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

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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:
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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

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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
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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

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Jody Godoy / Reuters:
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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:
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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

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The Guardian:
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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:

Marshall Cohen / CNN:
CCDH: before the election, Elon Musk made 87 X posts that were debunked by fact-checkers, hitting 2B+ views; his political posts had 17.1B views since July 2024

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrest Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind the June and July 2024 hacks of up to 165 Snowflake users including AT&T

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Nintendo reports Q2 revenue down 17% YoY to $1.8B, net profit down 69% YoY to ~$182.5M, and lowers its FY 2025 Switch sales forecast to 12.5M from 13.5M

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