Mediagazer: Q&A with BBC Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring on her book Among the Trolls, being the target of 80% of BBC's online abuse, and more (Jude Rogers/The Guardian)

11:55 PM ET, February 19, 2024

Top News:

Jack Shafer / Politico:

Q&A with Margot Susca on her new book Hedged, which details how the US chain newspapers including Gannett were purchased and squeezed by PE firms like Alden — A journalism professor blames Wall Street for the newspaper industry's collapse. — The great American newspaper ain't what it used to be.

Discussion: @leverling, @politico, @jfberke, @kenherts, Stephan A. Schwartz on LinkedIn, @politicomag, @kenherts, @michaelkruse, @marcedge1, @margotsusca, @mhutchison, @heidilegg, @margotsusca and @cathyarnst

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

HBO is delaying posting Last Week Tonight With John Oliver segments on YouTube for a few days after episodes premiere, to nudge more people to watch it on Max — The delay in posting to the video site is intended to nudge more people to watch the show on Max.

Discussion: @iamjohnoliver, Variety, @tvgrimreaper, @aagave, CarterMatt, 9to5Google, The Desk, The Wrap, @ernie@writing.exchange, Deadline, @tvgrimreaper, TVLine, Decider and Cord Cutters News

Emily Smith / The Wrap:

Media experts and former CNN executives say CEO Mark Thompson needs to cut costs as he remakes the network, and some top anchor salaries will likely be pruned — As the cable network suffers ongoing dismal ratings, Thompson needs to cut costs — including $50 million in on-air talent

Discussion: @durgaraghunath, Poynter, @mendlovitzmark, @jackshafer, @johnnydollar01, Simon Owens on LinkedIn, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman and Poynter

Eduardo Suárez / Reuters Institute:

Q&A with AG Sulzberger on becoming the NYT publisher, what he misses about being a reporter, the NYT's goal of reaching 15M subscribers by 2025, and more — In this exclusive interview, he discusses his role in shaping the paper and preserving its values

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, @thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io, @jeffjarvis, Jeff Jarvis on LinkedIn, Marcia Parker on LinkedIn, @nancylevine, @risj_oxford, @aaronhuertas_de@threads.net, @kennethpvogel@threads.net, @rasmus_kleis, Mediaite, @eduardosuarez, The Hill and Politico

Samantha Chery / Washington Post:

Polk Awards: The New York Times and ProPublica both win three awards, Vice News wins for Television Reporting, Reuters wins for Business Reporting, and more — Now in its 75th year, the George Polk Awards for journalism honors stories from 2023 about wars in Ukraine and the Middle East …

Discussion: @newyorker, @davecclarke, @picardonhealth, @susan_advocate, @streetsblognyc, @cabbagetv, @dataylor1, @Nonilex@masto.ai, @janebsinger, @cezary, @dicktofel, Long Island University and New York Times

Max Tani / Semafor:

A look at efforts by pro-Israel groups such as the 10/7 Project to discredit journalists like WaPo's Louisa Loveluck, who they deem to be biased against Israel — The Scoop — Pro-Israel groups, deeply critical of American news outlets such as the Washington Post over their coverage of the war in Gaza …

Discussion: @elivalley, @fkamiah17@toot.wales, @emmavigeland, @tobiaschneider, @levinejonathan, @mehdirhasan, @semafor, @elizondogabriel, @heminator, @daveweigel and @onyadon

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The UK's National Association of Press Agencies criticizes News UK for its freelance rates remaining unchanged in 40 years; The Sun pays £20 for a news in brief — The Sun pays from £10 for a picture used online and £20 for a print news in brief.

Discussion: @pressgazette, @charliemoloney, @pressgazette, @mediaguy19, @propertyjourn, @etansmallman, @pressgazette and @ruthbushi

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:

AI-generated biographies, often riddled with gross grammatical and factual errors, are appearing for sale online soon after the death of well-known people — Books — often riddled with gross grammatical and factual errors — are appearing for sale online soon after the death of well-known people.

