Mediagazer: BritBox International reports 3M subscribers across the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, up from 2.6M in March 2022 (Manori Ravindran/Variety)

12:25 PM ET, February 22, 2023

Top News:

UK magazine publisher Future appoints Jon Steinberg as CEO, replacing Zillah Byng-Thorne starting on April 3; Steinberg was a BuzzFeed and Mail Online executive — Steinberg takes over from Zillah Byng-Thorne at the start of April. — Jon Steinberg will be the next chief executive (CEO) …

Discussion: Next TV, Variety, Financial Times, Talking Biz News, @oliverdarcy, @dangrabham, Dow Jones Newswires, Sharecast and Bloomberg

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

Dozens of New York Times staff object to the NewsGuild of New York head's letter affirming the right to criticize the newspaper, amid a feud over trans coverage — Some of the paper's top reporters signed a letter objecting to the Guild's response to newsroom leaders.

Discussion: @wesleylowery, Fox News, The Guardian, @joenbc, @jackmirkinson, @charlottetklein, @nickfoxnyt, @tomscocca, National Review, @jayrosen_nyu, @andreagrimes, @espiers, @jessesingal, @ashtonpittman, @jamessurowiecki, @jessesingal, @wesleylowery, @shaneferro, @zaidjilani, @wesleylowery, @jessesingal, @espiers, @rottenindenmark, @shaneferro, @sullydish, @neontaster, @conor64, @wesleylowery, @resnikoff, @wesleylowery, @espiers, @jessesingal, @kcjohnson9, @shaneferro, @wesleylowery, @jackmirkinson, @wickdchiq, @ericmgarcia, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @rev_avocado, @jessesingal, @zaidjilani, @neontaster, @angela_denker, @bfishbfish, @jessesingal, @ewerickson, @kgroetz, @kcjohnson9, @adamjohnsonnyc, @kcjohnson9, @resnikoff, @ewrigleyfield, @stefsaul, @shaneferro, @badlin, @jessesingal, @bigblackjacobin, @mobute, @markharrisnyc, @samyoungman, @nandelabra, @scottnover, @austinahlman, @jakebackpack, @cascamike, @johnfrost, @karlbode, @jackmirkinson, @julcarm, @athertonkd, @joesudbay, @froomkin, @sesmith, @adamj_griff, @scottnover, @abrahamjoseph, @andreagrimes, @flglmn, @joeyneverjoe, @theseantcollins, @dcwoodruff, @ashleyfeinberg, @halophoenix, @lainnafader, @jerryiannelli, The Column, USA Today, The Bristlecone, @joshsternberg@mstdn.social, Common Dreams, @thomaswilburn@toot.cafe, @mergerson@journa.host and @froomkin@journa.host

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR plans to lay off ~10% of its workforce, or at least 100 people, and eliminate most vacant positions, citing reduced ad revenue, particularly for podcasts — HEADLINE: NPR says it's cutting jobs by 10% as ad revenue drops — NPR's chief executive announced the network would lay off roughly 10% …

Discussion: @davidfolkenflik

Bloomberg:

Sources: Viacom18, which bought Indian Premier League cricket streaming rights for $2.7B in 2022, plans to stream the games for free with ads — Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's conglomerate will stream Indian Premier League cricket games for free, according to people familiar with the matter …

Discussion: The Streamable, @lucas_shaw and The Indian Express

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Stockholm-based streaming service Viaplay launches in the US for $5.99 per month; Viaplay reported more than 7.3M subscribers at the end of 2022 — The service promises thousands of hours for $5.99 per month, including the exclusive U.S. premieres of such Nordic hit series as ‘Trom,’ ‘Furia,’ ‘Threesome’ and ‘Exit.’

Discussion: The Streamable, Deadline and Media Play News

David Marchese / New York Times:

Q&A with YouTube star Emma Chamberlain about shifting her focus to podcasting, her Spotify deal, the pressures of being a YouTube creator, and what's next — At only 21, Emma Chamberlain is already a veteran of YouTube fame. Starting at 16, Chamberlain began making and sharing videos …

Discussion: @liahaberman, @emmaaccess, Inside Radio, @tanyachen, @lucas_shaw and The Information

Manori Ravindran / Variety:

BritBox International reports 3M subscribers across the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, up from 2.6M in March 2022 — BritBox International has reached three million subscribers across its eight international markets, Variety can reveal.

