Mediagazer: In a memo to staff, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announces he is stepping down on January 12, two-and-a-half years after joining the newsroom (Meg James/Los Angeles Times)

5:45 PM ET, January 9, 2024

Top News:

In a memo to staff, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announces he is stepping down on January 12, two-and-a-half years after joining the newsroom — Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announced Tuesday that he was stepping down 2½ years after joining …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, @benmullin, Talking Biz News, Mediaite, The Wrap, Variety, @jamesrbuk, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @megjameslat, @raineytime, @maxwelltani, @jonnypeltz, @simonesnews and @benmullin

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Sources: Kevin Merida and the Soon-Shiong family clashed over his decision to ban journalists who condemned Israel's bombing of Gaza, 2024 budgeting, and more — Kevin Merida, who took over the job in 2021, said in an internal note that his last day would be on Friday.

Discussion: Axios, Bloomberg and @benmullin

Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:

X suspended several podcasters and journalists, including The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Texas Observer's Steven Monacelli, with little to no explanation — Elon Musk's “free speech” social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.

Kashish Tandon / Reuters:

India's Zee Entertainment remains committed to its $10B Sony India merger, calling media reports of the deal falling through “baseless and factually incorrect” — India's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) on Tuesday said it was committed to its merger with Sony's (6758.T) local arm …

Discussion: Advanced Television, Financial Times, Anto Antony on LinkedIn and Bloomberg

Bloomberg:
Sources: Zee misses a deadline to pay $200M to Disney's India unit for cricket TV rights, citing a cash crunch; Zee agreed to pay $1.4B+ in August 2022

Discussion: Anto Antony on LinkedIn

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:

Sources: Twitch could cut 500 employees, or about 35% of its staff, as soon as Wednesday amid concerns over losses at Twitch and after several top execs left — Move is designed to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year. — Amazon.com Inc.'s livestreaming site Twitch is poised …

Discussion: @lowcotv and @tunguz, more at Techmeme »

Josh Kosman / New York Post:

Source: MLB rejected a ~$150M investment by Amazon to bail out bankrupt Diamond Sports because Amazon wanted a streaming deal for more than one year — Major League Baseball rejected a proposed roughly $150 million lifeline extended by Amazon to the nation's largest regional sports network …

Discussion: The Streamable, Awful Announcing, @jl_baseball, @mitch_from_mi, @loudmouthjulia, Sports Business Journal, Cord Cutters News and Next TV

Sara Fischer / Axios:

On Wednesday, CNBC plans to launch a $99 paid course on job interviewing, its first, part of a new educational venture developed by its “Make It” franchise — CNBC on Wednesday will debut its first paid course as part of a new educational venture developed by the editorial team behind CNBC's …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

New York Times:

Elections and disinfo are colliding like never before in 2024, as social networks reduce protections and state influence campaigns and AI-fueled disinfo ramp up — A wave of elections coincides with state influence operations, a surge of extremism, A.I. advances and a pullback in social media protections.

Discussion: @brennancenter, more at Techmeme »

@hou_landing:

Houston Landing, a nonprofit, digital-only news outlet, is parting ways with its EIC Mizanur Rahman; Rahman says he was fired and was not given a clear reason — We have come a long way since we launched last year. With growth comes change. Today we part ways with our editor-in-chief Mizanur Rahman. We are thankful to Mizanur for putting his talent and heart into this organization and ensuring we have everything we need to serve Houston. [image]

Discussion: @teddyschleifer, @monicarhor, @tracidonatto, @dtohl, @alexdstuckey, @jbenton, @jbenton, @mizanur_tx, @mizanur_tx, @mizanur_tx, @mizanur_tx, @lomikriel and @jbenton

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

X announces exclusive original programming and content deals, including shows hosted by Don Lemon, former Fox Sports host Jim Rome, and Tulsi Gabbard — The tech company also announced a 10-show deal with Range Media Partners, and a deal with Tulsi Gabbard.

Discussion: Variety, MediaPost, Mediaite, @donlemon, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, TVLine, CBS News, The Hill, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Deadline, @ken-w.us, @xbusiness, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, @justinbaragona, @shaunmmaguire, @misterjayem.bsky.social, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, @jzembik.bsky.social, The Daily Caller, @lulumeservey, @insidejoke.bsky.social, @earnestpettie.com, @elonmusk, @golikehellmachine.bsky.social, @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us, @theoneleila.bsky.social, @jimrome, @xbusiness, @tuckercarlson, @jillian.bsky.social, @dell.bsky.social, @bartenderhemry.bsky.social, @aaronvandorn.bsky.social, @russbengtson.bsky.social, @streetsajed.bsky.social, @popecrocodylus.bsky.social, @outerbororoyal.bsky.social, @daveanthony.bsky.social, Reclaim The Net, The Daily Beast, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social, @fbihop.bsky.social, @mxvh.bsky.social, @kevincollier, @tulsigabbard, @keithedwards@threads.net, The Wrap and Politico