Discussion: Don Heymann on LinkedIn and @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The UK agrees to add safeguards to the “Snoopers' Charter”, requiring spy agencies to get an independent review before searching for journalistic material — Spy agencies will now need to secure independent review before searching for journalistic material.

Discussion: @pressgazette, @pressgazette and National Union of Journalists …

Jude Rogers / The Guardian:

Q&A with BBC Disinformation & Social Media Correspondent Marianna Spring on her book Among the Trolls, being the target of 80% of BBC's online abuse, and more — The broadcaster on dealing with abuse, the power of the Barbie movie, and watching Spurs with her dad

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:

Sources: the EU plans to fine Apple around €500M for allegedly breaking EU law over access to music streaming services, following a 2019 complaint by Spotify — Move is culmination of long-running European Commission antitrust probe after a complaint by Spotify

Clay Risen / New York Times:

William Beecher, who as a NYT reporter revealed President Nixon's secret bombing campaign over Cambodia and Pulitzer Prize winner, died on February 9 at age 90 — His New York Times scoop enraged the Nixon White House, which ordered a tap on his phone. He later won a Pulitzer Prize at The Boston Globe.

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 11:55 PM ET, February 19, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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:

J. Kim Murphy / Variety:
Apple says Masters of the Air was Apple TV+'s most-watched series launch ever and viewership across the service rose 65% globally vs. the prior seven-day period

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us, 9to5Mac and Screen Rant

The Economic Times:
The Misinformation Combat Alliance and Meta plan to launch a dedicated fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp in India so users can flag deepfakes for analysis

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Ofcom launches an impartiality investigation into UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's participation on GB News' People's Forum, after receiving ~500 complaints

Discussion: The Guardian, @paulbernaluk, @carolvorders, Deadline, @ofcom, Mediaite, Financial Times, @arusbridger, @peterstefanovi2, Bloomberg and Guido Fawkes

Laura Oliver / Nieman Lab:
Ukraine's 2402 Foundation blends VR tools with other teaching methods to offer safety training for journalists, and has trained ~500 since the Russian war began

Discussion: @niemanlab, @lauraoliver and 2402 Fund

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: ABC News President Kim Godwin has become a polarizing figure inside the network, as critics say she is failing to rise up to challenges facing the unit

Discussion: @wsjbusiness, @thesimonetti, @jbflint, @jbflint, @benmillermke and @jbflint

Earlier Picks:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Amazon aims to debut a Roger Federer movie in July around Wimbledon, adding to sports documentary programming that includes Travis Kelce and Barry Sanders films

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, @benrothenberg, The Hollywood Reporter, @sarthakgh, @sportstvratings, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @technology, Barrett Media and Awful Announcing

Sarah Ellison / Washington Post:
Current and ex-staff and experts say Sinclair stokes its audience's fears, with views that align with Trump, and David Smith wants the same at The Baltimore Sun

Discussion: @davidakin@mstdn.ca, @emmettoconnell@mas.to, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @anelsona, @colmoedavis, @sarahellison, @kennysmith.bsky.social, @kennysmith@mstdn.social, Stephanie Campbell on LinkedIn and @kbode@threads.net

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
A look at the expansion plans of LeBron James' SpringHill, which makes most of its $200M in revenue from creating sponsored short videos for advertisers

Discussion: @benpershing, @masterkey0413, Barry Dan on LinkedIn, Danny Weisman on LinkedIn, Devin Johnson on LinkedIn, Jessica Toonkel on LinkedIn, Aaron Holbert on LinkedIn, Matt Rissmiller on LinkedIn, @isaiahfreedman3, @kingjames and The Ankler

Amy Or / Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit signed a deal early in 2024, worth ~$60M on an annualized basis, allowing a large unnamed AI company to train its models on Reddit's content

From Techmeme:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta adds Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security adviser to Trump in his first term, and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison to its board

Ellen O'Regan / Politico:
Ireland's DPC opens an investigation into how personal data in public X posts was used to train xAI's Grok, which could stoke tensions between the EU and the US

Anton Shilov / Tom's Hardware:
China exempts products from AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, and others that are made by Taiwanese companies like TSMC from the 125% tariff on US products

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