Mediagazer: Four owners of independent media talk about why they went independent, the boom-and-bust cycle of media funding, sustainability, co-op ownership, and more (Hanaa' Tameez/Nieman Lab)

5:05 AM ET, February 15, 2024

Top News:

Sources: Meta is reducing payments to news outlets that fact-check potential WhatsApp misinformation, including on elections, and has cut CrowdTangle funding — Meta Platforms is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential misinformation on WhatsApp, including around elections …

Discussion: @kalleyhuang, @aginnt, @campuscodi@mastodon.social, @brooklynmarie and @mattnavarra@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Court filings show that Soros Fund Management could become the biggest shareholder of Audacy when the radio and podcast company emerges from bankruptcy — - Fund owns more than $400 million of Audacy's first-lien debt — Radio company's restructuring would hand ownership to lenders

Discussion: Inside Radio, New York Post, Radio & Television …, @ashleyrcarman, @buythecryptodip, Boston Herald, The Desk, Barrett News Media and @ashleycarman@threads.net

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

David Leonhardt's views shaped NYT newsletter The Morning, which has 5M+ daily readers, leading to newsroom tension; others will share its lead column in 2024 — The New York Times' flagship newsletter is hugely popular with readers, a source of tension among some reporters, and …

Discussion: @mlcalderone and @charlottetklein

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 …

Discussion: @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca, @peterbutler@mas.to, @developerjustin …, @liaizon@social.wake.st, @andypiper@macaw.social, @paul@oldfriends.live, @derek@social.coop and @BBCRD@social.bbc

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Flipboard has launched more than 1,000 of its social magazines in the fediverse, allowing users to find the magazines via federated social apps like Mastodon

Discussion: @J12t@social.coop, @michellemanafy@journa.host and Flipboard

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

Discussion: @danackerman

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Four owners of independent media talk about why they went independent, the boom-and-bust cycle of media funding, sustainability, co-op ownership, and more — “Blogging is the media. Blogging won.” — It's been a rough start to the new year for the news industry, between layoffs …

Discussion: @hanaatameez and @mathewi

Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World:

Omdia: South African streaming company Showmax had 2.1M subscribers in Africa at the end of November 2023, ahead of Netflix's 1.8M and Amazon Prime Video's 300K — Showmax sits at the top of the market with a vast library of local content, partnerships with Comcast and HBO …

Discussion: The Information, Marie Lora-Mungai on LinkedIn, @restofworld@restof.social and The Hollywood Reporter

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

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Meta struggles to precisely define what political content is, offering only a vague statement, after saying it wouldn't amplify political content on Threads — What constitutes “political” content? — It's an important question that Meta has conspicuously left unanswered …

Discussion: @shiraovide@threads.net, @katieharbath@threads.net, @jayfarrellarnold@threads.net, @doniecnn@threads.net, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net and @bostonjoan@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Roger Cheng / Cord Cutters News:

Altice USA's Optimum lost 114,000 internet subscribers and 266,700 cable TV subscribers in 2023, including 62,200 cable subscribers in Q4 — Cable and internet provider Optimum continues to bleed customers at an alarming rate even as it lost money. — The company reported fourth-quarter results …

Discussion: Altice USA, Inc. and Next TV

Angela Fu / Poynter:

Utah's Deseret News says The Digest, a free monthly print compendium of its best journalism launched in September 2023, has been profitable since October — The Deseret News launched a free monthly compendium of its best journalism in September. It's been profitable since October.

Discussion: Burke Olsen on LinkedIn and American Press Institute

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Disney merges ABC News and local station operations under Debra OConnell; ABC News President Kim Godwin and Stations President Chad Matthews will report to her — Another major media company is merging its news division and its local stations in hopes of wringing new profits from two businesses …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Walt Disney Company, New York Times, Deadline, Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:05 AM ET, February 15, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

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:

Committee to Protect Journalists:
Iranian authorities raided the newsroom of economic news site FardayeEghtesad on February 5, initially detaining 30 staff; four journalists are still detained

Discussion: Trusting News and Nieman Lab

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Geraldo Rivera joins Nexstar Media's NewsNation as a correspondent at large; Rivera left Fox News in 2023 due to tensions with Greg Gutfeld

Discussion: The Hill, TVLine, @geraldorivera, @davidfolkenflik, Mediaite, The Desk, The Daily Beast, Barrett News Media, @ainemacdermot.bsky.social, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Deadline

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

Discussion: Fox News, New York Times and Axios

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

Discussion: Poynter, Julie Westfall on LinkedIn, @pressgazette, @mradamtaylor, @jimlaporta, @jakewilkns, @sarafischer, @tomgara, Awful Announcing and @coreypein.bsky.social

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

Discussion: Media Voices and Daily Mail and General Trust plc

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

Discussion: @jamesrbuk

Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Music Business Worldwide, Sony Group, Sony Group, Sony Group and Associated Press

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

Discussion: The Guardian, TikTok, TechCrunch and GB News

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Though Karine Jean-Pierre is press secretary, John Kirby, WH national security communications adviser, has increasingly co-hosted briefings since October 7

Discussion: @katierogers, Fox Business, Teena Touch on LinkedIn, New York Post, PolitiFact, Fox News, Mediaite and The Hill

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

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

Discussion: Alex Kruglov on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, @dylanbyers and The Desk

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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