Top News:
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
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 …
RELATED:
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Source: the Los Angeles Times is looking at another round of cost-cutting this year, aiming to cut more than $10M from its budget — - Another billionaire is having a hard time with his newspaper. — Jeff Bezos's Washington Post made big cuts — and Warren Buffett has given up on papers altogether.
Discussion:
@pkafka, @tomaxwell, MediaPost, Axios and Bloomberg
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:
@benmullin
Press Gazette:
The Reuters Institute survey of news leaders: 48% say money from AI deals will be very little for any publisher, most will put more effort into WhatsApp, more — The Reuters Institute survey touched on AI pessimism, news avoidance and paywall success. — Less than half of news leaders feel confident …
Discussion:
Decrypt and BuzzMachine
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Paul Linford / HoldtheFrontPage:
Chartbeat: in 2023, aggregate traffic to news and media sites from Facebook fell 48% YoY, traffic from X fell 27%, and traffic from Instagram fell 10% — A new report has revealed that traffic to news sites from Facebook plummeted by nearly half in 2023 with publishers fearing further falls in the next 12 months.
Discussion:
Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Advanced Television and Fast Company
Anton Wilen / Bloomberg:
Swedish streaming service Viaplay avoids bankruptcy after getting approval to recapitalize, as part of which Canal+ and Czech PE firm PPF will get a 58.6% stake — Swedish streaming service Viaplay Group AB has stepped back from the brink of bankruptcy after getting approval for a rescue plan …
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
A look at Brazilian fact-checking org Aos Fatos' bot FátimaGPT, which pairs an LLM with its archives to answer questions on WhatsApp, Telegram, and the web — “Instead of giving a list of URLs that the user can access — which requires more work for the user — we can answer the question they asked."
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Carbon Brief: UK newspapers published 42 editorials opposing climate action in 2023, ~3x more than before in a single year and mostly from right-leaning titles — Carbon Brief analysis shows apparent link between Rishi Sunak's net zero policy and newspaper columns.
Discussion:
Carbon Brief and New Jersey Online
Dylan Smith / Digital Music News:
ERA: UK music sales grew 9.6% YoY to £2.22B in 2023, the highest since 2001, with £1.87B from streaming; CD sales grew for the first time in two decades, up 2% — Following the across-the-board implementation of music streaming price increases, UK subscription revenue rose nearly 10 percent year …
Discussion:
Billboard, @drewhill, @eraltd, @musicweek, ERA Ltd, Music Ally and CMU
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitch could cut ~500 employees, or ~35% of its staff, as soon as January 10, after concerns over company losses and several top executives leaving — Move is designed to stem losses after two rounds of layoffs last year. — Amazon.com Inc.'s livestreaming site Twitch is poised …
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.
Discussion:
VICE, Reuters, Bloomberg, @kenklippenstein, @stevanzetti, Mashable, @lucas_shaw, @tvscarlkinsella, @elizabethbrossa, @themaxburns, @thelincoln, @markamesexiled, @whstancil, @skippyosint, @marionumber4, @erininthemorn, Fast Company, @esqueer_, Futurism, The Daily Beast, @esqueer_@threads.net, Mediaite, New Republic, @wolfiesmiffed.bsky.social, @32mbit.bsky.social, @brendelbored.bsky.social, @texasobserver.org and @stevanzetti.bsky.social
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 …
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