Mediagazer: The US State Department says Russia rejected a “significant” proposal to release The WSJ's Evan Gershkovich; sources say the offer involved trading prisoners (Wall Street Journal)

4:20 AM ET, December 6, 2023

Top News:

The US State Department says Russia rejected a “significant” proposal to release The WSJ's Evan Gershkovich; sources say the offer involved trading prisoners — U.S. seeking to win freedom for Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, State Department spokesman says

Discussion: BBC, Newser, Mediaite, Agence France-Presse, The Hill, Associated Press, Fox News, CBS News, The Desk, CNN, The Messenger, Talking Biz News and Voice of America

Tom Symonds / BBC:

Lawyers for News UK and former UK Cabinet minister Chris Huhne reach a settlement in a phone hacking case that Huhne says includes a “six figure sum” in damages — The publisher of the Sun and the News of the World has agreed a “six figure” settlement to a phone-hacking claim from a former government minister.

Discussion: @peterjukes, @bgrueskin, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik, @uvuume, @peterjukes, The Guardian, Byline Times and Hacked Off

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers pays out “substantial damages” to a group of celebrities and apologizes over unlawful information-gathering practices

Discussion: Reuters, Mediaite and NPR

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

SAG-AFTRA members ratify the union's new contract with Hollywood studios with 78% voting in favor; 74% of members approved the union's contract in 2020 — Approval of new studio agreement with a turnout of 38% concludes a historic year for Hollywood labor — SAG-AFTRA members have ratified …

Drew Richardson / CNBC:

Disney investor Ancora urges other Disney shareholders to put Nelson Peltz on the board and blasts the existing board for “sustained value destruction” — - Activist investor Ancora issued a letter to Disney shareholders urging the company to add Nelson Peltz to its board.

Discussion: Business Wire, Yahoo Finance, @ernie.tedium.co, The Information, The Wrap and Axios

Jordan Moreau / Variety:

Three Pixar movies released solely on Disney+ during the pandemic will come to theaters in 2024: Soul on January 12; Turning Red, February 9; and Luca, March 22 — The three movies will come to theaters nationwide in 2024, with tickets going on sale Jan. 2.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Pixar on YouTube, @chrisharihar, Bloomberg, IndieWire, @tashasounart@worldkey.io, SlashFilm, The Verge, SlashFilm, The Playlist, Engadget, ScreenRant and The Walt Disney Company

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

How the WSJ, MIT Technology Review, the FT, El País, The Globe and Mail, BBC News, Middle East Eye, WaPo, and five other news outlets use LinkedIn newsletters — “While you're less at the whim of the algorithm, it's still social media.” — “LinkedIn is cool now” …

Discussion: Media Voices, Leigh Kamping-Carder on LinkedIn, Meredith Turits on LinkedIn, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter and American Press Institute

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:

Over 700 Washington Post staffers plan to strike on December 7 over stalled contract talks amid cost cuts; by last week, 36 newsroom employees accepted buyouts — More than 700 employees plan to walk off the job for 24 hours. — More than 700 Washington Post employees plan to walk off the job Thursday for a 24-hour strike.

Discussion: @viacristiano, @aprilwolfe.bsky.social, @genepark, Reuters, @sarafischer, @rokhanna, @joekatz45.bsky.social, @postguild, Washingtonian, The Messenger and Talking Biz News

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

A poll of 2K+ Britons on Israel-Hamas coverage: 36% consider the BBC neutral, the most among five outlets; 15% see the BBC as pro-Palestinian, 17% as pro-Israel — But even more of those polled felt the BBC's coverage has been “mostly neutral”. — A poll conducted by think tank More in Common …

Discussion: More in Common UK and Media Voices

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

Jessica Lessin and others reflect on 10 years of The Information, which has 65 full-time employees, 475K active readers, and expects revenue growing 30% in 2023 — As the tech website turns 10 this week, its editor in chief reflects on building a sustainable subscription business off Silicon Valley scoops …

