Mediagazer: TikTok launches its first personalized annual recap feature, “Year on TikTok”, which highlights what sort of videos were watched the most, favorite tracks, more (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

12:00 PM ET, December 21, 2020

Top News:

Stephanie Clifford / Elle:

Profile of ex-Bloomberg reporter Christie Smythe, who quit her job and divorced her husband after she fell in love with the man she was covering, Martin Shkreli — Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world?

Discussion: @ellemagazine, Fox News, Business Insider, The Guardian, The Wrap, @manymanywords, @stephcliff, @mattzeitlin, @thedailybeast, @skenigsberg, Mediaite, New York Post, @alexrkonrad, @mathewi, @kira_lerner, @katierosman, UPROXX, @shwinyo, @christiesmythe, @moorehn, @jillfilipovic, @zunguzungu, @roywoodjr, @carigervin, @elaheizadi, @bendreyfuss, @tylerdinucci, @zeddary, @liamstack, @soledadobrien, @jourdynberry, @meandmydogtoo, @taylorlorenz, @ec_schneider, @sawyerhackett, @mattikovler, @kellykeegs, @bendreyfuss, @brianstelter, @moorehn, @jbillinson, @dlippman, @zeitchikwapo, @alishagrauso, @bendreyfuss, @angryblacklady, @jenashleywright, @christiesmythe, @offbeatorbit, @drea_carmen, @jessicahuseman, @dave_schilling, @joeperticone, @beijingpalmer, @otraletra, @amber_athey, @notcapnamerica, @christiesmythe, @ashleyfeinberg, @taylorlorenz, @maxwelltani, @oneunderscore__, @annamerlan, @dansolomon, @phil_lewis_, @tomgara, @megan, @lindseyadler, @alexheard, @annamerlan, @arreglalo, @daisandconfused, @caseyjohnston, @taylorlorenz, Law & Crime, @asteadwesley, @jasonpinter, @jillfilipovic, @robbiese7en, @bgrueskin, @asteadwesley, @galaxiecarol, @socialistdogmom, @bigmeaninternet, @bykatesmith, @hels, @taylorlorenz, @mrsfridaynext, @nolamama69, @benyt, Jezebel, @modernistwitch, @elaheizadi, @christiesmythe, @jordanuhl, @christiesmythe, @majorphilebrity, @dierobinsondie, @bgrueskin, @ftrain, @hummusandpizza, @austen, @rebeccadobrien, @jessicakroy, @chrissyfarr, @harrysiegel, @carigervin, @karnythia, @christiesmythe, @jerrydunleavy, @maxwelltani, @asteadwesley, @kaylawebley, @sgurman, @theferocity, @ashleyrparker, @drrramina, @eekshecried, @lalasoo, @bendreyfuss, @fuggirls, @walterolson, @felixsalmon and Talking Biz News

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Voting machine companies including Smartmatic have hired high-powered libel lawyers and, legal experts say, have strong cases if they sue Fox, Newsmax, and OAN — Voting machine companies threaten “highly dangerous” cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo aired a fact-check of their own election conspiracies, after Smartmatic threatened legal action

Mike Fannin / The Kansas City Star:

Kansas City Star publishes a review of its 140-year history, finding coverage “disenfranchised, ignored, and scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians” — Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong. For 140 years, it has been one of the …

Discussion: New York Times, @kcstar, @mcclatchy, @ian__cummings, Washington Post, @stengel, @richarddeitsch, @kcnewsfan, @connieschultz, @kcstar, @joycewhitevance, @mcclatchy, The Hill, @donnabrazile, @angeljennings, @wesleylowery and @kat__stafford

The Guardian:

Citizen Lab: iPhones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists were hacked using software from NSO Group in an attack likely ordered by Saudi Arabia and UAE — Citizen Lab researchers say cyber-attack using NSO Group software likely ordered by Saudia Arabia and UAE

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:

Cyberpunk 2077's developer hamstrung reviewers by forcing NDAs and sending copies just days before launch to prevent players from seeing the buggy mess — Video game companies are increasingly putting restrictions on what reviewers can show, widening the gap between expectations and reality.

Washington Post:

The Washington Post announces expansion plans for 2021: new foreign bureaus in Sydney and Bogotá, breaking news hubs in London and Seoul, and more — The Washington Post will take new steps in 2021 to become a more global newsroom by creating breaking-news hubs in Europe and Asia.

Discussion: @karlaadam, @annemariebridy, @jamesrbuk, @kwoodsome, @jehld and @travislylesnews

Charles Kaiser / The Guardian:

Interview with Arthur Sulzberger Jr, who retires as NYT chairman this month, and AG Sulzberger about turning around the paper, keeping it in the family, more — Against the odds, a unique American institution has thrived. Its chairman is retiring but the paper will stay in the family

Discussion: @vivian, Context is King, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, @ckummer, @meslackman, @jswatz, @michaelluo, @andrewlavallee, @jswatz, @eckholm and @raju

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Substack now has over 250,000 paid subscribers and its top 10 publishers collectively earn more than $10M per year — Nearly every major app geared towards content creators has seen significant percentage increases in downloads this year, according to data from Apptopia.

