Check out Mini-Mediagazer for simple mobiles or Mediagazer Mobile for modern smartphones.
5:20 AM ET, February 2, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
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 …
RELATED:
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  —  The class-action lawsuit comes just a day after The Messenger closed up shop for good, firing its hundreds of staff without offering them severance.
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  —  A text time-stamped 1:19 a.m. early Wednesday read, “I think it's over, man.”  It was a Los Angeles-based colleague at The Messenger.
RELATED:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
UMG begins pulling its artists' music from TikTok after negotiations failed; videos featuring UMG-owned songs will be muted, and users can pick a new soundtrack
Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:
Interviews with shareholders and current and ex-employees suggest that SI's publisher Arena missed the licensing payment by choice, not because it lacked money  —  At about 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, the board of the media conglomerate the Arena Group met after the company had blown up its license to publish Sports Illustrated.
Discussion: @jayshams and @leomschwartz
RELATED:
Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
Sources: an Arena executive ordered SI to remove a transgender boxing story from a print issue; SI says the story was no longer newsy and will be posted online
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%  —  Company posts biggest quarterly revenue gains in two years  —  Facebook parent Meta Platforms posted its fourth consecutive quarter …
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Sources: some independent record labels are pushing back on Apple's plans to pay more for spatial audio tracks, saying it benefits larger record companies  —  Groups behind Adele and Phoebe Bridgers among those against songs recorded in higher-quality audio receiving more money
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Memo: The Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker restructures its DC bureau, shutters the DC-based Business and US-China teams, and lays off “a number” of staffers  —  Note from WSJ EIC Emma Tucker to Journal staff about today's layoffs changes to the paper's DC bureau. The business team and Washington-based China team are both shuttering. [image]
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more  —  A greater push for live programming, no theatrical releases and much more from content chief Bela Bajaria.
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:20 AM ET, February 2, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 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: 
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Primary Wave Music acquires a 50% stake in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens, which holds music catalogs of about 40 artists, valuing Nas Nuvens at ~$100M
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Gamma, which creates, distributes, and markets music, podcasts and films, raised $100M+ led by Alpha Wave Global, sources say at a $400M valuation
Richard Nieva / Forbes:
YouTube says YouTube Premium and Music have a combined 100M subscribers; CEO Neal Mohan says subscriptions have become a “meaningful part” of YouTube's business
 Earlier Picks: 
The NewsGuild:
More than 200 unionized Tribune journalists, designers, and production workers across seven newsrooms are staging a 24-hour strike today
Nqobile Dludla / Reuters:
NBCU and South African pay TV company MultiChoice plan to invest $177M in Showmax, MultiChoice's streamer built on Peacock; NBCU gets a 30% stake in Showmax
Discussion: Financial Times and Deadline
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
SiriusXM reports a Q4 net drop of 94K subscribers and 109K Pandora subs, net income down 4% YoY to $352M, revenue of $2.29B, and eyes “cost efficiencies”
Discussion: Inside Radio
The Hollywood Reporter:
As Amazon becomes the latest streamer to push an ad-supported tier, TV writers react with frustration to the move away from the original promise of streaming
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
The US NHTSA suggests easing rules allowing for fully driverless cars and urges companies operating driverless cars to share more data for greater transparency
 
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