Mediagazer: The Guardian US raised $2.2M in its 2023 year-end fundraiser, up 25% from the previous record and the most successful raise since its first appeal six years ago (Aleks Chan/The Guardian)

Richard Beckman, president of The Messenger, announces his resignation, citing health problems, and says January 31 will be his last day — The troubled “non partisan” news startup has seen a staff exodus over the last few months. — Richard Beckman, hard-charging president of the news site The Messenger, has resigned.

Discussion: The Information and Richard Beckman on LinkedIn

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Source: The Messenger is expected to lay off roughly two dozen out of ~300 employees this week; the company says it is “in the midst of a second-round raise”

Discussion: @benmullin, The Information, @benmullin, New York Post and The Wrap

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

In an email, Cheddar furloughs at least some employees, effective immediately, and bars them from further work, blaming unforeseen internal and external factors — The “post-cable” news network said “unforeseen internal and external factors” caused the sudden work stoppage.

Discussion: @sherman4949, New York Post, Adweek, The Desk and Variety

Kelly Garrity / Politico:

Donald Trump plans to forgo the CNN's GOP primary debate in favor of a town hall on Fox moderated by Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum — The former president has yet to debate other Republican primary candidates. — Former President Donald Trump will participate …

Discussion: CNN, Axios, Semafor, Breitbart, Newser, @brianstelter, Washington Post, CBS News, Mediaite, Bloomberg, Adweek, The Desk, The Hill, New York Post, Forbes, Media Matters for America and Fox News

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:

BPI: UK consumers streamed 179.6B audio tracks in 2023, up 12.8% YoY; women artists topped the UK's official singles chart for a record 31 of the 52 chart-weeks — British labels body the BPI has published its annual report on music consumption in the UK. — That means figures covering …

Discussion: BPI, Financial Times, Music Ally, The Guardian, BPI and Music Week

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

X posts with link previews now display titles or headlines in the bottom left corner of the image, but the text size is small and long headlines get cut off — X, the platform better known as Twitter, removed headlines from posts with links a few months ago, but is now bringing them back in a new format.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Verge, Forbes, New York Post, The Register, The Hill, @crumbler@threads.net and Bloomberg

Adam Chitwood / The Wrap:

USC study: women directed 12.1% of 2023's top films, up from 2022's 9%; Universal led with four top films directed by women, followed by Lionsgate and Disney — A USC Annenberg report finds that only 12.1% of the year's top films were directed by women — While Greta Gerwig's “Barbie” …

Discussion: Business Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, @Lilith111@mastodon.social, ScreenRant and Variety

Aleks Chan / The Guardian:

The Guardian US raised $2.2M in its 2023 year-end fundraiser, up 25% from the previous record and the most successful raise since its first appeal six years ago — The Guardian US had its most successful end of year fundraiser ever, raising more than $2m to support our journalism in 2024

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Roku plans to launch its first high-end TVs in spring 2024, including the 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch Pro Series for up to $1,500 — Roku Inc., the maker of TV streaming boxes and software, is debuting its first high-end televisions in a bid to continue sales momentum for the company's devices.

Casey Newton / Platformer:

Casey Newton says Platformer will meet with Substack, hoping Substack will remove pro-Nazi content, and Platformer plans to leave if Substack fails to do so — A New York Times lawsuit won't be the last challenge to LLMs' free-riding. PLUS: A note on Substack and Nazis — ∙ Paid

Discussion: @mmasnick.bsky.social, @reporterzoe@threads.net, @marisakabas@threads.net, @jacaranda7@threads.net, @johnbattelle@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, @marisakabas.bsky.social, @marc.e.elias@threads.net, @marisakabas@threads.net, @brianforrester8@threads.net and @nopipbutcpip.bsky.social

Jay Peters / The Verge:

X launches a Verified Organizations Basic tier for $200/month or $2,000/year, in addition to Full Access for $1,000/month and $50/month for each US affiliate — X (formerly Twitter) now has a “basic” tier for Verified Organizations, which gets you a gold checkmark badge (and a few other benefits) …

Discussion: @verified and X, more at Techmeme »

Ray Schultz / MediaPost:

Quebec City's Le Soleil newspaper, founded in 1896, ends its print edition, going fully digital; the newspaper started printing on Saturdays only in March 2020 — Le Soleil, a newspaper based in Quebec City, has published its last print edition and is now going entirely digital.

Discussion: CBC News

Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:

Antenna: 6.3% of US customers cancelled major streaming services in November 2023, up from 5.1% YoY; 24% canceled three or more services over the past two years — Hulu, Netflix and other streamers are turning to bundles, discounts and ad-supported plans as customer defections rise

Discussion: MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, The Hill, @trengriffin, Digiday, @danilo@hachyderm.io, Dan Goman on LinkedIn, Breitbart, New York Post and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Williams / Telegraph:

Sources: The Telegraph delays its restructuring until January 31, after UK officials asked to wait until Ofcom reviews RedBird IMI's takeover — ‘Hive down’ delayed until after Ofcom delivers review of Abu Dhabi-backed takeover — A corporate restructuring of The Telegraph viewed …

Discussion: @pressgazette