Discussion: Trendslates eCommerce …, @sarafischer and @sarafischer, more at Techmeme »

Pranay Prabhat / NYT Open:

A look at the NYT's first-party data program for its direct-sold ads; NYT says ad campaigns that used it performed as well as those using third-party data — The New York Times launched an advertising data program for our direct-sold ads business that uses our own data and data science techniques.

Discussion: @nytopen

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Despite a few bright spots in local journalism like Charlotte Agenda, bought by Axios, and Daily Memphian, 55 news outlets have closed amid the pandemic — You would think that Adam Ganucheau would be feeling upbeat about the state of local journalism. — After all, Mississippi Today …

Discussion: @sulliview, @j_hancock, @fitzprov, @tnlookout, @acnatta, @djtweets, @tylrfishr, @sarabethberman, @amzam, @fheinderyckx, @pilhofer, @ganucheauadam, @taraemcg, @sdnewswatch and The Flack on Stack

BRANDED:

Adalytics: brand safety technology from companies like Grapeshot and Moat marked 30.3% of NYT, 21.4% of The Economist, and 51.7% of Vice articles as “unsafe” — Welcome back to BRANDED, the newsletter exploring how marketers broke society (and how we can fix it).

Discussion: @swodinsky, @chrysopoetics, @ilhanniaz, @brooklynmarie, @masonpelt, @nandoodles, @cwarzel, @media_evan and @brooklynmarie

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok launches its first personalized annual recap feature, “Year on TikTok”, which highlights what sort of videos were watched the most, favorite tracks, more — Spotify users have Wrapped and Instagram users have their Top 9. And now TikTok users will have their own year-in-review feature, too.

Discussion: TikTok

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:00 PM ET, December 21, 2020.

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 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:

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix and Legendary Pictures settle Enola Holmes lawsuit with Conan Doyle Estate, which alleged that the movie infringed upon Sherlock Holmes

Kristen Chick / Columbia Journalism Review:
Eleven women describe inappropriate behavior from photographer David Alan Harvey over 13 years and say Magnum Photos knew as early as 2009

Discussion: @kiell, @callakessler, @dzalcman, @nyimaslaula, @cjr, @kristenchick, @duckrabbitblog, @cjr and @cjr

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Sources: NYT reporters criticized editors over handling of Callimachi's “Caliphate” in a meeting, arguing warning signs had been clear for years with no action

Discussion: Fox News, And another thing, @maxabrahms, @hatr, BBC, @nycjim, @erikwemple, @lizsly, @lailalalami, @ggreenwald, @ozkaterji, @patrickosgood and Jezebel

Pranshu Verma / New York Times:
Documents: Michael Pack, CEO of USAGM, is seeking to cut funding for its nonprofit Open Technology Fund, limiting internet access in tightly controlled places

Discussion: @zacharykeck and @frankpallone, more at Techmeme »

Linda Solomon Wood / Nieman Lab:
National Observer EIC predicts Canada's philanthropic sector will lean in further to fund journalism in 2021, and new companies will continue to launch and grow

Discussion: @fateemasayani, @natobserver, @niemanlab and @linda_solomon

Mark Jacob / Local News Initiative:
An analysis puts the overall increase in digital circulation for news outlets in 138 markets at 51.2%, from Nov. 2019 to Nov. 2020; print circulation fell 12.9%

Discussion: @tomrosenstiel, @timafranklin and @ctguild

Earlier Picks:

Gabby Deutch / NewsGuard:
NewsGuard names news sites with most online engagement in 2020: NBC News, NYT top among trustworthy sites; Breitbart, TheBlaze for COVID-19 and election misinfo

Discussion: @anirbanroy, @rsm and @retractionwatch

Andrew Liptak / Polygon:
Several writers of movie tie-in novels say they haven't been paid royalties for their work since Disney acquired Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox

Discussion: Vox, @malindalo, @dogpatchpress, @polygon, @andrewliptak, @chuckwendig, Context is King and Formerly Dangerous

Ben Taub / New Yorker:
A look back at Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder in Malta, and how her sons used her unfinished work to crack the murder case, bringing down Malta's government

Discussion: @brianboyer, @andrewgiambrone, @jane_gerster, @pcaruanagalizia, @robertjdenault, @davidakaye, @rebecca_vincent, @bentaub91, @opensociety, @gaiasquarci, @bentaub91 and @pcaruanagalizia

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Spiegel & Grau, the literary imprint shut down by Penguin Random House last year, returns as an indie publishing house with plans for podcasts, audiobooks, more

Discussion: @xanalter, @neilhimself, @hofrench, @sarahw, @xtebordo, @spiegelandgrau, @brendacopeland, @ronhogan, @glecharles, @paulgrondahl and @booksijustread

Will Page / Billboard:
Music streaming may have plateaued with an average of 17.5B streams a week for the past four months, while consumption of games, TikTok, and podcasts increase

Discussion: @artjonak, @ashkan and @gavinsbaker

ProPublica:
Leaked docs show how China stage-managed what appeared on its domestic internet to make coronavirus look less severe in the early days of the outbreak

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
US prosecutors charge two founders of the Samourai Wallet crypto mixing service, saying it facilitated more than $100M in money laundering transactions

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