Top News:
BBC R&D:
The BBC plans to continue its Mastodon trial for at least six months and publish its work using ActivityPub, after gaining 60K followers on six trial accounts — In July 2023 we announced our plan to establish a BBC presence in the distributed collection of social networks known as the Fediverse …
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Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Jon Stewart's Daily Show return drew 930K viewers, the most for a Daily Show installment in almost six years; simulcasts brought the total to 1.85M viewers — Comedy Central records its most watched episode of the late night show since March 2018. — The reunion of Jon Stewart …
Discussion:
Axios, Associated Press, The Independent, The Wrap, Variety, UPROXX, The A.V. Club, @deanobeidallah@threads.net, @iamspoonbedner.bsky.social, @adamkotsko.bsky.social, @reallyseansmith.bsky.social, Rolling Stone, @bartholomewb.bsky.social, @bencollins.bsky.social, @sudsterkel.bsky.social, New York Times, MSNBC, @daviddarmofal.bsky.social, Next TV, @screamerjim.bsky.social, New Yorker, @emilystjams.bsky.social, NPR, Boing Boing and The Daily Beast
Sara Fischer / Axios:
An interview with Jimmy Finkelstein, who says The Messenger's model was working and the outlet would have been profitable by August 2024 if it had raised $20M — The Messenger CEO Jimmy Finkelstein told Axios he did not mislead a New York Times reporter about the company's revenue …
Discussion:
Poynter, @coreypein.bsky.social, @pressgazette, @mradamtaylor, @jimlaporta, @jakewilkns, @sarafischer and @tomgara
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
In a letter to the WHCA, the White House expresses concern over media coverage of the Special Counsel's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified material — Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
As The Daily Beast put Confider on hiatus, weeks after editor at large Lachlan Cartwright left, sources say the media newsletter could instead be “dead” — “We decided to put Confider on hiatus after Lachlan Cartwright, who initiated it, departed The Daily Beast,” The Daily Beast editor in chief said in a statement
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart is in talks to buy smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2B+, as the company looks to bolster its advertising business in its battle with Amazon — Retail giant discussing a more than $2 billion deal that would boost its advertising business in battle with Amazon
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Mail publisher DMGT reports 2023 revenue up 2% YoY to £997M and a pre-tax loss of £12.6M, as a £63M growth in B2B events revenue offset consumer media decline — Print advertising revenue dropped by 16% in the year to 30 September 2023. — Mail publisher DMGT grew revenue …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and General Trust plc
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Pete Distad, who was in charge of Apple's video and sports businesses, is among the top CEO candidates for the Disney/Fox/WBD streaming venture — Planned venture from Disney, Warner and Fox would combine their live-sports channels into a streaming package
Discussion:
@dylanbyers and The Desk
James Ball / Columbia Journalism Review:
How Reddit, after the catastrophic online manhunt to find the Boston Marathon bomber, quietly became a civilized place to discuss news, due to strong moderation — Twitter had been our place. Where journalists gathered and pored over news in as near to real time as possible.
Discussion:
@jamesrbuk, more at Techmeme »
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Forbes' Cyrus Farivar and Poker.org's Haley Hintze face libel lawsuits from Bitcoin Latinum over their coverage of securities fraud lawsuits against the firm — Bitcoin Latinum angry about quotes from fraud lawsuit and Star Trek reference. — The cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Latinum …
Discussion:
Techdirt, @Lazarou@mastodon.social, @arstechnica@mastodon.social and Talking Biz News
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Sony Pictures reports Q3 sales up 5% YoY to $2.47B, operating income up 56% to $281M; Sony Music revenue up 16% YoY to $2.81B, operating income up 21% to $507M — Operating income at the ‘Pictures Division’ of Sony Group Corporation climbed by 56% to hit $281 million in the October to December 2023 quarter …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Sony Group, Sony Group, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Associated Press and Sony Group, more at Techmeme »
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
TikTok plans to launch an in-app local language Election Centre in March 2024 in all 27 EU countries, to fight misinformation ahead of the Parliament elections — ByteDance-owned social media platform TikTok said on Wednesday it will ramp up its fight against fake news and covert influence operations …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, TikTok and RTÉ, more at Techmeme »
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Sources: CBS News was hit with job cuts affecting 20 people, including Catherine Herridge, who is in a legal battle to protect sources of a 2017 Fox News story — Several CBS News reporters were caught up in layoffs at Paramount Global that claimed 800 jobs, including one who is embroiled …
Discussion:
@alexsteigrad, Variety, The Daily Beast, Deadline, The Wrap, The Desk and Reuters
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Paramount starts layoffs to reduce costs; sources say ~800 employees, or an estimated 3% of its headcount, are getting cut across all divisions
Memo: Paramount starts layoffs to reduce costs; sources say ~800 employees, or an estimated 3% of its headcount, are getting cut across all divisions
Discussion:
Deadline, Broadband TV News, CNBC, NBC 7 San Diego, The Guardian, @thesimonetti, Digiday, UPI, @caplangaby, The Desk, Richard King on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, The Information, Gabrielle Dalvet on LinkedIn, @carnage4life@mas.to, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Jaime Primak Sullivan on LinkedIn, Bill Dempsey on LinkedIn, Media Play News, New York Times, Fox Business, Mark Emerson on LinkedIn, Front Office Sports, Erin Riska on LinkedIn, Zak Brocchini on LinkedIn, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, Joey Esposito on LinkedIn, Observer, Awful Announcing, Engadget, New York Daily News, Defector, Syracuse Post-Standard, CNN, Deadline, Barrett News Media, Quartz, Adweek, Fortune, Reuters, Next TV, Advanced Television, The Wrap, Forbes, IndieWire, Ad Age, Bloomberg, Sportico and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »