Top News:
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Biden's FCC nominee Gigi Sohn tells the White House she is dropping out after her nomination stalled for 16 months amid industry opposition and personal attacks — Gigi Sohn notified the White House she would drop out after her nomination stalled for 16 months, amid industry opposition
Discussion:
Next TV, Inside Radio, The Desk, Radio & Television …, The Hill, Politico, Engadget, CNN, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, Deadline, @vwpickard, @cruickshank, @berinszoka, @normative, @lindseyboylan, Free Press, Reuters, @brooklynmarie, @karlbode, @publicknowledge, @cat_zakrzewski, @notaaroncraig, @mayawiley, @heritage_action, @seungminkim, CBS News, Fox News, TVNewsCheck and @joshsternberg@mstdn.social, more at Techmeme »
Bailey Schulz / USA Today:
Gannett announces that Kristin Roberts, most recently CCO for McClatchy and formerly Politico's national editor, will join the company on March 27 as CCO — Gannett, the owner of USA TODAY, has appointed former McClatchy newsroom executive Kristin Roberts as chief content officer.
Discussion:
Corporate Profile, Kristin Roberts, Talking Biz News and MediaPost
RELATED:
Axios:
Filing: Gannett had 11,200 employees as of December 31, down from 21,255 after its 2019 merger with GateHouse and just 562 more than in 2018 — A major leadership shakeup at Gannett, along with drastic cost-cutting and strategy shifts, underscores just how much pressure …
Discussion:
@mattdpearce, @shehanjeyarajah, @tednesi, @tvgrimreaper, @mdixon55, @jamesebriggs, @kerrymflynn, @domdifurio, @lerdody, @anthony, @johnbohnenkamp and @gaufre
Christianna Silva / Mashable:
TikTok launches Series, letting select creators sell Collections of up to 80 paywalled videos, each up to 20 minutes; creators initially keep 100% of earnings — Series puts premium content behind a paywall, which means more money for creators. … TikTok is introducing new ways for creators to get paid.
Discussion:
TikTok, The Wrap, CNET, Variety, TechCrunch, ZDNet, The Verge, Tubefilter, Engadget and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Reach CEO says the company published its first three AI-written articles last week and that AI may be reliable enough to take on content based on data and lists — Chief executive says journalists should not fear it means being replaced by machines — The owner of the Daily Mirror …
RELATED:
J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:
An interview with YouTube Global Head of Gaming Leo Olebe on the appeal of YouTube's exclusivity model and the growth of YouTube Gaming, which has 500M+ DAUs — The video giant said it hit more than 120 billion hours of watch time for gaming-related content on the platform in 2022.
Discussion:
Tubefilter
Masha Gessen / New Yorker:
How TV Rain and dozens of other exiled Russian media outlets flocked to Latvia's capital of Riga, only to encounter a distrustful public and strict regulations — Dozens of media outlets have fled to the capital of Latvia, only to encounter a distrustful public and a set of strictly enforced laws and regulations.
Discussion:
Reuters Institute, @newyorker, @ilvestoomas, Columbia Journalism Review, @sevslv and @brianstelter
RELATED:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Former The Week executives launch Heatmap News, a subscription-based climate media outlet, with eight staff and a $4M Series A at an $11.5M post-money valuation — The former executives in charge of The Week magazine are launching a new subscription-based climate media company on Wednesday called Heatmap News, its founders told Axios.
Discussion:
@raju
Benedict Evans:
Analysis: Amazon had $38B in 2022 ad revenue, more than the entire global newspaper industry and likely more than the revenue Prime generated from subscriptions — I first started paying attention to Amazon's ad business a couple of years ago, when a line called ‘other’ in the back of the accounts started to grow really fast.
Discussion:
Substack, @minethatdata, @btsavage, @aparanjape, @vilile, @riolongacre, @benedictevans and Cord Cutters News
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Google plans to retire overlay ads on YouTube videos starting on April 6 to “improve the viewer experience and shift engagement to higher performing ad formats” — YouTube is changing the way some ads are shown on videos very soon with the removal of “Overlay ads” from content starting April 6.
Discussion:
Engadget, Thurrott, Ars Technica, Tubefilter and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
David Pierce / The Verge:
All TV streaming boxes suck in 2023, as the ever-cheaper, ad-supported commodity items fail to improve on smart TVs, most of which are slow and riddled with ads — There are no good streaming boxes, and I blame everybody. — Streaming boxes had so much potential.
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, SPY, @pierce@mas.to, @angelostzelepis, @matthewkeyslive, @despair, @steven_aquino and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Karan Deep Singh / New York Times:
A profile of Meena Kotwal, the founder of The Mooknayak, an online news outlet she started two years ago to cover Dalits and other marginalized groups in India — Meena Kotwal started a news outlet focused on Dalit and other marginalized groups in India, hoping that telling their stories will help improve their lives.
Discussion:
@pjkanojia, American Press Institute, @kotwalmeena, @surajyengde and @profdilipmandal
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Legal experts say the $1.6B Dominion lawsuit puts Fox News in real jeopardy as the amount and weight of evidence surpasses other major, recent defamation cases — Outside legal observers say the Fox News Channel finds itself in real legal jeopardy in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill, Associated Press, @joshmankiewicz, @joanespositochi, @paulcshipley, @deggans, @stengel, @aaronblake, @jackshafer, @oliverdarcy, @joeconason, @wajahatali, @davidsacks, @dbauder, @badfoxgraphics, @kimmasters, @casmudde, @unrealdmgold, @thekenbarnett, @mattgertz, @sharonwaxman, @davidfolkenflik, @davidamoyal, @juliusgoat, Florida Politics, The Wrap, @darnell@one.darnell.one and @GreenFire@climatejustice …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Dominion lawsuit documents show how Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott deals with the Murdochs, Rupert's involvement in editorial, the influence of top hosts, and more
Dominion lawsuit documents show how Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott deals with the Murdochs, Rupert's involvement in editorial, the influence of top hosts, and more
Discussion:
@jbflint, @maynereport, @dicktofel, @noahcrothman, @phil_rosenthal, @jtoonkel, Media Matters for America and Insider