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Fox Corp. debuts Verify, a blockchain protocol developed with Polygon Labs for media companies to register content and grant usage rights to AI companies — Fox Corp., one of the largest media companies in the U.S., has publicly debuted a new blockchain platform called Verify …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @ryansingel@writing.exchange, The Information, TechCrunch, TVNewsCheck, CoinDesk and @bgrueskin

Radio & Television Business Report:

iHeartMedia partners with supply-side platform Magnite to offer advertisers a single entry point for audio ads on its radio, streaming, and podcast platforms — It's something championed and pioneered on the TV side of the linear media business by NBCUniversal.

Discussion: Inside Radio, @magnite, Magnite and RADIO ONLINE

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:

Survey of 314 news leaders from 56 countries: just 47% say they are confident about journalism's 2024 prospects; 63% worry about declining social media traffic — The disruptive power of artificial intelligence (AI) will sweep through the information space this year at a time of intense political …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, @risj_oxford, Press Gazette, Mitali Mukherjee on LinkedIn, @nicnewman, @charliebeckett, HoldtheFrontPage and Fast Company

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:45 PM ET, January 9, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

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:

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
SAG-AFTRA signs a deal with AI voiceover company Replica Studios, requiring consent to create voice replicas for use in video games and safe storage of assets

Discussion: SAG-AFTRA, Bloomberg, @GreenFire@mstdn.social and The Hollywood Reporter

Etan Vlessing / Hollywood Reporter:
Imax says its 2023 box office was $1.06B, near 2019's $1.1B record and up 24.4% YoY, with $393.2M in North America, its highest grossing year ever in the region

Discussion: Variety, ScreenRant and IMAX Corporation

Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:
Meta plans to start automatically restricting teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from harmful content, including posts about self-harm, in the coming weeks

Discussion: Meta, Gizmodo, Reuters, Ricardo Dalmaso Marques on LinkedIn, CNN, TechCrunch, The Hill, The Verge, @andymstone, 9to5Mac and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Amazon announces Matter Casting, an Apple AirPlay-like feature to send video from different platforms to Amazon devices, initially supporting Echo Show devices

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Streamable, The Information, Advanced Television, The Verge, The Desk, 9to5Google, Thurrott and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

The Guardian:
Memo: Channel 4 Chair Ian Cheshire says the government-approved appointments of four white directors to the broadcaster's board lag behind its diversity targets

Discussion: Deadline, @roziebreen, Telegraph, The Express & Star, Mediaite, Daily Mail and @jake_kanter

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Netflix defeats a shareholder lawsuit claiming the company hid the impact of account sharing; NFLX fell ~50% from January to April 2022 after growth warnings

Discussion: Broadband TV News and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Mia Sato / The Verge:
How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms, including via SEO tricks, and the company's role in many websites now using similar designs

Discussion: Longreads, Michelle Manafy on LinkedIn, @miarsato, @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org, @scott@typetura.social, @katienotopoulos@threads.net and @reckless1280@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Press Gazette:
An analysis of 23 leading paywalled publishers: the price of a digital news subscription rose by 20% on average in the UK in 2023; Bloomberg's grew by 50%

Discussion: @baekdal, Media Voices and Press Gazette

Steve Pond / The Wrap:
Out of 321 Oscar-qualifying films of 2023, just 265 are eligible for Best Picture, as the Academy starts enforcing its Representation and Inclusion Standards

Discussion: New York Post, @davidpoland, @expert_oscar, Gizmodo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire

The Guardian:
Some Israeli journalists say Israeli media's uniformly patriotic vision of reality that omits the plight of Palestinians leaves viewers dangerously disconnected

Discussion: Al Jazeera, National Union of Journalists …, Stephan Bianchi on LinkedIn, @glynmoody@mastodon.social and Politico

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Substack plans to remove some Nazi publications, but its new policy interpretation won't include proactively removing neo-Nazi and far-right extremism content

Discussion: The Verge, CNN, @jbenton, @brianstelter, Engadget, @jasonkoebler@threads.net, @brian.fishman.5@threads.net, @fraying@xoxo.zone, @LyleDAL@universeodon.com, @neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org, @crumbler@threads.net, @ernie@writing.exchange, @thisismissem@hachyderm.io and Rolling Stone

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Hannah Lang / Reuters:
Sources: a16z, Ripple, Kraken, and Circle are jostling for a seat on Trump's promised crypto advisory council, which is expected to set up a bitcoin reserve

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