Top News:
CNN:
The White House says Biden's pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox is still off, after Fox said its streaming service Fox Soul would interview him, in an about-face — Hours after the White House said Fox had called off its pre-Super Bowl interview with President Joe Biden, the network said the president was still welcome.
Discussion:
@presssec, Variety, @justinbaragona, @goangelo, NewsNation, @oliverdarcy, @tommyxtopher, @anniekarni, @oliverdarcy, The Daily Beast, @zigmanfreud, @megynkelly, @grynbaum, The Week, The Comeback, TVNewsCheck, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Newser, @variety, TVNewser, @reploudermilk, The Hill, New York Times, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @jeremymbarr, @vincecoglianese, @nycsouthpaw, @tommyxtopher, @isaiah_bb, @claytravis, @tommyxtopher, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @geoffpilkington, @blanchardjrb, Washington Post, Next TV, @ltthompso, @pettylupone, @rossalincoln, @variety, Deadline, Politico, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, SheKnows, TVLine, The Hill, New York Daily News, IndieWire, Mediaite, Bloomberg, New York Post, Insider, The Wrap, Awful Announcing and CNN
Charlotte Van Campenhout / Reuters:
An advertising joint venture by Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone to rival Meta and Google wins unconditional EU antitrust approval — Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Orange (ORAN.PA), Telefonica (TEF.MC) and Vodafone (VOD.L) on Friday secured unconditional EU antitrust approval …
Discussion:
@astaniscia86, European Commission, @robertjbateman, @wolfiechristl, Newsroom Orange Groupe and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
Max Tani / Semafor:
A look back at Spotify betting hundreds of millions of dollars on podcasts, which CFO Paul Vogel says were a “big drag on our business in 2022” — By 2021, Spotify had paid to sign some of the biggest names in podcasting, and it was ready to start squeezing its competitors.
Discussion:
@tomgara, @jbillinson, @semafor and Music Business Worldwide
Kat Tenbarge / NBC News:
Sex educators, adult stars, and sex workers complain about Instagram, saying Meta's moderation has gotten more punitive and less predictable since SESTA-FOSTA — Cherie DeVille lives in perpetual fear of losing her 3.7 million Instagram followers. — DeVille is a well-known porn star who also has an OnlyFans account.
Discussion:
@ambermac
Faisal Kalim / What's New in Publishing:
FIPP Q4 2022 report covering 140 titles with a combined 42.1M subscribers: despite inflation and recession fears, global digital news subscribers kept growing — “Publishers will continue to see growth in 2023 despite economic headwinds.” … Although “the combination of a looming recession …
Discussion:
@kenherts and Media Voices
The Guardian:
UK DCMS Committee report: BBC chairman Richard Sharp made “significant errors of judgment” by not publicly divulging that he facilitated a Boris Johnson loan — The chair's future at the corporation is in doubt after a damning Commons report on his role in the Boris Johnson loan affair
Discussion:
@patrickarobey, @ian_fraser, @richardjmurphy, @dawnwestgate, Deadline, The Independent, Sky News, The Independent, HuffPost UK, BBC, Variety, Bloomberg, Byline Times and The Hollywood Reporter
Clare Duffy / CNN:
Pathmatics estimates the monthly revenue from Twitter's top 1,000 advertisers fell 60%+ from around $127M in October 2022 to just over $48M by January 25, 2023 — New York CNN — — More than half of Twitter's top 1,000 advertisers in September were no longer spending on the platform …
Discussion:
@charles_gaba, @pnewman51, @pnewman51, @scottjshapiro, @bungdan, @jfgariepy, @helenkennedy, @grady_booch, @astaniscia86, Insider and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Meta's ad targeting restrictions and Amazon's ad product investments are leading brands to shift their budgets to Amazon; Amazon's ad unit grew 19% YoY in Q4 — - Facebook's more limited targeted capabilities coupled with Amazon's investment in ads products is leading a growing number of brands to shift their ad budgets.
Discussion:
@lorakolodny, @glenngabe, @carnage4life and @kjgillenwater, more at Techmeme »
John Herrman / New York Magazine:
How Rumble, which claims to have 71M MAUs, became the only success story in right-wing social media by letting creators who are banned elsewhere monetize video — For a moment, the right's longtime dream of an alternative social media seemed within reach. Various companies had been trying …
Discussion:
@ben_kew and @ggreenwald, more at Techmeme »
Louise Matsakis / Semafor:
Sources: TikTok's Internal Audit team that spied on journalists had wide investigative powers with little oversight; ByteDance says it's restructuring the team — TikTok's hyper-aggressive internal security team drew a wave of complaints from employees before its conduct exploded …
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, Bloomberg, New Statesman, @jason_koebler, @dlberes, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, @semafor, @semafor, @reedalbergotti and Tubefilter, more at Techmeme »
Alex Williams / New York Times:
Marianne Mantell, who co-founded Caedmon, a groundbreaking label that issued recordings of writers reading their words, the precursors to audiobooks, dies at 93 — In her early 20s she co-founded the groundbreaking spoken-word record label Caedmon, which had a hit with Dylan Thomas's “A Child's Christmas in Wales.”
Discussion:
@robertslawrence, @notjessewalker, @susannahfox, @edoballerini, @libraryamerica and @penamerica
Pluralistic:
Creators tend to see copyright as a strong defense, including against generative AI, but it won't protect them from odious contracts imposed by monopolists — The media spectacle of generative AI (in which AI companies' breathless claims of their software's sorcerous powers are endlessly repeated) …
Discussion:
@doctorow, @anniezaidi and @jbaert
Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — 
Politics Reporter, TX — 
Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — 
Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — 
Product Editor, CA — 
Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — 
China Autos Correspondent, Beijing — 
Bangor Reporter, ME — 
Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — 
Sports Editor, MI — 
Managing Editor, Remote US — 
Lex Writer, London — 
Stock Picks Writer, NY — 
Weekend Editor, CA — 
Part-Time Reporter, AZ — 
Political Correspondent, NV — 
Sr. Reporter, Singapore — 
Evening Dep. Breaking News Ed., CA — 
Commercial Real Estate Reporter, NY — 
Copy Editor - Miami HQ, FL — 
Senior Science & Health Writer, NY — 
Data Journalist, MN — 
Tech Correspondent, CA — 
City Government Reporter, OR — 
Healthcare Business Reporter, MA — 
Senior Consumer Tech Reporter, NY — 
Washington Correspondent, DC — 
Editorial Director - Audio & Video, NY — 
Local Editor - Morris County, Remote NJ — 
Deputy Managing Editor, IA — 
Senior Editor - NBA, Remote US — 
Immigration Reporter, CA — 
Breaking News Editor - Weekend, HK — 
Reporter - National, Remote NY — 