Discussion: Media Play News and Cord Cutters News

Bloomberg:

Turkey's telecom watchdog BTK blocks Eksi Sozluk, one of the country's biggest social media websites, and fines three TV channels over their earthquake coverage — Turkey's media watchdog fined three TV channels over their coverage of this month's earthquakes, the latest move by the state …

more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Ahead of its Stream On event, Spotify launches an AI-powered feature called DJ, offering curated music and spoken commentary in a “stunningly realistic voice” — Ahead of Spotify's upcoming Stream On event, where the company is expected to announce a redesigned home feed and other updates …

Discussion: CNET, Music Ally, Music Business Worldwide, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Engadget, @richontech and Spotify, more at Techmeme »

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Two years after announcing its HiFi lossless music service, Spotify has yet to launch the new tier, offering no new information and falling behind rivals

Discussion: @chriswelch, more at Techmeme »

Knight Foundation:

Knight Foundation invests $5M in the nonprofit Signal Akron, set to become part of Signal Ohio, which recently launched its first newsroom in Cleveland — The $5 million investment, along with support from American Journalism Project and Akron's philanthropic community, will improve local news in this Knight city

Discussion: @jimbrady and @knightfdn

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:

ABC data: digital circulation of consumer magazines globally grew 22% YoY in 2022, with BBC Science Focus up 131%; print circulation globally fell 14% to 20.9M — ABC consumer magazine data shows growth in digital circulation in 2022. — Digital consumer magazines saw a circulation increase …

Discussion: @joshglancy, @wturvill, @pressgazette and Press Gazette

Big Local News:

Big Local News and the Data Liberation Project build a pipeline for a dataset of the latest records from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service — The Big Local News site now offers an enriched dataset covering tens of thousands of animal-care inspections across America.

Discussion: @palewire, @palewire and @palewire

Greg Bensinger / Reuters:

Over 200 e-books in Amazon's Kindle Store listed ChatGPT as an author as of mid-February 2023, as some worry that generative AI could commoditize book writing — Until recently, Brett Schickler never imagined he could be a published author, though he had dreamed about it.

Discussion: Insider, Ars Technica, Engadget, @thelincoln, Fortune, @pkedrosky, @frankcatalano, @faizsays, MediaNama, Music Ally, @stephennellis, @kenbensinger, TechCrunch and @michellemanafy@journa.host

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:25 PM ET, February 22, 2023.

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Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, London — FT

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More News:

Andrew Chung / Reuters:
SCOTUS declines to hear Wikimedia's challenge of the NSA's warrantless Upstream surveillance of foreign targets, leaving in place a lower court's 2015 dismissal

Discussion: @aclu, @aclu, @michaelguimarin, @aclu, @aclu, Knight First Amendment …, @ashgorski, Common Dreams and @michellemanafy@journa.host, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
News Corp says the company is no longer in discussions to sell its real estate unit Move, which operates Realtor.com, to CoStar Group, which owns Apartments.com

Discussion: Axios, News Corp, Financial Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and The Wrap

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Google rolls out a redesigned YouTube Music radio station feature, letting users pick up to 30 artists, apply mood filters, and tune parameters after creation

Discussion: The Verge, The Indian Express, Music Ally, Neowin, 9to5Google and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Eduardo Suárez / Reuters Institute:
An interview with Nick Waters, a journalist on the Bellingcat team that collects, verifies, and archives social media evidence of war crimes in Ukraine

Discussion: @eliothiggins, @mariaramirezny, @rasmus_kleis and @mariaramirezny

James Hercher / AdExchanger:
Walmart's ad revenue grew nearly 30% YoY to $2.7B in 2022, led by Walmart Connect in the US and Flipkart Ads, and over 20% YoY in Q4 2022

Discussion: Marketing Dive

Earlier Picks:

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
BT Sport and Eurosport plan to rebrand as TNT Sports in July 2023 in the UK since their partner Warner Bros. Discovery already uses the brand in other markets

Discussion: The Streamable, Broadband TV News, Variety and Deadline

The New York Times Company:
A.O. Scott, The New York Times' co-chief film critic, is moving to the outlet's Book Review to write about “literature, ideas, and intellectual life”

Discussion: @markharrisnyc, @brian_tallerico, @lauriemuchnick, @sgoood, @joshrothkopf, @electriclit, @magiciansbook, @sarahw, @taffyakner, @samuelaadams, @gilbertcruz, @selfstyledsiren, @tinajordannyt and The Hollywood Reporter

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Source and memo: Max Cutler, Spotify's head of audio talk shows and partnerships who oversaw deals with creators like Joe Rogan, is leaving to start a company

Discussion: The Verge, @ashleyrcarman, @jedigoodman, Podnews, @lucas_shaw, The Hollywood Reporter, The Information, Variety and RAIN News

Mike Petro / Buffalo News:
The Buffalo News plans to close its downtown production facility later in 2023 and move print operations to Cleveland, affecting ~160 jobs across eight unions

Discussion: American Press Institute, @kckansascity, MediaPost, @buffaloscribe, @gregvorse, @thebillsguys and Investigative Post

Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
SCOTUS rejects Anthony Novak's appeal that claimed Ohio police violated his constitutional rights by arresting him for his satirical Facebook posts about them

Discussion: @varadmehta, @lawrencehurley, @copcrisis, @amsolidarity, @lawrencehurley, New York Daily News, Insider, Bloomberg and Fox News

From Techmeme:

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders that were set for April 9 due to concerns about Trump's tariffs but the June 5 launch date remains unchanged

TechCrunch:
SensorTower: users in India have spent $8M on ChatGPT subscriptions through IAP since 2023, not including web app purchases, versus ~$330M spent by US users

Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Microsoft Copilot adds support for memory, personalization, web-based actions, podcast creation, camera and screen analysis, deep research, and more

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