Mediagazer: The Colorado Sun, a five-year-old for-profit digital news organization launched by former Denver Post journalists after layoffs, moves toward a nonprofit model (Dan Kennedy/Nieman Lab)

4:10 PM ET, September 13, 2023

Top News:

Gannett is hiring a full-time Taylor Swift Reporter to cover Swift's fanbase and her effect on pop culture as she embarks on the next stage of her Eras Tour — The chance to report on Taylor Swift full-time just debuted. — Millions of Americans encounter the immovable force that is Taylor Swift …

Taylor Lorenz / Rolling Stone:

Extremely Online book excerpt: how Julia Allison invented the concept of a content creator in the mid-2000s, for which journalists and others villainized her — In her book ‘Extremely Online,’ journalist Taylor Lorenz details how Julia Allison invented the concept of being a content creator a decade before it caught on

Discussion: @choire, @jbursz, @taylorlorenz, @lingerie_addict, @taylorlorenz, @jeffjarvis, @alexweprin, @taylorlorenz and @kattenbarge

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Source: The White House plans to send a letter to US news executives, including CNN and The NYT, urging them to “ramp up” their scrutiny of House Republicans — The White House sent a letter to top US news executives on Wednesday, urging them to intensify their scrutiny …

Discussion: Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Reclaim The Net, The Wrap, New York Post, The Messenger, National Review, @matthewkeyslive, @JoshuaHolland@mastodon.social, The Hill, @ben@werd.social, Politico and Breitbart

Tim Starks / Washington Post:

Researchers: the iPhone of Meduza owner Galina Timchenko was infected with Pegasus in Germany, the first known case of the tool being used against a Russian — Unclear is who planted the spyware while the founder of the Meduza news outlet was in Germany — The iPhone of a prominent Russian …

Discussion: Meduza.io, The Guardian, Committee to Protect …, @jennifer@defcon.social, @rondeibert, @rondeibert, @rondeibert, The Citizen Lab, @timstarks, @lilia_yapparova, @citizenlab, @criticalvas and @kimzetter, more at Techmeme »

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour reflects on her career, including how seeing genocide led her to adopt her motto: “be truthful, not neutral” — Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter.

Discussion: @espiers, @gregobr, @espiers, @rbsimon, @espiers, @jayrosen_nyu and Mediaite

Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:

Poland's government plans to create a state streaming service to let citizens watch the national sports teams' matches and films produced with public funds — Poland's government has outlined plans to create a state streaming service - which media have dubbed a “national Netflix” …

Sean Michael Kerner / VentureBeat:

Stability AI announces its text-to-audio tool Stable Audio, which can generate 20, 45-second tracks per month for free or 500, 90-second tracks for $12/month — What comes after building generative AI technology for image and code generation? For Stability AI, it's text-to-audio generation.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Verge, Music Ally, Billboard and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »

Stephanie Kaloi / The Wrap:

Southern California Public Radio CEO Herb Scannell says he'll retire, three months after 12% of LAist staffers were laid off amid news of big salaries for execs — The announcement comes three months after 12% of LAist staffers were let go in heavily criticized layoffs

Discussion: Inside Radio, Current, Los Angeles Times, LAist, RadioInsight and Variety

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:

Former FaZe Clan staff describe a mismanaged creator organization, as its market cap falls from $725M at its 2022 SPAC merger to below $15M; FaZe fired its CEO — The board fired CEO Lee Trink following a steep decline in the shares — Three months after its July 2022 debut on the Nasdaq …

Discussion: @bradstone, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and @lucas_shaw, more at Techmeme »

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Daily Mail product director Simon Regan-Edwards says the paper has about “160,000 subs, with 90,000 digital” and Mail+ has become a “substantial” revenue stream — Executives from two of the UK's biggest newsbrands share lessons from their digital products.

Isaac Schorr / Mediaite:

Bio: Elon Musk told Bari Weiss that Twitter needs to be careful when discussing China due to Tesla's business, and that China's Uyghur repression has two sides — A passage in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk sheds new light on the billionaire's willingness to placate the genocidal Chinese regime.

