Mediagazer: Interviews with more than 24 people involved in the AT&T/Time Warner merger, including Jeff Bewkes and Randall Stephenson, detail how it went disastrously awry (James B. Stewart/New York Times)

10:00 PM ET, November 20, 2022

Top News:

Twitter reinstates Trump's account, after Elon Musk ran a Twitter poll where 51.8% of 15M+ users voted yes to reinstatement, saying “the people have spoken” — Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor …

Discussion: @elonmusk, @elonmusk, New York Times, CNET, Semafor, @aoc, @davidsacks, Euphoric Recall, Slate, The James Macpherson Report, Bloomberg, @markos, Mediaite, @maryltrump, @mcuban, Financial Times, @reuterstech, Al Jazeera, TechCrunch, @micaheadowcroft, National Review, Digital Journal, The Week, @bgrueskin, @adamkinzinger, @hankgreen, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, @shelbytalcott, @bajarin, @dangillmor, Insider, @sivavaid, ScreenRant, @penamerica, @scclemons, @mcuban, @reuters, Forbes, @brianklaas, Reclaim The Net, @mediaite, Vanity Fair, @repjimmygomez, @nandoodles, @ibishblog, @karaswisher, New York Post, @brianstelter, @amanbatheja, Fortune, @nouriel, @frankfigliuzzi1, @leogarnier, @realsaavedra, al.com, KRDO, Fox News, The Information, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, TMZ.com, Insider, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, ABC7, Variety, NPR, Mediaite, The Verge, Axios, The Hill, The Daily Beast, The Shortcut, New York Daily News, The Daily Wire, Deadline, SheKnows, CBS News and Oleg Dulin, more at Techmeme »

Elon Musk / @elonmusk:

[Thread] Elon Musk says “new Twitter policy” will deboost and demonetize “negative/hate tweets”, reinstates Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and Babylon Bee — New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won't find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.

James B. Stewart / New York Times:

Interviews with more than 24 people involved in the AT&T/Time Warner merger, including Jeff Bewkes and Randall Stephenson, detail how it went disastrously awry — At Time Warner, executives saw AT&T as just a “big phone company from Texas.” At AT&T, they thought Hollywood would play by their rules.

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

Robin Wheeler, Twitter's head of ad sales, seems to have left the company, a week after Elon Musk reportedly convinced her to stay; sources say she was fired — Robin Wheeler, Twitter's head of ad sales, seems to have left the company yet again, just over a week after Elon Musk reportedly had to convince her not to resign.

Discussion: @robinw, @karaswisher, Bloomberg, @caseynewton, @jeffjarvis, Ad Age, @oneunderscore__, @russ1mitchell, @rothschildmd, @goldengateblond, @walkerbragman, @zoeschiffer, @jared_wade, @pkafka, @pkafka, @kyurieff, @reckless, @scottmonty, @danprimack and Insider

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

A list of things journalism loses if Twitter goes away: real-time feedback on stories, news outlets being publicly called out, DMs as a reporting tool, and more — Goodbye to screenshotted best bits, DMs, “that tweet should be a story”... “If Twitter goes away my job would actually be really different,” I told my husband this week.

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:

The ordeal of an University of Arizona student journalist highlights the growing threat of online harassment to young journalists, driving some of them out — Young reporters are forced to contend with waves of abuse and harassment, driving some out of the industry before they even get started.

Discussion: @smaclellan, @sivavaid, @jhengstler, @malbertnews, @privacydigest, @ijbailey, @carolafrediani, @jeffjarvis, @tom_mallory and @lutzfernandez

Reuters:

Sources: Simon & Schuster owner Paramount Global declines to join Penguin Random House in appealing the ruling blocking their merger; deal will likely collapse — Book-publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster's owner will let its $2.2 billion sale to Penguin Random House collapse on Monday …

Discussion: New York Times

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Walt Disney Company's board announces that Bob Chapek will step down as CEO, and Bob Iger will return to take his place, effective immediately — Disney's board of directors announced the move Sunday evening.

Discussion: Deadline, Variety and Puck

Associated Press:

The White House issues a non-binding request that Mohammed bin Salman should be immune from a lawsuit over Jamal Khashoggi's killing; a judge must now decide — The Biden administration declared Thursday that Saudi Arabia's crown prince should be considered immune from a lawsuit over his role …

Paul Tassi / Forbes:

Twitter's automated copyright strike system appears to be broken, as users upload full movies; some accounts with viral tweets were later suspended — While Twitter, the website, remains online and has not simply collapsed after the vast majority of workers were fired or resigned under Elon Musk …

Discussion: @briannawu, @lanceulanoff, @tomwarren, The Verge, @bdsams and TheGamer, more at Techmeme »

Freddie deBoer:

Twitter is probably not going anywhere, and writers bemoaning its demise are overestimating the importance it has to their work and careers — and Twitter is probably not going anywhere — So: I don't think Twitter is going anywhere, and I don't think the vast majority of Twitter users are going anywhere.

