Mediagazer: A look at the decline of Austin American-Statesman, as Gannett steadily slashes staffing and budgets despite the paper winning a Pulitzer for Uvalde reporting (Michael Hardy/Texas Monthly)

8:05 AM ET, January 30, 2024

Top News:

Michael Hardy / Texas Monthly:

A look at the decline of Austin American-Statesman, as Gannett steadily slashes staffing and budgets despite the paper winning a Pulitzer for Uvalde reporting — Since taking over the American-Statesman in 2019, Gannett has steadily slashed staffing and budgets.

Discussion: @trevoremetcalfe, @jayrosen_nyu, @plscamardo2, @juanlozano70, @rosecahalan, @nelson_aj, @mkerrhardy, @verano305, @jackshafer, @mattlargey and @friedmanadam5

Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:

The US sentences IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn to five years in prison for leaking the tax returns of Donald Trump and other Americans to media outlets — A former U.S. Internal Revenue Service contractor was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison for leaking the tax records …

Nathan Wilk / OPB:

The Eugene Weekly plans to return to print on February 8, rehiring essential staff after $150K in donations, following an alleged embezzlement in December 2023 — The Eugene Weekly is planning to return to print Feb. 8, as it continues its recovery following an alleged embezzlement.

Discussion: Media Nation, The Desk, New York Times, @seangraf, @katunews, @clairearush, @bodrell, @binthenl, MediaPost and Associated Press

New York Times:

A look at the extreme challenges of reporting as a local journalist from Gaza, where at least 76 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 7 — From outside Gaza, the scale of death and destruction is impossible to grasp, shrouded by communications blackouts …

Discussion: @cpjmena, @barrasreport, The Messenger and CBS News

Theo Francis / Wall Street Journal:

Reed Hastings donates $1.1B worth of his Netflix shares, or ~40% of his stake, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a popular charity among tech founders — Reed Hastings donates to foundation with $10 billion in assets after gifts from Mark Zuckerberg and other tech founders

Discussion: Variety, CNBC, Variety, The Information, Deadline and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Sirius XM acquires rights to SmartLess, a podcast by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, sources say for $100M+; Amazon previously paid $60M-$80M — - The popular interview program has spent three years at Amazon — Actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes host the show

Haroon Siddique / The Guardian:

The Daily Mirror faces a claim for ~£2M in legal costs after Prince Harry won substantial damages last month in his phone-hacking case against the publisher — Judge ruled that Mirror Group Newspapers' titles all used ‘extensive’ unlawful information gathering

Discussion: Byline Times, Telegraph, The i Paper, Sky News, Courthouse News Service, Press Gazette and Reuters

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Bloomberg starts providing AI-generated summaries of companies' earnings calls on its terminal; the company has more than 310,000 subscribers to its terminal — Bloomberg is now providing artificial intelligence summaries of company's earnings calls on its terminal.

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget, Institutional Investor, @fxfinancefeeds, @sserve, @vanrijmenam and Bloomberg L.P.

Christopher Kuo / New York Times:

Ukraine's foreign ministry criticizes HBO for casting Milos Bikovic in The White Lotus' season three, saying without evidence the Serbian actor supports Russia — On social media, Ukraine's foreign ministry posted clips of the Serbian actor Milos Bikovic receiving a medal for cultural achievement from Vladimir Putin in 2018.

Discussion: @mfa_ukraine, Deadline, The Messenger, New York Post, Variety, Deadline, Agence France-Presse, UPROXX, Vanity Fair, Balkan Insight, The Daily Beast and Politico

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Plex raised new funding, larger than the $50M funding it raised in 2021, and expects to be profitable by the end of 2024 — Media streamer Plex has raised new capital. The company, which began as a media organization startup, has morphed over the years to become a one-stop shop for all your media …

Discussion: @limebar@mastodon.social

Alex Barinka / Bloomberg:

TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable, by identifying objects in videos and prompting users to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” — - Feature links products to any posts, not just influencers — TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable …

Discussion: The Verge, @carnage4life, The Information, The Messenger and Ad Age, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

An interview with Mail Online executives on rolling out its new £4.99 per month Mail+ tier to all UK users, the £12.99 per month Mail+ Editions app, and more — Mail Online is building on a “great position of strength” from its “huge, loyal, engaged, direct audience” …

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Channel 4 plans to lay off 18% of its staff, impacting ~200 jobs and closing ~40 unfilled roles, to become a “digital-first public service streamer by 2030” — “Channel 4 was designed to be ahead of the curve and has never stood still,” says CEO Alex Mahon.

