Mediagazer: How TikTok has influenced US culture and shaped Hollywood, news, music, shopping, political campaigns, national security, and more (New York Times)

2:00 AM ET, April 21, 2024

Top News:

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Post.News, the news-focused social platform launched in 2022 that offered micropayments to publishers, is shutting down after failing to grow “fast enough” — Post News, a Twitter alternative that emerged in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, is shutting down.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @crumbler@threads.net, @J12t@social.coop, @lessin, @bluesky, @josh@josh.tel, Media Nation, @polotek@social.polotek.net, @cardamomaddict@mstdn.ca, @stop@threads.net, @Hey_Beth@sfba.social, @SteveThompson@mastodon.social, @hellodavidryan@threads.net, @NevadaWolf@birds.town and @timothyjchambers@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Michael Msika / Bloomberg:

PE firm Blackstone offers ~$1.5B to purchase Hipgnosis, about 7% higher than the bid made earlier this week by Concord to which Hipgnosis' board had agreed — - Competition heats up for Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs catalog owner — Hipgnosis already recommended Apollo-backed Concord's offer

Discussion: Digital Music News, Variety, Financial Times, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard and Reuters

Ruth La Ferla / New York Times:

Graydon Carter opens a physical store called Air Mail Newsstand in NYC, as an extension of his digital newsletter Air Mail, selling books, magazines, and more — Shoe horns, lampshades and CBD-infused elixirs are among the goods Graydon Carter is selling at a new newsstand-style shop in New York.

Discussion: @nbj914, Harrison Vail on LinkedIn and Showbiz411

Clara Aberneithie / Press Gazette:

A look at The Cool Down, a climate-focused news outlet that makes $5M in programmatic advertising per year and aims to increase it to $12M per year in 2025 — The Cool Down is the fastest-growing top 50 news website in the US. — A US news website taking a positive approach to coverage …

Discussion: Reuters Institute

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

The Trump campaign has denied press credentials for several reporters, often after tough questions or articles; in 2016, it denied them for entire news outlets — Reporters from The Washington Post, Axios, and Vanity Fair have recently been rejected, though blanket bans, à la 2016, don't appear to be happening.

Discussion: @civex, @mlcalderone and @curtishouck

Stephanie Kaloi / The Wrap:

New York passes a first-of-its-kind employment tax credit plan to support independent news outlets in the state, offering $30M in yearly credits for three years — The plan aims to support independent news organizations with three years of funding — The New York state Legislature passed …

Discussion: The NewsGuild, Editor and Publisher, @stevenwaldman, Rebuild Local News and @stevenwaldman

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's 2023 compensation package was worth $49.7M, up 26.5% from the year prior, with $23.1M in stock awards — David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had a 2023 pay package worth $49.7 million, up 26.5% from the year prior …

New York Times:

How TikTok has influenced US culture and shaped Hollywood, news, music, shopping, political campaigns, national security, and more — Has there ever been an app more American seeming than TikTok, with its messy democratic creativity, exhibitionism, utter lack of limits and vast variety of hustlers?

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:

Interviews with over a dozen current and former WAMU staffers and contractors show management's contradictory, unclear messaging about its closure of DCist — The star-crossed marriage of Washington's NPR member station and a feisty digital news publication came to an abrupt end in February.

Discussion: @southpaw_radio@threads.net, @kcivey@mastodon.social, @wesleylowery, @acdha@thepit.social, @combs@mastodon.art and @srepetsk@dmv.community

Todd Spangler / Variety:

A consultant sues Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, alleging he is owed “several million dollars” for work he did for the company's $370M Redbox deal — A media consultant sued Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, alleging he is owed “at least several million dollars” …

Discussion: @xpangler and @variety

Lola Fadulu / New York Times:

Nicholas Welker, leader of a white supremacist group who admitted to posting a death threat against a Brooklyn journalist, is sentenced to 44 months in prison — Nicholas Welker admitted posting the death threat, which was meant to to silence coverage of the extremist group he led, prosecutors said.