Discussion: @kantrowitz, @jaycodon, @theinformation, @coryweinberg, @tomgara, @mvpeers, @camwilsonreporter@threads.net, @lessin, Alan Soon on LinkedIn, @brianstelter, @jessicalessin, @charlottetklein, @lessin, @theinformation and Harry King on LinkedIn

Axios:

FazeWorld, a production studio that creates shows for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and others, raised a $750K seed round at a $7.5M valuation — FazeWorld, a production studio that's created viral TikTok shows, has raised a $750,000 seed round at a $7.5 million valuation from a slew of big names in media …

Discussion: @thefazeworld

New York Times:

A new Trump administration would “come after” the media as well as political foes, promises Kash Patel, a Trump confidant likely to serve in the administration — Donald Trump, who has already promised to use the Justice Department to “go after” his political adversaries …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, The Hill, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, @robertmaguire.bsky.social, @protecttruth.bsky.social, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Post, @thedailybeast@threads.net, @jalankatz.bsky.social, The Messenger and The Atlantic

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Memo: Yahoo News lays off staff across its US editorial team and plans to shut down its “In the Know” vertical, which curated news for Gen Zers and millennials — It's the latest news outlet to slash its payrolls as the media market takes hit after hit.

Discussion: New York Post

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Outdoors Editor, ME — Bangor Daily News

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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Telemundo names former Noticias Telemundo president Luis Fernández as chairman, replacing Beau Ferrari, who will become an adviser with NBCUniversal News Group

Discussion: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, WORLD SCREEN and Radio & Television …

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and CNN are seeing engagement grow on Threads, while the BBC, the Guardian US, and others stopped posting on the platform

Discussion: @gigold.social, @xdaily, @xdaily and @mkarolian@threads.net

Press Gazette:
Editors at the UK's biggest commercial regional news publishers call for the BBC to stop “suffocating” their businesses and ditch its rollout of 34 local sites

Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage, @iancarterim, @pressgazette and Paul Rowland on LinkedIn

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In 10 days in November, eight Mexican journalists were abducted or shot at in four separate incidents; three regularly report on crime, security, and politics

Discussion: @pressfreedom

Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Amazon fails to renew its live English Premier League rights deal, as part of Sky and TNT's new £6.7B UK TV rights deal for four soccer seasons from 2025/2026

Jody Rosen / New York Times:
Behind the scenes of a Sunday Night Football broadcast, which is one of the most inventive and artful uses of the TV medium

Discussion: @canonusa, @jodyrosen, @brianstelter, @fordm, New York Post and Awful Announcing

Earlier Picks:

Timmy Shen / The Block:
Sources: as part of its January 2023 merger with CryptoSlam, Forkast Labs laid off the majority of its editorial staff and suspended operations in November

Discussion: Web3 is Going Just Great

Will Sommer / Washington Post:
Ex-Fox News employee Andrew Delancey sues the network and top producer Justin Wells over an alleged sexual assault; Wells now works on Tucker Carlson's X show

Discussion: Adweek, CNN, HuffPost, Media Matters for America, The Messenger, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Boing Boing

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
MSNBC should be careful not to become the TV arm of the Democratic Party leadership, as shown by some of its recent moves, like canceling Mehdi Hasan's show

Discussion: Poynter, @kenhuur, @drericding, @jayrosen_nyu and @froomkin

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify plans to cancel the Gimlet Media podcasts Heavyweight and Stolen after their current seasons, as the company retreats from in-house productions

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An interview with Megyn Kelly about co-hosting the Dec. 6 GOP presidential primary debate on NewsNation, her pivot to audio, being “un-cancellable”, and more

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, The Hill, al.com, Variety, Los Angeles Times, @stevekrak, @jeremymbarr, Mediaite, New York Post and Poynter

From Techmeme:

European Commission:
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Kevin Roose / New York Times:
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Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Motorola unveils three new Razr models, including the $1,300 Razr Ultra flip phone with a 7-inch inner and 4-inch outer screen and wood option, shipping May 15

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