Mediagazer: Two years after announcing a HiFi lossless, CD-quality music service, Spotify has yet to launch the tier, offering no new information and falling behind rivals (Chris Welch/The Verge)

4:35 PM ET, February 22, 2023

Top News:

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR plans to lay off ~10% of its workforce, or at least 100 people, and eliminate most vacant positions, citing lower ad revenue, particularly for its 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% …

Michael Schneider / Variety:

A profile of Casey Bloys, the CEO of content for HBO and HBO Max, as he oversees the programming on the service combining HBO Max and Discovery+ this spring — Casey Bloys was about four years into his tenure as a programming executive at HBO when he was driven to champion a project that was disliked by others at the network.

Discussion: Screen Rant, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, @edmundlee, IndieWire, The Playlist, @variety_cynthia, TVLine, @variety, @theinsneider, @lucas_shaw and @variety

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify launches DJ, an AI-powered radio DJ feature that offers curated music and commentary about the tracks and artists 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 …

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

Discussion: @chriswelch, more at Techmeme »

Jessica E. Lessin / The Information:

The Information launches Pro, a subscription tier with expanded org charts, databases based on staff reporting, surveys, and a specialized weekly newsletter — I am delighted to share the launch of The Information Pro—a new tier of subscription that features our expanded org charts …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @boygenius, @jessicalessin and Axios

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

A look at Substack-hosted entertainment business publication Ankler Media, which claims profitability, with ~50% of revenue from subscriptions and ~50% from ads — Rushfield's sharp-tongued missives have earned him a bold-faced subscriber list. ("I read it the second I see it pop up," says Richard Plepler.)

Discussion: @joepompeo, Talking Biz News, @bmorrissey, @felixgillette, @janicemin, @theinsneider, @joepompeo, @josephkapsch, @mlcalderone and @richardrushfield

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

UK magazine publisher Future names Jon Steinberg as CEO, replacing Zillah Byng-Thorne starting on April 3; Steinberg was a BuzzFeed and a 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: Financial Times, Next TV, Variety, @dangrabham, @oliverdarcy, Dow Jones Newswires, Sharecast, Talking Biz News and Bloomberg

James Greig / Dazed:

How “TikTok detectives” drove speculation and spread conspiracy theories after UK woman Nicola Bulley disappeared, showing the dark side of the true crime genre — The flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories which arose in response to Nicola Bulley's disappearance shows …

Discussion: @thobbsjourno, @jamesdgreig, The Week and New Statesman

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

WARC projects global ad revenue for publishers will fall 7.7% in 2023 to $47.2B; Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta will take nearly $400B of the global $993B ad market — Amazon, Alphabet and Meta are estimated to take $4 in every $10 spent in the global ad market.

Bill Grueskin / Columbia Journalism Review:

Dominion's filing details Fox News' post-election dysfunction and the channel's troubles for the 2024 election, particularly if Donald Trump wins the nomination — b — By most appearances, Fox News is a well-managed, tightly run outfit. It's America's most popular cable news channel …

Discussion: @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, San Antonio Express-News, @ddiamond, New York Daily News, Fox News and The Hill

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:

ABC: in 2022, global circulation of digital consumer magazines grew 22% YoY, with BBC Science Focus up 131%, and global print circulation fell 14% YoY 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

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 …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, @diegocupolo and @middleeast, more at Techmeme »

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: The Streamable, Media Play News and Cord Cutters News

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:35 PM ET, February 22, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior Editor, DC — National Geographic

Sr. Social Media Specialist, NC — espnW

Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — Firecrown

Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Content Managing Editor — Freedom Forum

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Associate Editor, Remote — Tech Policy Press

Retail Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Data Editor, DC — U.S. News

Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — Spotlight PA

News Editor - UK, Remote — The Verge

Staff Writer, TX — Dallas Observer

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Service Journalism Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Content Director, Remote — Campaigns & Elections

Sports Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Los Angeles Issues Reporter, CA — CalMatters

Reporter - Middle East — Rest of World

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Lexington County Reporter, SC — The State

Reporter - Offshore Wind — Canary Media

General Assignment Reporter, FL — County Record

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Artifact, the personalized news reader created by Instagram's co-founders, opens to the public for Android and iOS, with new features and no sign-up required

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget and @nicholasadeleon, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Stockholm-based video streaming service Viaplay launches in the US, promising thousands of hours for $5.99 per month; Viaplay ended 2022 with 7.3M+ subscribers

Discussion: The Streamable, Deadline, Broadband TV News and Media Play News

Knight Foundation:
The Knight Foundation invests $5M in the nonprofit Signal Akron, set to become part of Signal Ohio, which opened its first Cleveland newsroom in November 2022

Discussion: @jimbrady and @knightfdn

Bloomberg:
Sources: Viacom18, which beat Disney and Sony to Indian Premier League cricket streaming rights for $2.7B in 2022, plans to stream the matches for free with ads

Discussion: The Streamable, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and The Indian Express

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

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

Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: The Markup, @palewire, @palewire and @palewire

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: Reclaim The Net, Ars Technica, @michaelguimarin, @aclu, @aclu, @aclu, @aclu, @ashgorski, Knight First Amendment …, 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: News Corp, Financial Times, Axios, Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and The Wrap

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

Discussion: @wesleylowery, Mediaite, @joenbc, @jackmirkinson, @charlottetklein, New York Post, @nickfoxnyt, @tomscocca, Fox News, The Present Age, Press Watch, @fsp_nwu, @stefsaul, The Guardian, @ashtonpittman, @wickdchiq, @rev_avocado, @neontaster, National Review, @jackmirkinson, @jessesingal, @ewerickson, @rottenindenmark, @adamjohnsonnyc, @shaneferro, @shaneferro, @shaneferro, @shaneferro, @andreagrimes, @jessesingal, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @jessesingal, @espiers, @espiers, @espiers, @jessesingal, @jessesingal, @jessesingal, @jessesingal, @resnikoff, @resnikoff, @ewrigleyfield, @ericmgarcia, @jamessurowiecki, @andreagrimes, @conor64, @kgroetz, @sullydish, @neontaster, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @wesleylowery, @kcjohnson9, @zaidjilani, @kcjohnson9, @angela_denker, @kcjohnson9, @zaidjilani, @bfishbfish, @jayrosen_nyu, @wesleylowery, @badlin, @bigblackjacobin, @mobute, @markharrisnyc, @samyoungman, @nandelabra, @scottnover, @austinahlman, @jakebackpack, @cascamike, @johnfrost, @karlbode, @jackmirkinson, @julcarm, @athertonkd, @joesudbay, @froomkin, @sesmith, @adamj_griff, @scottnover, @abrahamjoseph, @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

From Techmeme:

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Okta fixes a flaw present since July 23, 2024 that, under specific conditions, let users log in with any password if the account's username had 52+ characters

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Popular photo editing company Pixelmator says it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, pending regulatory approval

Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Intel scraps forecast of selling $500M+ worth of Gaudi AI accelerator chips in 2024, with CEO Pat Gelsinger citing chip transition and slower uptake to software

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page