Mediagazer: Workers in G/O Media's union urge the company's private-equity owners to replace CEO Jim Spanfeller, claiming his leadership led to less traffic, more turnover (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

12:45 PM ET, January 14, 2020

Top News:

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Google says it will phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome within two years — Google's Chrome team, advancing its web privacy effort, later this year will begin testing the “privacy sandbox” proposals it unveiled in 2019. The Chrome tests, which Google announced Tuesday …

Discussion: Digiday, Chromium Blog, AdExchanger, Adweek, TechCrunch, NBC News, MediaPost, ZDNet, @justinschuh, @davegehring, @jason_kint and @larakiara, more at Techmeme »

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Annette Thomas named CEO of Guardian Media Group, parent company of the Guardian and the Observer; she will start in March — Annette Thomas will take up role at Guardian and Observer parent company in March — The former head of one of the world's largest specialist publishers …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, The Guardian, Press Gazette, MediaPost, The Drum, @rydermc, @annettekthomas1 and @rasmus_kleis

The New York Times Company:

NYT passes $800M in annual digital revenue, a category of revenue it's doubled since 2015, adds 1M+ net digital subscriptions, has 5M+ overall subscriptions — - It passed its goal of $800 million of annual digital revenue a year ahead of schedule. In 2015, when digital revenue was around $400 million …

Discussion: @markhorowitz, @edmundlee, @scribeguy, @abgutman and @cliffordlevy

Joshua Benton / @jbenton:

[Thread] A rebuttal of Lawrence Lessig's newly filed lawsuit against the NYT, in which he alleges that a headline and opening paragraph in a story defames him — This is just so disappointing: @lessig is suing The New York Times for the new legal category of “clickbait defamation.” 1/x https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: Medium, USA Today, The Verge, @mathewi, @jeffjarvis, @tmurphynz, @nilofer, @amyhoy, @jayrosen_nyu, @dancow, @nycsouthpaw, @jennycohn1, @moorehn, @xeni, @monteiro, @karlbode, @kerrymflynn, @obarcala, @biellacoleman, @ncweaver, @astepanovich, @mmasnick, @onekade, @fordm, @theophite, @chanders, @biellacoleman, @digiphile, @rodboydilm, VICE, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Wrap and The Hill

Bethany Minelle / Sky News:

2020 Oscars nominees are the least diverse since the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite backlash, with no female best director nominees and only one black nominee for acting — It's the least diverse line-up since the #OscarsSoWhite backlash in 2015, after which the academy diversified their membership.

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Netflix leads Oscars with 24 nominations, in part due to The Irishman's 10 nods, including best picture; Disney came second with 23 nods, followed by Sony's 20

Discussion: @barackobama, Deadline, Variety, @billywaynedavis, @blakehounshell, The Playlist and Variety

Patrick Cremona / Radio Times:
Joker leads Oscars with 11 nods including best picture, becoming the most nominated comic-book movie ever, surpassing The Dark Night's 8 nominations in 2009

Discussion: Slate, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post

Anna Orso / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Lisa Hughes named publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the first woman to head the newspaper; Hughes was formerly VP publisher of the New Yorker — The Philadelphia Inquirer announced Tuesday its chief executive officer, publisher Terrance C.Z. “Terry” Egger, will retire and be replaced next month …

Discussion: Lenfest Institute …, @dmastrull, @notesfromhel, @joshk and @s_m_i

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Workers in G/O Media's union urge the company's private-equity owners to replace CEO Jim Spanfeller, claiming his leadership led to less traffic, more turnover — The employees, who work for websites including Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Jezebel, say that the management has led to decreased readership and increased turnover

Discussion: @tomscocca, @gabrielsnyder, @vksmith, @chronotope, @benmullin, @kevinmdraper, @annamerlan, @libbycwatson, @annamerlan, @timmarchman and @_grendan

Guy Faulconbridge / Reuters:

Declassified docs: UK government secretly funded Reuters in 60s and 70s as part of its anti-Soviet propaganda efforts, via increased BBC subscription payments — LONDON (Reuters) - The British government secretly funded Reuters in the 1960s and 1970s at the behest of an anti-Soviet propaganda unit linked …

Discussion: @jeremyduns, @margarita, @emilybell and BBC

Howard Polskin / Columbia Journalism Review:

Profile of NewsBusters, a website with dozens of contributors that watch national news media and write about the segments they allege show bias toward liberals — Every morning at seven, Kyle Drennen, thirty-four, settles into his living room in suburban Fairfax, Virginia, with a bowl of cereal and turns on NBC.

Discussion: American Press Institute, @cjr and @mathewi

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Spotify signs global licensing agreement with Warner Music's publishing firm, making its music available in India, ending a year-long dispute — Spotify is ending its year-long dispute with Warner Music. The world's largest music streaming service said on Tuesday that it has inked …

Discussion: The Economic Times, Music Business Worldwide and @richlightshed, more at Techmeme »

Jiri Skacel / Reuters:

Former soldier admitted killing Slovakian investigative journalist Jan Kuciak two years ago in court on Monday — PEZINOK, Slovakia (Reuters) - A former soldier admitted in court on Monday killing a Slovakian journalist whose murder two years ago led to anti-corruption protests that brought …

Discussion: Press Gazette

David Cohen / Adweek:

Pandora debuts Test & Tune, a suite of audience measurement tools in open beta that provide insights into campaigns' effectiveness while they are underway — The audio-streaming platform has rolled out the feature in open beta — Audio-streaming platform Pandora has a new way for advertisers to track campaigns.

Discussion: MediaPost

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More News:

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Tribune says it's offering voluntary buyouts to staff with eight or more years of service, to avoid “company-wide reductions of the workforce as a last resort”

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Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Profile of Brianne Pfannenstiel, The Des Moines Register's chief political correspondent, whose role is pivotal in part due to the importance of the Iowa caucus

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Matt Stieb / New York Magazine:
President Trump tweeted on Sunday that Iran should “let reporters roam free”, in a rare show of support for the press

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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Fox Television Stations debuts Fox Soul, an ad-based online channel aimed at African Americans with live original talk and informational shows from 6-10PM PT

Discussion: The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Broadcasting & Cable, The Streamable and Deadline

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Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Behind the bipartisan bill that would exempt news orgs from antitrust laws to let them band together in negotiating with tech giants

Discussion: @derekwillis, @nytmedia, @vwpickard, @repdougcollins, American Press Institute, @alecstapp, @s_m_i, @bgrueskin, @repcicilline, @scottwongdc, @flitteronfraud, @davidhulen, @stanfordc and The Rural Blog

Mariella Brown / Society of Editors:
Every national UK newspaper editor and several regional and broadcast editors sign an open letter calling on Boris Johnson to review changes to daily briefings

Discussion: @jimwaterson, @markdistef, @mattkmoore, @markpack and @adambanksdotcom

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
In an interview with Laura Ingraham, Trump says he's been talking to “a very, very good writer, reporter”, Bob Woodward, for an upcoming book

Discussion: Melville House Books, @jsccounterpunch, bookforum.com, The Guardian, Poynter and Mediaite

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Study: 53% of international publishers say daily news podcasts will be important in 2020, and 50% say reader revenue will be the most important income source

Discussion: @jeffjarvis, @kate_musgrave, @risj_oxford, @ronaldvasquezg8 and @adriana_lacy

From Techmeme:

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

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
The US Senate reauthorizes FISA's Section 702; some communication service providers had threatened to stop cooperating with the US government in case of a lapse

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

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