesn't exist. Instead, I'm trying to do the best I can, and take a stand when I think I can have an impact.” @rgay on removing her podcast from Spotify https://www.nytimes.com/...
Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Blame cheap music for Joe Rogan being on Spotify
@chrismessina: “I understand the premise that because we have an exclusive deal with him, it's really easy to conclude we endorse every word he says and believe the opinions expressed by his guests. That's absolutely not the case.” —@eldsjal #platisher #misinformation https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Arielle Duhaime-Ross / @adrs: Spotify employees “questioned how the company considers itself a platform while still actively promoting JRE and including its logo on the cover art and how what some consider an ethical issue is being put in pure business terms.” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@nytopinion: Roxane Gay has taken her podcast off Spotify: “Joe Rogan and others like him can continue to proudly encourage misinformation and bigotry,” @rgay says. “The platforms sharing these rewards can continue to look the other way. Today at least, I won't.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jennifer Gunter / @drjengunter: This is a fantastic piece by @rgay -> Opinion | On Joe Rogan and Spotify, Roxane Gay Takes a Stand - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/...
Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku: “A publisher has editorial control over a creator's content...They can edit, they can curate, they can change the guest,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told employees Wednesday. “I think our relationship with Rogan is clearly that of a platform.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Roxane Gay / @rgay: Today in the @nytimes I wrote about the difference between censorship and curation https://www.nytimes.com/...
John Moe / @johnmoe: If you're paying someone and the only place to get that person's content is on the service that you're sending out to the world, how is that not publishing? https://twitter.com/...
Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce: .@ashleyrcarman has audio of the town hall, and got what seems like the most emblematically awkward line from Ek about Spotify's posture toward Rogan: “Exclusivity does not equal endorsement” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Brian Heater / @bheater: Spotify's solution to the Rogan issue is more exclusives. Throwing good content after bad. It also highlights what's been clear for a whie: that music is just a means to an end for exclusives. Spotify wants to be Netflix and you can't do that with music. https://www.theverge.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: There's a pretty good argument in here about closed app platforms creating the incentives for this situation but reader I am exhausted https://twitter.com/...
Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life: We pay him $100M to be exclusively on Spotify but we aren't his publisher is a tough needle to thread. The real story here is the CEO admitting that Joe Rogan drives so much value to Spotify that he has the power in the relationship not Spotify. https://www.theverge.com/...
Damon Kiesow / @dkiesow: Good thread and laughable when tech companies make very specific editorial decisions and still want to play the “neutral platform” card when challenged. https://twitter.com/...
Karl Bode / @karlbode: like substack and spotify, I too like to throw big piles of money at controversial bigots and bullshit artists to cash in on controversy, then pretend I'm a powerless objective observer purely interested in free expression when criticized https://twitter.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: Ek also said he personally finds many things Rogan says to be “offensive” https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Cameron Faulkner / @camfaulkner: “If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with,” he says. this is so toxic https://twitter.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: Scoop from @ashleyrcarman: Spotify CEO defended the Rogan deal to employees by saying the company had struggled to land deals with Amazon, Google, and Tesla because it didn't have exclusives to create leverage https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast: Spotify Booted Far-Right Podcaster Stew Peters Over COVID Lies
Andy Boxall / @andyboxall: What a misguided, laughable approach to justifying its stance of taking zero responsibility for its exclusive $100m publishing deal. https://twitter.com/...
Marshall Steinbaum / @econ_marshall: See also: the lawsuits claiming employment status for 7-Eleven franchisees subject to onerous vertical restraints. Or the whole premise of joint-employer liability. Or this: https://www.aeaweb.org/... https://twitter.com/...
Tommy Tomlinson / @tommytomlinson: 1) The most obvious fact in this whole mess is that when you pay somebody $100 million for exclusive rights to his work, YOU'RE HIS PUBLISHER 2) This sounds like “better get our position on the record now, lawsuits are comin'” https://twitter.com/...
Dessi Gomez / The Wrap: Before Joe Rogan, There Was Stew Peters - Banned by Spotify for COVID Misinformation
Chris Welch / @chriswelch: Spotify earnings letter completely ignores the delayed HiFi feature. Cool cool cool cool cool. https://investors.spotify.com/ ...
@accessnow: Speaking of @Spotify ... It's been 9 months since we, @fightfortheftr, and over 180 artists asked the company to commit to not using or monetizing patented tech that can listen to users ⬇️ We still haven't heard back. https://twitter.com/...
James Hale / Tubefilter: Spotify's CEO Says Joe Rogan's Podcast Has Been Vital To Its Growth. Also, Its Stock Dropped 16% This Week.
Frank Pallotta / CNN: Here's who has left Spotify because of Joe Rogan
Matt Schimkowitz / The A.V. Club: Spotify CEO explains why he feels “good about where we are” amid Joe Rogan-Neil Young debacle
Will Oremus / @willoremus: Employees at Spotify, known as a feel-good workplace, are in turmoil over Joe Rogan, with some now saying they're embarrassed to work there. “They've evolved from a music company into an audio company and a media company — and they haven't built a structure to manage that.” https://twitter.com/...