Discussion: @lauren@mastodon …, @mlfromdeep, @dianamonnette, @johnny_utah13, @johncusack, @jmood88, @fpwellman, @lolgop, @speechboy71, @jamesfourm, @cg_evie, @wallstcynic, @mollyjongfast, @mpolymer, The Daily Beast and @mattgertz, more at Techmeme »

David Pierce / The Verge:

News sharing app Artifact adds Links, a section where users can post any type of link and discover links through a Following page or an algorithmic For You page — Artifact, the algorithmic news-reading app started by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, was never really meant to just be a news-reading app.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @kevin, Artifact News, @artifact_news and @imkevinxu, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:10 PM ET, September 13, 2023.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior 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

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

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

Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — Spotlight PA

News Editor - UK, Remote — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Service Journalism Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Content Director, Remote — Campaigns & Elections

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

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More News:

Carolyn Giardina / The Hollywood Reporter:
A group of 50+ Marvel VFX staffers votes unanimously to unionize with the IATSE, in an NLRB-run election; IATSE aims to form a national VFX Local by 2023's end

Discussion: IndieWire, CNN, Los Angeles Times, Screen Rant, TVLine, Variety, The Wrap, IGN, Deadline, Bleeding Cool News, Gizmodo, Rolling Stone, Collider, @iatse and @moreperfectus

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify launches Showcase to let US-based artists with 1,000+ streams in the past 28 days pay to promote their work in the app's revamped Home feed

Discussion: The Verge and Music Ally

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Adobe plans to pay bonuses to stock image service Stock contributors when their photos and illustrations are used to train its Firefly generative AI models

Discussion: Fox Business, CNET, Fast Company, The Messenger, The Verge and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
iSpot.tv acquires 605, the data and analytics company founded by AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan, bringing its total available TV device footprint to 82.7M

Discussion: The Wrap, Next TV, Deadline, AdExchanger, Variety, @johnhcook, Beet.TV, Ad Age and MediaPost

Kerry Flynn / Axios:
VideoAmp, which offers audience and ad measurement tools, raised a $150M Series G from Vista Credit Partners at the same $1.4B valuation as its Series F in 2021

Discussion: @kerrymflynn, more at Techmeme »

Elena Kostyuchenko / The Guardian:
A female Russian journalist, who worked for Novaya Gazeta before its closure and now works for Meduza, describes escaping Russia and being poisoned in Germany

Earlier Picks:

Dan Kennedy / Nieman Lab:
The Colorado Sun, a five-year-old for-profit digital news organization launched by former Denver Post journalists after layoffs, moves toward a nonprofit model

Discussion: @localmediarocks, American Press Institute, @laurahazardowen, @ckrewson and @sarahscire

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
NYC's pension funds sue Fox, accusing the company of neglecting its shareholder duties by opening itself up to defamation lawsuits tied to the 2020 US election

Tim Baysinger / Axios:
Endeavor combines the WWE with UFC to form TKO Group, and plans to keep the two separate in US rights deals but leverage them together for global rights deals

Discussion: Sportico, Barrett Media, @sherman4949, @joepompliano, The Ringer, Variety, Fast Company, Awful Announcing, Fox Business, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, The Messenger, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

New York Times:
Ex-NFL Network reporter Jim Trotter sues the NFL for racial discrimination, alleging his contract wasn't renewed after he called out the NFL's lack of diversity

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Sporting News raised $15M led by Playtech, valuing the outlet in the “eight figures”; TSN was founded as a newspaper in 1886 and became digital-only in 2012

Discussion: MediaPost and Sportico

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Economist plans to introduce Economist Podcasts+, a tier that in mid-October will offer exclusive access to all of the Economist's podcasts for $4.90/month

Discussion: Media Voices, @jackmarshall and Talking Biz News

From Techmeme:

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
The second developer beta of iOS 18.2 shows a “daily limit” for free access to “advanced” ChatGPT via Siri and an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in Settings

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses by conducting an internal study, codenamed Atlas, to gather employee feedback on products on the market

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind hacks in June and July of up to 165 Snowflake customers including AT&T

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