Mediagazer: Twitter accounts for celebrities and media figures lose followers after NYT probe into firm that sold followers and as officials call for scrutiny of practice (New York Times)

10:15 PM ET, January 31, 2018

Top News:

Darren Rovell / ESPN:

21st Century Fox wins 5-year contract for NFL's Thursday Night Football in deal sources say is worth $660M+/year; streaming rights to be sold in next few weeks — Thursday Night Football is changing networks once again. — The NFL announced Wednesday morning that the package will go to Fox for the next five seasons.

Richard Nieva / CNET:

Mark Zuckerberg says showing fewer viral videos reduced the total time people spent on Facebook by ~50M hours every day, as MAUs reach 2.13B, up 14% YoY — The world's biggest social network is almost minting money, but Mark Zuckerberg has warned news feed changes could hurt business.

Discussion: Facebook, CNBC, The Wrap, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, New York Times, Recode, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, Recode, Variety and @anthony, more at Techmeme »

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:

Twitter now says 1.4M+ US users interacted with tweets from Russia-linked accounts during 2016 election, up from 670K previously announced, has notified them — Twitter on Wednesday said it notified 1.4 million people in the US that they engaged with Kremlin-linked troll accounts during the 2016 US election.

Discussion: @cfarivar, @kantrowitz, TechCrunch, @markseibel, Recode, Engadget and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Twitter accounts for celebrities and media figures lose followers after NYT probe into firm that sold followers and as officials call for scrutiny of practice — Federal and state authorities are investigating the sellers of artificial followers and other fraudulent social media engagement.

Discussion: Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, @wexler, @grantstern, @alicialutes, @peterwsinger, @shoq, @nickconfessore, @briankrebs, @rasmus_kleis, @mathewi, @anthony, @nickconfessore and New York Magazine

Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:

Memo: The Hill bars staffers from buying Twitter followers after NYT report on Devumi selling fake followers — The Hill announced to its staffers Wednesday morning that employees are now prohibited from purchasing Twitter followers. The new rule, conveyed via an internal memo obtained by The Daily Beast …

Discussion: The Ringer, @maxwelltani, @charles_gaba, @klasfeldreports, Adweek, One Man & His Blog, Gizmodo and MediaNama

Jim Bankoff / Vox Media:

Memo: Vox CEO Jim Bankoff says company hit its financial targets for 2017, says hiring growth will slow in 2018, and hints at some projects being “scaled back” — Vox Media Chairman & CEO Jim Bankoff on an era where quality, scale and sustainability matter more than ever.

Discussion: @mikeisaac, Business Insider, @plante, @jayrosen_nyu, @petersontee, @jonsteinberg, @jason_kint, @hollygressley, @petersontee, @voxmediainc, @lmoses, @gavinpurcell, @mattyglesias, @sarafischer, @charlie_l_hall and @jeremymbarr

Vanity Fair:

Alt-right personality Mike Cernovich has made a $500K bid for Gawker's assets — A leaked pitch deck shows how Cernovich would turn Gawker into a platform for his media ambitions—and, perhaps, a cudgel to get back at a site that once called him a “D-list right-winger.”

Discussion: Freedom of the Press …, @freedomofpress, @internetarchive, @jacremes, @boston_dsa, @nonwhitehat, Wonkette, Fast Company, @cernovich, @katiedrumm, Mediaite, The Wrap, @jordansarge, @willsommer, @crislopezg and @tina_nguyen

James Warren / Poynter:

Memo: Jeffrey Good, an executive editor at New England-based Pioneer Valley Newspaper group, said he was fired for advocating equal pay for female employees — Jeffrey Good, executive editor of Newspapers of New England's Pioneer Valley Newspaper group, said he's been fired for advocating equal pay for women employees.

Discussion: @jackhevans, @claire_bushey, Jezebel, @williams_paige, @taylormtelford, @drewharwell, @ajfriedenberger, @davis7d, @jessicayellin, @lisagartner, @monaeltahawy, @mattwaite, @karenmcgrane, @dabeard and @poynter

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Meredith CEO Tom Harty says editorial staff face no changes yet at Time Inc. as Meredith takes over; Time Inc. CEO Rich Battista, other top executives to leave — Meredith is moving in. — The $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc. becomes final on Jan. 31, and Meredith officially takes over Feb. 1.

Discussion: @davidzmorris, @abbywestnyc, Vanity Fair and TVWeek.com

John Koblin / New York Times:

Netflix resumed production of the sixth season of House of Cards on Tuesday, after a three-month hiatus following Kevin Spacey allegations and firing from show — Kevin Spacey is out. Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear are in. — The sixth and final season of “House of Cards” …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, The New York Observer, Mashable, Vanity Fair, /Film, Washington Post, Consequence of Sound, @joeconchatv, @angryblacklady, @mikiebarb and @koblin

Alex Balk / The Awl:

The Awl, born in 2009 from the idea that intelligent readers wanted resonant, weird, and amusing news and ideas, has now passed away; archives survive — The Awl was born of the following thoughts: What if there were a website with a wealth of resonant, weird, important, frightening and amusing bits of news and ideas?