Aaron Weiss / @aweiss: Spotify pays Joe Rogan obscene amounts of money to exclusively publish his podcast, and they make the ad revenue from it. That's a publisher. Full stop. https://twitter.com/...
Thomas Baekdal / @baekdal: BS ... they don't get to give someone $100m, to exclusively own a show, and pretend they have no responsibility. I cancelled my Spotify subscription because of this, and I will not return. https://twitter.com/...
Wagatwe Wanjuki / @wagatwe: They're lying because their entire podcast advertising ecosystem depends on Rogan. It's $1 million min. *plus* ad buys for other shows. If they lose Rogan, they're screwed. https://twitter.com/...
Mike / @reanimike: Yeah, this is horseshit. If he were just a regular ass podcaster uploading new episodes whenever he felt like it that would be different. He has an exclusive, paid contract with Spotify. He's a staffer. https://twitter.com/...
Ahmed Baba / @ahmedbaba_: Regardless of how you feel about whether or not Rogan should be on the platform, I don't think anyone would argue against the conclusion that if you pay someone for an exclusive deal to host their content, you are, in fact, now a publisher. https://twitter.com/...
James Surowiecki / @jamessurowiecki: If you're paying someone $100 million to produce content exclusively for you, you're not a platform for that person. You're his publisher. https://twitter.com/...
Mark Milian / @markmilian: This is platformology at an evangelical level. At some point, you have to cross the publisher rubicon. Paying a guy over $100 million to broadcast his show seems like it would get you there https://www.latimes.com/...
Justin Hendrix / @justinhendrix: .@spotify CEO Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) swept Rogan's appetite for hosting White supremacists and far-right extremists under the rug when he did the podcast deal. Perhaps it's not surprising he would bend himself into a pretzel to evade any responsibility to the public. https://twitter.com/...
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: The truth is we don't know the precise terms of the deal. And it's possible that Spotify agreed to have no say over editorial so long as Rogan didn't violate its content guidelines.
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: Spotify has made this point over and over again over the last week. It seems disingenuous since Spotify pays Rogan $100M+ for exclusive rights to his show. Those rights usually come with some editorial control.
Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw: Two different stories tonight cite a Spotify town hall where CEO Daniel Ek described the company as a platform (not a publisher). He's trying to say the company has no editorial authority. https://twitter.com/...
Peter A. Shulman / @pashulman: Can't have it both ways (and be taken seriously). Also, does a neutral platform (with an exclusive distribution deal) aggressively promote this specific product to its users? https://twitter.com/...
Jeet Heer / @heerjeet: This is a typical social media shell game. They want the benefits of being a publisher (audience, exclusivity) without the responsibility. It's untenable. https://twitter.com/...
Ryan Broderick / @broderick: Ok, well, if Spotify is just a platform for Joe Rogan, then he should be allowed to put all his episodes back on YouTube. https://twitter.com/...
Jem Aswad / Variety: Spotify's Daniel Ek Defends Joe Rogan and Hosting Content ‘We Disagree With Strongly’ in Heated Town Hall; Stock Hits 21-Month Low
Brendan Morrow / The Week: Spotify CEO defends working with Joe Rogan despite finding ‘many things’ he says ‘very offensive’
Antoinette Siu / The Wrap: Spotify's Daniel Ek Defends Keeping Joe Rogan as Stock Plummets
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget: In the Joe Rogan debate, Spotify is acting like a spectator rather than a player
Frank Pallotta / CNN: Spotify CEO addresses Joe Rogan controversy
Isobel Asher Hamilton / Insider: Spotify CEO says Joe Rogan doesn't get special treatment even though he has a massive audience
Peter Guest / Rest of World:
Documents show how reputation laundering companies like Eliminalia use fake DMCA and legal notices to scare news outlets into taking down investigative stories — Reputation firms like Eliminalia use legal threats and copyright notices to have material taken down around the world.
Discussion:
@restofworld, @peterguest, @techwontsaveus, @restofworld and @restofworld, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
@restofworld: There are hundreds of companies worldwide offering content removal and reputation management services. We got access to internal documents from one such company and investigated some of the procedures used to remove articles.🧵 https://restofworld.org/...
Peter Guest / @peterguest: 2/2 It appears to be an attempt to mess with Twitter's search rankings. We can't definitively say who runs the account called “Mister Sean Sergeev Dyckinson from eliminalia St..” or the others like it. But our original investigation is here: https://restofworld.org/...
@techwontsaveus: “If anyone can, with a little bit of money, modify their reality, and the reality that the world can access, then what's the fucking point?” https://restofworld.org/...
@restofworld: How do reputation management companies get websites to take down unflattering articles? Many abuse “right to be forgotten” laws, such as Europe's GDPR, and IP theft laws, like the U.S.'s Digital Millennium Copyright Act https://restofworld.org/...
