Mediagazer: While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, a Boston Globe columnist signed a form helping her to proceed, raising questions about journalism ethics (Tom Jones/Poynter)

8:20 PM ET, February 2, 2024

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Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

The Messenger's flop was the result of Jimmy Finkelstein's blindness to bad ideas, like its traffic-chasing strategy, not a consequence of economic headwinds — The flaws in the site's strategy were highly predictable (and repeatedly predicted). But Jimmy Finkelstein's muddled nostalgia …

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The Daily Beast:
Ex-employees of The Messenger file a class-action lawsuit against the shuttered outlet, alleging that it failed to give them proper notice ahead of their firing

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Jordan Hoffman / New York Magazine:
A Messenger journalist describes his time working for the outlet, where the expensive offices were empty and reporters were instructed to chase trending topics

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Financial Times:

China-based advertisers now account for 10% of Meta's annual revenue and contributed 5 percentage points to its total worldwide revenue growth — The US group has benefited from huge but unsustainable outlays from Chinese advertisers — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may be banned in China.

Discussion: The Information and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2%

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Andy Greenberg / Wired:

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Discussion: Techdirt, @DaveMWilburn@infosec.exchange, @evacide@hachyderm.io, @a_greenberg, @a_greenberg, @jkdbchr, @a_greenberg and @jsrailton, more at Techmeme »

Will Sommer / Washington Post:

The WSJ lays off ~30 staffers as it restructures its DC bureau and shutters the US-China news team; laid-off staffers will be allowed to apply for some new jobs — The Wall Street Journal took a hatchet to its Washington bureau on Thursday, laying off roughly 20 staffers in a restructuring …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Amazon spending on content rose 14% YoY to $18.9B in 2023 despite Hollywood strikes — While other media companies have been paring back content spending, Amazon shelled out more than $2 billion more in 2023 for TV shows, movies and music than it did a year earlier.

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Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B

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Wall Street Journal:

Sources: federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon since 2022 — Authorities have been interviewing women who accuse longtime WWE boss of sexual misconduct — Federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault …

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Tom Jones / Poynter:

While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, a Boston Globe columnist signed a form helping her to proceed, raising questions about journalism ethics — While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, Kevin Cullen got personally involved, putting the Globe in an ethical dilemma.

Discussion: @kirkmin, @bostonglobe, The Boston Globe, The Boston Globe, @farhip and @poynter

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Charter lost 248K video customers in Q4 2023, partly due to the Disney carriage dispute in September, after losing 145K video customers in Q4 2022 — UPDATED with closing price. Shares in Charter Communications dropped 16.5% Friday after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings …

Discussion: MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, Charter Communications, Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and Reuters

Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:

Diamond Sports strikes a deal to continue broadcasting Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers games through the upcoming MLB season — - Broadcaster's deals with three MLB clubs runs through 2024 — Diamond said agreements averts potential fan disruption

Discussion: Awful Announcing, Cord Cutters News, Sportico, @evandrellich, Front Office Sports, @tvgrimreaper, @matthewtaylormn, @evandrellich, Reuters and Barrett Media

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Local newsletter company 6AM City raised a $10M Series A led by Tegna; news and weather from Tegna stations will be included in 6AM newsletters in some markets — Local newsletter company 6AM City has raised more than $10 million in series A funding round led by local broadcaster Tegna, Axios has learned.

Discussion: UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL, Ryan Johnston on LinkedIn, Adam Ostrow on LinkedIn, Emily Parkhurst on LinkedIn, Newswire and Radio & Television …

Marc Schneider / Billboard:

Merck Mercuriadis is stepping down as CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management and will be replaced by Ben Katovsky, the company's current president and COO — Mercuriadis will transition to chairman, with Ben Katovsky rising to chief executive as the advisor eyes smoother relations with its publicly listed royalty fund.

Discussion: Digital Music News, Music Business Worldwide, Reuters and CMU

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Chris Willman / Variety:
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Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:
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Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:
Google plans to limit news publishers to tracking users across five of their own websites under its Privacy Sandbox, which is set to replace third-party cookies

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Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
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Bloomberg:
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