Top News:
New York Times:
The NBC News-Ronna McDaniel saga highlights the perks and perils of partisan talk TV; a source says McDaniel is now seeking $600K+ for her two year deal — Why are television news networks so enamored with paid Beltway analysts? — Trying to juice ratings in an election year …
Discussion:
Media Nation, NPR, @nhannahjones, The Guardian, Mediaite, Fox News, New York Post, Raw Story, Politico, CNN, TVLine, Forbes, The Wrap and The Daily Beast
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Max Tani / Semafor:
Some NBC News staff raise concerns that the hiring and firing of Ronna McDaniel will damage relationships with GOP sources, making breaking news more difficult
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Wrap, Fox News, New York Post, @karol, New York Times, Fast Company, @mikeelgan, @nedryun, @gregtsargent, @johnnydollar01, @josephzeballos, @nedryun, @newsjennifer, @asmith83, @jayrosen_nyu, @thepacketrat, @maxwelltani, Politico, Reason, Vanity Fair, @sfdb@mastodon.social, @alex@masto.digittante.com, @GreenFire@mstdn.social, @wademinter.com, HuffPost, Mediaite, Financial Times, @MikeElgan@mastodon.social, Reuters, CNN and The Desk
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
The Atlantic is profitable, has 1M subscribers, and revenue grew 10% in 2023 thanks to a 50% price hike, a harder paywall, and a shift to in-depth reporting — Storied magazine raised subscription prices and hired top talent; ‘we make something worth buying’
Discussion:
The Atlantic
Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land:
Google blocked or removed 5.5B ads and 12.7M advertiser accounts for violating its policies in 2023, up from 5.2B ads and 6.7M advertiser accounts in 2022 — The number of advertisers who were blocked or removed due to policy violations nearly doubled compared to the previous year. — Chat with SearchBot
Discussion:
The Wrap, @vera_community, 9to5Google, @google, The Keyword and The Indian Express, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Karlie Kloss' Bedford buys Life publication rights from Dotdash Meredith and plans to resume regular print publication in 2025; Josh Kushner will be publisher — The investor Josh Kushner and his wife, Karlie Kloss, have struck a deal with Barry Diller's media company to revive it as a regular print title.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Reach plans to move 300 of its 2,000 journalists into central traffic-driving content hub to reduce the number of journalists writing similar stories — The proposed hub will end duplication as multiple journalists at different Reach websites currently write about the same trending topics.
Discussion:
HoldtheFrontPage
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Actor Sara Poyzer says BBC is using AI instead of her voice in a documentary; the BBC says it is to recreate the voice of a dying person at a family's behest — UPDATE: The BBC has issued a statement that offers important context to Sara Poyzer's viral social media posts.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Guardian, @matthewg_yoga, @nathanwyburnart, Daily Mail, Rolling Stone, The Drum, The Hollywood Reporter, @sarapoyzer and The Daily Beast
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
BuzzFeed signs an agreement licensing the UK and Ireland operations of HuffPost, Tasty, Seasoned, and BuzzFeed to the Independent, which ~30 staff will join — - Deal also includes UK arms of HuffPost, Tasty and Seasoned — BuzzFeed's share price has gained after job cuts, asset sales
Discussion:
Press Gazette, BuzzFeed and The Independent
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
After more than nine years, London's Met Police apologize and settle with three journalists who were stopped from covering a Black Lives Matter protest in 2014 — The Metropolitan Police has settled with three journalists detained and stopped from covering a Black Lives Matter protest in London in 2014.
Discussion:
Mediaite, @jasonnparkinson, @nujofficial, Freedom of the Press … and National Union of Journalists …
Amrita Khalid / The Verge:
YouTube says 25%+ of Partner Program channels earn money from Shorts; of those who joined the program thanks to Shorts, 80% earn from other parts of YouTube — One year after YouTube turned on revenue sharing for its shortform video feature, a growing chunk of creators are getting paid for it.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, CNN, YouTube Official Blog, Fast Company, 9to5Google and Engadget
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The BBC unveils its 2024/25 Annual Plan: a £492M deficit, up 40% YoY, £3.8B in license fee income, and an 8% increase in content spending to £3.2B — The BBC's financial deficit is projected to reach nearly £500M next year as the corporation delivers what it has described as a “transformational budget.”
Discussion:
@pressgazette, @back_the_bbc, BBC, Advanced Television, The Hollywood Reporter and @jake_kanter
Li Yuan / New York Times:
A profile of Wang Xiaoshuai, who decided to defy China's censors by screening his latest film, Above the Dust, in Berlin, despite orders to withdraw it — “I always strive for creative freedom,” Wang Xiaoshuai said. “But it's become impossible because of the circumstances.”
Discussion:
@liyuan6
The Wrap:
Sources: ex-Vice chief Shane Smith is trying to raise money to buy Vice Media back from Fortress, which led a group that bought Vice out of bankruptcy in 2023 — When Vice cofounder Shane Smith disappeared from public view five years ago, it seemed about time.
Discussion:
@sharonwaxman, @thewrap, @tomgara, @rolandsmartin and @kennysmith@mstdn.social
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