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt / New York Times:
Jason Epstein, who was a founding co-editor of The NY Review of Books and launched Anchor Books, which published classics as cheap paperbacks, dies at age 93 — His literary and marketing instincts brought quality paperbacks to American readers and led to the creation of The New York Review of Books.
Discussion:
Paul Goldberger / @paulgoldberger: Deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jason Epstein, one of the most brilliant editors of all time. He convinced me to write the book that ultimately became “Why Architecture Matters.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@sivavaid: RIP I had the pleasure of getting to know Jason in his later years, when cooking and eating became his chief expressive passions. He made me an awesome omelette once. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Kimberly Burns / @kimberlyburnspr: “It is a vocation, you feel you're doing something extremely important, and it's worth sacrificing for, because without books we wouldn't know who we were.” Legend. Jason Epstein, Editor and Publishing Innovator, Is Dead at 93 https://www.nytimes.com/...
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Authorities in Kashmir arrest The Kashmir Walla editor Fahad Shah and are investigating him for alleged sedition and making statements causing public mischief — Authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Fahad Shah …
Discussion:
@shahriyarsyed1, @sonalidhawan_, Tribuneindia News Service, @masratzahra, @suhaunah, @ahmermkhan, @hamidmirpak, @cpjasia, @cpjasia, Greater Kashmir and @pzaqib
Discussion:
Syed Shahriyar / @shahriyarsyed1: #kashmir :Authorities in Kashmir must immediately and unconditionally release journalist @pzfahad , drop any investigation into his work, and cease detaining members of the press, the @CPJAsia Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. https://cpj.org/...
Sonali Dhawan / @sonalidhawan_: In the past month alone, J&K authorities have cracked down on the press by: 1) Holding @SajadGUL_ under the Public Safety Act after he was granted bail in a criminal conspiracy case; 2) Shutting down the Kashmir Press Club; 3) Arresting @pzfahad. https://twitter.com/...
Tribuneindia News Service: Kashmir journalist Fahad Shah arrested for sharing ‘anti-national’ content
Masrat Zahra / @masratzahra: The Kashmir Walla Editor, @pzfahad has been arrested by police for “uploading anti-national content on social media.” In solidarity with @pzfahad #JournalismIsNotACrime
Suhauna Hussain / @suhaunah: 🚨Kashmiri journalist @pzfahad does such important work, and now he's been arrested by police for “uploading anti-national content on social media” https://twitter.com/...
Ahmer Khan / @ahmermkhan: Authorities in Kashmir must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Fahad Shah, drop any investigation into his work, and cease detaining members of the press, @pressfreedom said Friday. https://cpj.org/...
Hamid Mir / @hamidmirpak: The arrest of Fahad Shah shows Jammu and Kashmir authorities' utter disregard for press freedom and the fundamental right of journalists to report freely and safely," #ReleaseFahadShah #KashmirDay #KashmirLivesMatter https://twitter.com/...
Cpj Asia / @cpjasia: #Kashmir: Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Fahad Shah (@pzfahad), drop any investigation into his work, and cease detaining members of the press. https://cpj.org/...
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple reduces the Apple Music free-trial offer from three months to one month; new AirPods, HomePod, or Beats owners still get six months free — Apple has quietly made a big change to Apple Music this week, reducing the initial free-trial offer from three months.
Discussion:
Carrie Mihalcik / CNET: Apple Music free trial period drops to one month
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors: Apple Music Reduces Free Trial Period to One Month
Chance Miller / @chancehmiller: Kind of a weird change. Spotify still offers 3 months free for new subscribers when you pay via PayPal. https://twitter.com/...
William Gallagher / AppleInsider: Apple Music cuts free trial period from three months to one month
Kate Briquelet / The Daily Beast:
Two Jeffrey Epstein victims sue Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown for publishing “false and defamatory statements” in her 2021 book about Epstein — Two victims of the sex trafficker claim the legendary journalist misrepresented their stories in her book.
Output Producer, CA — 
China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — 
Senior Assignment Editor, DC — 
Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — 
Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — 
Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — 
Local Government Reporter, IA — 
Research Director, CA — 
Immigration Enforcement Reporter — 
Presque Island Reporter, ME — 
Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — 
AI Content Editor, WA — 
Legislative Reporter, TN — 
Editorial Assistant, Remote US — 
Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — 
Government & Politics Editor, WA — 
Business & GA Reporter. VT — 
Sports Reporter, WA — 
Energy Reporter, TX — 
Senior Reporter, SC — 
Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — 
Reporter, WI — 
Political Newsletter Writer, CO — 
Jackson Reporter, MS — 
Music Editor, AZ — 
Breaking News Reporter, NV — 
Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — 
Reporter II - Technology, Remote — 
Editor, Remote US — 
City Reporter, WA — 
Executive Editor, OR — 
Education & Budget Reporter, CA — 
Senior Writer/Editor, FL — 
Media Editor, Remote — 