Discussion: @dsilverman and The Atlantic

American Press Institute:

Media Insight Project examines what topics Americans between 16 and 40 look for when seeking “hard news” and “news you can use” and which platforms they use — - Gen Z and Millennials follow a variety of “hard news” and “news you can use” topics.

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More News:

Laura Pellicer / WUNC:
Over 70% of Charlotte's WFAE content staffers sign a petition to unionize via SAG-AFTRA; it could be the first public radio station in the Carolinas to unionize

Discussion: @lauraplive, @lauraplive, @matthewkeyslive, @lauraplive, @matt_rasnic, @wunc, The Charlotte Observer, Radio Ink, WFAE 90.7, Inside Radio and Current

Gabby Miller / Columbia Journalism Review:
Parliamentary hearings for Canada's Online News Act restarted on Friday, where the committee was expected to begin clause-by-clause consideration

Discussion: @__gabbymiller, NewsLab, @chris_bittle, @paulvieira, @mgeist, @mediamorphis and @emilybell

Charles Pulliam-Moore / The Verge:
Former DC Films President Walter Hamada joins Paramount Pictures to oversee the studio's upcoming horror projects, after leaving Warner Bros. in October 2022

@insiderunion:
Insider's union says members will not be disciplined for “failure to meet arbitrary metric goals” as of December 1, due to bargaining amid a newsroom reorg

Discussion: @harrisj, @bwdbwdbwd, @bwdbwdbwd, @bethanybiron, @dubsrewatcher, @tanyachen, @julianamkaplan, @ungarino, @tekendraparmar, @esmemazzeo, @mattdpearce, @sndrsndh and @ben__tobin

Josh Rubin / Toronto Star:
The two owners of Torstar, the Toronto Star's parent company, say they expect to resolve their ownership dispute soon as they aim to split up their partnership

Discussion: @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday, @queensparktoday and @njaved

Andy Maxwell / TorrentFreak:
A Tokyo court orders two people who transformed full-length movies into 10-minute YouTube summaries to pay roughly $3.56M in a copyright suit by media companies

Discussion: Variety

Earlier Picks:

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
A look at state-owned Qatar Airways' role as a major sponsor of the World Cup on Fox Sports, and how that sponsorship likely influences coverage

Media Matters for America:
Fox News decreased crime coverage 63% in the week of the midterms compared to the week prior and 50% compared to the average between Labor Day and November 4

Discussion: @jhermann, @ssurovell, @jswatz, @mattgertz, @mehdirhasan, @adamserwer, @gtconway3d and The Wrap

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Daily Wire says it has 1M+ paid subscribers to its streamer DailyWire+ and 100K subscriptions to its razor brand, and projects $200M in 2022 revenue

Discussion: @sarafischer, The Daily Wire and Mediaite

Eberechukwu Etike / Technext:
Google launches the Google News Equity Fund to increase inclusiveness and diversity in media, with money going to 450 news organizations in 52 countries

Discussion: @kcbeacon, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP and The Current

Elizabeth Wagmeister / Variety:
She Said, a movie about Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor's investigation into Harvey Weinstein, is coming out today; survivors consulted and act in the film

Discussion: The Guardian, Simon's Newsletter, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @variety, The Wrap, ScreenRant, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Los Angeles Times, Slate, New York Times, National Review, CBS News and Rolling Stone

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Drake and 21 Savage agree to a preliminary injunction against resuming their marketing campaign that used a fake Vogue magazine cover

Discussion: Digital Music News, Complete Music Update and Billboard

From Techmeme:

Alphabet:
Alphabet reports Q1 revenue up 12% YoY to $90.2B, net income up 46% to $34.54B, Services revenue up 10% to $77.3B, and Other Bets revenue down 9% to $450M

Reuters:
Intel reports Q1 revenue flat YoY at $12.67B, vs. $12.3B est., forecasts Q2 revenue below est., and reduces its 2025 capex target; INTC drops 5%+ after hours

Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
US v. Google: a Yahoo executive estimates that a bid for Chrome would cost tens of billions of dollars, and says Yahoo “would be able to pursue it with Apollo”

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