Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Medium founder Ev Williams is stepping down as CEO, to be replaced by Coach.me CEO Tony Stubblebine; Williams plans to start a new holding company/research lab — Mr. Williams, the company's founder and a co-founder of Twitter and Blogger, said in a post that he planned to start a new holding company and research lab.
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Casey Newton / Platformer:
A critique of Ev Williams' 10-year tenure at Medium and how it got caught in the middle between Substack and well-funded publishers like BuzzFeed and Vice — How Medium got stuck in the middle. PLUS: Twitter sues Musk — Few tech CEOs can claim to have steered the course of online conversation more than Ev Williams.
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix is in talks to amend contracts with studios to let it put content on the ad-supported tier; some estimate studios will seek premiums of 15-30% — Streaming giant wants to amend deals, has begun talks with studios such as Warner, Universal and Sony
Discussion:
Reuters, @smtuffy, @jbflint, Digital TV Europe, @masasoncap, Broadband TV News and ExchangeWire.com
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Reuters debuts Reuters Insight, a subscription research business for individuals making corporate strategy decisions, starting at $2,500 per year, per vertical — Reuters is launching a new subscription research business called Reuters Insight that will be geared toward individuals making corporate strategy decisions.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Parker Molloy / Dame Magazine:
Mainstream “liberal” US news outlets have embraced, employed, and laundered conservative propaganda since the 2016 elections and show no signs of letting up — “Liberal media” is a myth. Since Trump's presidency, mainstream news has embraced, employed, and laundered conservative propaganda …
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Seven nonpartisan Georgia news outlets, all led by POC and targeted at Black, Hispanic, or Asian-American audiences, receive a combined $2M from The Pivot Fund — “You can call these rural parts of the state news deserts. But in these deserts are oases."
Discussion:
@tmpowell, Poynter, The Pivot Fund, @jenniferbrandel, @mitrakalita, @jenniferpreston, @aliciacbell, @dicktofel and The Rural Blog
Jon Schleuss / The NewsGuild:
The Wired union reaches an agreement on a first contract with Condé Nast after planning to strike on Amazon Prime Days, will vote to ratify it in coming weeks — The WIRED union, a unit of The NewsGuild of New York, which represents more than 55 workers at the technology magazine …
Discussion:
nyguild.org
Financial Times:
UK's competition authority opens an investigation into whether BT, IMG Media, ITV, and Sky are fixing the rate offered to sports broadcast freelancers — Competition watchdog to investigate whether companies fixed pay for freelance workers — The UK competition regulator has opened …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Broadband TV News and Bloomberg
Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
Media Impact Funders: newsrooms around the world raised a record $619.5M from donors in 2020; Ford Foundation, the top donor, has given $271M since 2009 — UK journalism has been supported by at least £77m* of philanthropic funding since 2019, Press Gazette research has found …
Discussion:
@pressgazette and @pressgazette
Axios:
In H1 2022, US cable news viewership fell 19% YoY, news app sessions for the top 12 publishers fell 16% YoY, and visits to the top five news sites fell 18% YoY — Engagement with news content has plunged during the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2021 and in some cases has fallen below pre-pandemic levels.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
A US appeals court struck down an FCC rule forcing broadcasters to verify sponsors' identities, imposed over concerns that foreigners buy time to air propaganda — A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday struck down a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirement that broadcasters check federal sources to verify sponsors' identities.
Discussion:
@annalecta, @reuterslegal and Radio & Television …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Google says YouTube TV has 5M+ subscribers, including free trial users, making it the US' biggest internet pay TV provider and fifth-largest TV distributor — Google says YouTube TV has surpassed 5 million accounts — making it the U.S.'s biggest internet-based pay TV service.
Discussion:
MediaPost, YouTube Official Blog, Deadline, @film_girl, Digiday, nScreenMedia, @susanwojcicki, @nealmohan, The Streamable and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
The BBC reports a 5.9% median gender pay gap in 2021-2022, up from 5.2% YoY, a 1.6% BAME pay gap, up from ~0%, and 5.9% for people with disabilities, up from 4% — Forty BBC on-air journalists made more than £150,000 last year, according to the corporation's 2022 annual report.
Discussion:
@pressgazette, @blackamazon and @pressgazette
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