Discussion: Media Voices, @scottygb, @joshoewaa, WORLD SCREEN, CampaignUK, Broadband TV News, Variety and Financial Times

Max Goldbart / Deadline:
Memo: Channel 4 plans to merge commissioning departments, including TV drama and film, leave a London premises, and more, part of a five-year Fast Forward plan

Discussion: The Desk, @halalltakeaway, @bectu, @scottygb, @jake_kanter, Mediaite, The Guardian, BBC, Broadband TV News and The Guardian

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Reuters:
UK sanctions Iranian officials who were found by an ITV report to be involved in plots to assassinate two TV presenters from Iran International in the UK

Discussion: The Dispatch, Bloomberg, Deadline and Press Association

Katie Campione / Deadline:
Nielsen: Ted Lasso was the most-watched streaming original in 2023, at 16.9B minutes, despite Apple TV+'s small footprint, followed by Netflix's The Night Agent

Discussion: Variety, Spyglass, The Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen, Screen Rant, UPROXX, BGR, AppleInsider, New York Times, Media Play News and The Messenger

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
Sports Illustrated's union files an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging retaliation and union-busting after the mass layoffs this month

Discussion: American Press Institute, Poynter, NewsGuild of New York, Sportico, Columbia Journalism Review, Awful Announcing and The Wrap

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers

Discussion: @eklovyajain, @baphometsblade, @david_marcelis, The Hill, Insider Intelligence, CNN, New York Post, Business Insider, Fast Company, The Streamable and 9to5Mac

Alex Fitzpatrick / Axios:
The New York Times says users played its puzzles and games more than 8B times in 2023, led by Wordle with 4.8B plays, and the NYT Games app had 10M downloads

Discussion: Danielle Lachance on LinkedIn, @counternotions@mastodon … and Jonathan Knight on LinkedIn

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
In response to the George Carlin estate's lawsuit, Dudesy says its YouTube video and podcast with an “AI” George Carlin were “created by two human beings”

Discussion: Fast Company, Inside Radio, Engadget, Copyright Lately, @tliterarian, @nina_metz, The Messenger, Christopher Rice on LinkedIn, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, The Register, @pluralistic@mamot.fr, Mostly signs, @irenes@mastodon.social, @lauren@mastodon … and New York Times

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Wall Street Journal:
How Penguin Random House started actively challenging the removal of books from US school libraries, including through an “Intellectual Freedom” task force

Discussion: @davidmpaige, @michellemanafy@journa.host, NPR, Matthew Sekol on LinkedIn and Dan Novack on LinkedIn

Reuters:
German state broadcaster ARD says Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, citing security concerns that don't make sense

Patrick Frater / Variety:
CNN Philippines plans to close on January 31, impacting up to 300 jobs; the outlet launched in 2015 under a brand licensing deal and, a source says, lost $89M+

Discussion: Adweek, @cnnphilippines, CNN Philippines and Deadline

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
A look at Warner Bros. Discovery's push to expand its gaming division with live services and mobile games, by leveraging its franchises like Game of Thrones

Discussion: @captaingalxy, @benjisales and @variety

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
A look at the US Copyright Office, which is in the spotlight as it plans to release three key reports in 2024 revealing its position on copyright law and AI

From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Tech stocks fall in late trading after President Trump announced new tariffs: Amazon drops as much as ~6%, Meta ~5%, Nvidia ~6%, Alphabet ~3%, and Microsoft ~3%

New York Times:
Sources: Amazon has put in a bid to acquire all of TikTok, but various parties involved do not appear to be taking it seriously, ahead of the April 5 deadline

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Nintendo shares Switch 2 details: a 7.9", 120fps, 1080p display, 4K at 60fps when docked, a custom Nvidia processor, 256GB of storage, and a new Pro Controller

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