Discussion: New York Daily News, @pressfreedom, @egavactip, Brooklyn Eagle and US Department of Justice

Charlie Smart / New York Times:

A look at the media diets of jurors and alternates in Trump's trial, based on a questionnaire; 13 of 18 get news from The NYT, 5 from Google, and 2 from TikTok — Prosecutors and defense lawyers tried to divine the political leanings of prospective jurors in the former president's Manhattan criminal trial …

Discussion: @tomgara, New Yorker, NPR, @jackhealynyt, @awzurcher, @jbenton, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Metro.co.uk and Slate

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More News:

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
Sesame Workshop writers reach a tentative deal with management, narrowly avoiding a strike; the 35 WGA members will vote to ratify the deal in the coming days

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, @wgaeast, The A.V. Club, NPR, Writers Guild of America …, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter

Nathan Grayson / Aftermath:
The New York Times' thriving games business prompts others to try to replicate its success, such as with Hearst's acquisition of Puzzmo, but games coverage lags

Discussion: @vahn16, @vahn16, @slhamlet, @jason_koebler, @vahn16, @vahn16, @chaykak, @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social and Digiday

Jay Allred / @jayallred651:
[Thread] The California Journalism Protection Act is good for big media and hedge funds like Alden, but not for indie local outlets like the Richland Source

Discussion: @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651 and @jayallred651

Liam Scott / Voice of America:
The USAGM names former Washington Post journalist Michael Abramowitz as the director of VOA, overseeing 48 language services reaching ~354M people weekly

Discussion: Freedom House, New York Times, @VOANews@mastodon.social and USAGM

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
At a town hall, GB News CEO announced job cuts affecting 40 roles, its first major round of cuts after its 2021 launch; GB News had 295 staffers in May 2023

Discussion: @jimcognito2016, @brucel, @brucelawson@social …, @sirpeterpurvis, @petebritish, @smartin and The i Paper

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Inside the turmoil at UK-based nonprofit newsroom Open Democracy, whose leadership team says it could have been insolvent by June without 40% cost cuts

Discussion: @jdowsea, @martinjdocherty, @adamramsay, @pressgazette and @pressgazette

Earlier Picks:

Megan Specia / New York Times:
RSF: London has become a “hot spot” of transnational threats against Iranian journalists, including from Iranian government, its proxies, and opposition groups

Discussion: Nikos Panagiotou on LinkedIn, Reporters Without Borders and r/Journalism

Sharon Goldman / Fortune:
A look at LinkedIn's Collaborative Articles, a collection of over 10M work-related Q&A articles, as many users claim the tips are low-quality and AI-generated

Discussion: @sharongoldman, @alexcristache, Feisal Nanji on LinkedIn and Ken Y. on LinkedIn

Wall Street Journal:
UK ICO internal draft: Google's Privacy Sandbox must do more and leaves gaps that can be exploited to undermine the privacy of users who should remain anonymous

Discussion: The Information, @eff@mastodon.social, @jason_kint and @jason_kint

Ben Burgis / Jacobin:
A deep look at the reasons behind the ongoing strike at The Long Beach Post, including layoffs after staffers voted to form a union

Discussion: @lilithsaintcrow …, HuffPost, @jacobin, @lbmguild, @lbmguild and @benburgis

David Ingram / NBC News:
Hyundai says it is pausing ads on X, after one ad appeared next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content; the ad appeared on a user profile that had 55K+ followers

Discussion: Boing Boing, MediaPost, @markjacob16, @rolandsmartin, @nancylevine, CNN, NBC News, Reuters, ADOTAT with Pesach Lattin !, @scottbudman@threads.net, @goatburgler@threads.net and The Hill

New York Times:
Sources: Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo discussed a joint all-cash offer for Paramount, which is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance

From Techmeme:

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Bluesky confirms Jack Dorsey's departure from its board and says it is searching for a new board member

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Meta launches quote post controls for all Threads users, who can allow quotes from everyone on Threads, only the people they follow, or disable quote posts

Tara Copp / Associated Press:
US Air Force plans a fleet of 1,000+ AI-controlled jets, the first of them operating by 2028; some AI versions already beat human pilots in air-to-air combat

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