Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss say they can personally contribute $600M+ total toward their $680M bid, up from $200M, as Alden's bid loses favor — Tribune likely to deem new bid superior to agreement with Alden, according to sources — A Maryland hotel magnate …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, MediaPost, Axios, Tribune Publishing Company, @royalpratt, Columbia Journalism Review, @blairkamin, Poynter, @mattgertz, @jimfriedlich, @margotroosevelt, @niemanlab, @robpegoraro, @ckrewson, @jbenton, @kerrymflynn, @sarah_m_wojcik, @kerrymflynn, New York Post, Vanity Fair, American Press Institute, @jayrosen_nyu, @tomwarren, @ourmaninchicago, @nestruck, The Week, @ryanhanrahan, @noah__goldberg, @samontv, @brynstole, @wsj, Media Nation, @harrysiegel, @petersagal, @jessbravin, @benmullin, @anthony, @cararlombardo, @hotlinejosh, @brianstelter, @jbenton, @lalpert1, Chicago Sun-Times and Robert Feder
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Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Tribune says it has begun discussions about a sale to Bainum and Wyss' company Newslight, but won't terminate the Alden merger agreement for now — Two months after agreeing to sell itself to Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund, the company behind The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun may shift course.
Washington Post:
How a campaign by reporters in Baltimore inspired a national effort to keep nearly a dozen Tribune newspapers from being bought by Alden Global Capital — Last year, as a group of Baltimore Sun reporters embarked on long-shot endeavor to find a new owner that could save their paper …
Discussion:
Media Nation, @lillianereed, @jayrosen_nyu, @baltsunguild, @pwoodreporter, @bgrueskin, @sulliview, @elaheizadi, @elaheizadi, @ssdance, @larryryckman and @jonmurray
Shawna Chen / Axios:
SCOTUS vacates a lower court ruling that Trump's Twitter blocks violate the First Amendment — The Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling that found former President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking followers on Twitter, ordering the case to be dismissed as moot now that he is no longer in office.
Discussion:
@mjs_dc, Supreme Court of the United States, The Wrap, @mjs_dc, @mjs_dc, @mjs_dc, NPR, Protocol, Slate, @randyebarnett, @sodangfancy100, @mmasnick, Variety, TechCrunch, Politico, New York Post, CNBC, Reason, MediaPost, Law & Crime, AppleInsider, Hollywood Reporter, Insider, KEYT-TV and New York Times
Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:
A look at The News Alerts of Beaver County, a 43,000-member Facebook Group in PA that fills the local news void but often hosts exaggerations and falsehoods — The day after Thanksgiving 2019, residents of Chippewa Township, Pennsylvania, watched from their windows as state …
Discussion:
@oneunderscore__, @mattgalkafox10, @emilybell, @timothyjgraham, @anthonyblsmith, @oneunderscore__, @matthewkeyslive, @nicdawes, @fredbenenson, @mrdanzak, @jason_kint, @michaeldtubbs, @lukeobrien, @anton612, @clearing_fog, @loganjaffe, @mike_hixenbaugh, Gav's Newsletter, @blackamazon, @howardfineman, @northsidechad, @ryanjreilly, @jayrosen_nyu, @firstdraftnews, @brandyzadrozny, @ddale8, @robtornoe, @katyturnbc, @maurabarrettnbc, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and Substack, more at Techmeme »
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
eMarketer says that Amazon's share of the US digital ad market grew to 10.3% in 2020 from 7.8% in 2019 and estimates that revenue grew to $15.73B, up 52.5% YoY — Company chips away at market leader Google as its search ad business continues to grow — Amazon. com Inc.'s share …
Discussion:
MediaPost
Meredith Conroy / FiveThirtyEight:
How distrust of the news media became a point of political identity among Republicans and a basis for Americans to sort themselves into political tribes — There's little question that the media is one of the least trusted institutions in Republican circles.
Taylor Moore / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at Empowerment Avenue, a program started in June 2020 to let incarcerated writers report on issues inside jails by pairing them with journalists outside — “We want to expose readers in every kind of publication to the incarcerated viewpoint.” — Rahsaan “New York” …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @empowermentave, @earhustlesq and @taylormooresays
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
As the pandemic drags on, new shows are harder to come by for streaming services; report: the number of originals Netflix released so far in '21 is down 12% YoY — Streaming Services Have Finally Run Out of New Shows. Kind of. — Every couple weeks during the pandemic …
Discussion:
@raju, @patrickvons, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Insider, The Streamable and ScreenRant, more at Techmeme »
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
ViacomCBS Networks International to acquire Chilevisión from WarnerMedia, expanding its Latin America footprint and Spanish content library — ViacomCBS Networks International has agreed to acquire Chilevisión from AT&T's WarnerMedia for an undisclosed sum, expanding its footprint in Latin America.
Discussion:
Variety, Digital TV Europe, The Desk, C21Media, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, FierceVideo and nexttv.com
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Audible hires Zola Mashariki, former senior exec at Fox Searchlight and BET, to oversee original content as the new head of Audible Studios — Zola Mashariki, former senior exec at Fox Searchlight and BET, is the new head of Audible Studios. — In the role at the Amazon-owned audio content platform …
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, Publishers Weekly, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter
Tim Peterson / Digiday:
Sources: Roku has been pitching ad agencies to sponsor Roku Recommends, 5-7 minute videos promoting programming available across its connected TV platform — Roku is preparing to debut a new promotional product that has not only piqued advertisers' interest but will also likely please streaming services.