Discussion: Boing Boing, @snackwave_julie, @andrewlavallee, @mishaangrist, @johndelsignore, @casey_cac, @tcarmody and @jyarvin

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

BBC Director-General Tony Hall says the corporation made a “mistake” in failing to review Carrie Gracie's salary as China editor — Tony Hall appears in London's House of Commons in a public evidence session along with other top executives of the public broadcaster and former China editor Carrie Gracie.

BBC:
Speaking to MPs, Carrie Gracie said the BBC offered her £100K in back pay and said she hadn't earned as much as male colleagues because she was “in development”

Discussion: Chorley Citizen, Press Association, @girlinbeijing, @bbckarishma, The Guardian, The Guardian, @markdistef, @jamesworldnews, @janemartinson, Chorley Citizen, Daily Mail, @christineelmer and BBC

Om Malik:

Decline in ratings for the Grammy Awards, down 24% from 2017, shows how media consumption has moved away from long TV shows, especially for shows about music — According to the Wall Street Journal, television viewership for the 60th Grammy Awards was down 24 percent from 2017 …

Discussion: @steverubel, @marccanter4real, CNNMoney, Deadline and Variety

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:15 PM ET, January 31, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — WaPo

EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, NY — Guardian US

Harrisburg Reporter, PA — PCBC

Senior Editor - Styles, NY — NYT

Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

Assistant Digital Editor, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Markets Reporter, NY/CA — Sherwood Media

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

Pharma Editor, Remote — Endpoints

Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — EdSource

Politics Reporter, Brussels — Politico

Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

Social Strategy Editor, NY — WSJ

Senior Narrative Editor, CA — Cloud Chamber

Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

Housing Reporter, OK — The Frontier

Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — Outlier

Writer/Editor, Remote — Mediaite

Multi Media Reporter, NC — Cardinal & Pine

Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — Keene Sentinel

Education Lab Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Senior Editor, Remote US — PCWorld

State Worker Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Executive Editor, NM — Searchlight

News Assistant, NY — Quanta Magazine

Local Editor, NJ (Remote) — Patch

News Writer, CA — Hollywood Reporter

News Editor/Reporter, KS — Blade-Empire

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:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Pandora announces restructuring, shifting resources to ad tech and audience development, cutting workforce by 5% to save $45M annually, will expand in Atlanta

Discussion: MediaPost, Radio & Television …, US Securities …, Business Insider, TechCrunch, MarketWatch, Radio Ink, @conorsen, AdExchanger and @urvaksh, more at Techmeme »

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
How advertising, which funds just about everything online, is also the villain driving terrible stuff on the Internet, and fixes so far are just piecemeal

Discussion: Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check

Variety:
YouTube TV buys rights to games for Los Angeles Football Club, a new MLS team, with about 18 games to be exclusive on a channel for LA-based subscribers only

Discussion: Engadget and @reshmanuel

Silvia Killingsworth / The Awl:
An administrative error at Gizmodo Media Group led to newsroom staffers learning that Felix Salmon was earning $400K+ before he left Fusion

Henry C. Jackson / Politico:
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton criticized the NYT over its handling of Glenn Thrush's case, while responding to a story about an aide accused of sexual misconduct

Discussion: @cgasparino

Columbia Journalism Review:
When CJR asked readers to tell their stories of harassment in the newsroom, 300+ responded - and the magazine has published each one

Discussion: @juliaccarpenter, @hansenkarenm, @heidigroover, @c_chisholm, @sydbrownstone, @aimeelevitt, @c_chisholm, @mdlaplante, @cjr, @sesmith, @lauren_kelley, @nausjcaa, @rasmus_kleis, @jon_allsop, @alexandrianeas, @cjr, @kylepope and @jmsummers

Earlier Picks:

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Q&A with Dipayan Ghosh, former Facebook adviser, on how political disinformation is succeeding because of the digital advertising market

Discussion: The Guardian, Recode, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, Slate, Fast Company, @loullysaney and @caseynewton, more at Techmeme »

Agence France-Presse:
Foreign correspondents in China are increasingly facing interference from officials, with 1 in 12 of those surveyed claiming they were manhandled or punched

Discussion: @wang_maya

Patrick Frater / Variety:
HBO will launch in Japan on Amazon Prime Video on April 1, with the first six seasons of Game of Thrones and ~50 other past and current shows available

Discussion: FierceCable

Miranda Katz / Wired:
Podcasters first look at Apple's Podcast Analytics data shows listeners are highly engaged, with many listening to 80-90% of shows, and prefer longer formats

Discussion: @justinspratt, @mims, @jeroedeb, @marcoarment, @ezraklein, @ataussig, Fast Company and RAIN News

Yimian Wu / China Money Network:
Bytedance, operator of Chinese news app Toutiao, sues Baidu for unfair competition, claims Baidu deliberately places negative news about Toutiao in top results

Discussion: ecns, TechNode, South China Morning Post and globaltimes.cn

Chad Bray / New York Times:
Private equity firm Blackstone buys 55% stake in Thomson Reuters financial and risk division, valuing the unit at $20B including debt

Discussion: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters, Reuters and @dnvolz

From Techmeme:

George Steer / Financial Times:
Nvidia closed down 10% on Friday, falling the most since March 2020 and losing more than $200B of its market value, as investors pull back from AI bets

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

James Hunt / The Block:
Bitcoin's fourth halving is now complete, lowering miners' block subsidy rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC; the third halving was on May 2020

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