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Substack announces Substack Local, a $1M initiative to help up to 30 independent writers build local subscription news outlets via a cash advance, advice, more — A panel of independent judges will work with Substack to select up to 30 local news writers to participate in the program.
Discussion:
Vox, Nieman Lab, One Man & His Blog, @wongmjane, @azirulnick, @graphicmatt, @sineadboucher, @ericaperel, @mediaevan, @dicktofel, @mattdpearce, @mayakauf, @craigsilverman, The Hill, @ubiquity75, @amywestervelt, @kateyrich, @bmorrissey, @aaronhuertas, @niemanlab, @sarahscire, @klcpegher, @voxdotcom, @gordonrussell1, @travelinganna, @nick_garber, @markstenberg3, @annehelen, @brianmrosenthal, @mattyglesias, @mkramer, @craigsilverman, @joshi, @ruthservensmith, Media Nation, American Press Institute, @mathewi, @pkafka, @sethabramson and TechCrunch

Reuters is introducing a paywall: after registration and a free preview period, subscriptions will cost $34.99/month; it also plans to launch newsletters — Reuters will begin charging for access to its website as it tries to capture a slice of the digital subscription business.
Discussion:
@nytimes, MediaPost, The Wrap, @mathewi, New York Post, @esotericcd, @janecoaston, @dlind, @pwnallthethings, @esotericcd, The Verge, @inteldoge, @justiceputnam, @fbihop, @gitagovinda, @vinncent, @_will_brown, Reuters, @cenkuygur, @kitoconnell, @mradamtaylor, @jeffjarvis, @doubleeph, @genepark, @realbengilbert, @rafat, @josephfcox, @film_girl, @owillis, @alex, @jessebenn, Bloomberg, @mmasnick, @jamesrbuk, @dnvolz, @stephennellis, @alexweprin, @samir_madani, @ourobororoboruo, Variety, @selenalarson, @wagatwe, @jenwunder, @karlbode, @film_girl, @fawfulfan, @ryanatrbm, Mediaite and The Hill

ViacomCBS combines CBS News and local stations in a single unit to be led by former ABC stations chief Wendy McMahon and former Hearst exec Neeraj Khemlani — Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon have been named to lead a new unit that combines CBS News and CBS local stations …

Study: of the five values espoused by journalists, including oversight, transparency, and factuality, only factuality has the support of a majority of Americans — Ask almost any group of journalists to name the core values of their profession, and they'll probably deliver a list like this:
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @tedcruz, @jayrosen_nyu, @mollyjongfast, @craignewmark, The Daily Caller, Columbia Journalism Review, @jenmercieca, @gpaddymanning, @janebsinger, @jayrosen_nyu, @soljourno, @spj_tweets, @mkramer, @ampress, @ampress, @eileen_mcclory, @tomrosenstiel, @sulliview, @deneenlbrown, @jayrosen_nyu, @rohanv, @sulliview, @jonathanstray, @mehdirhasan, @jayrosen_nyu, News Media Alliance, @kevinloker, @sulliview, PRIMER, @sulliview and @tednesi

Ziff Davis union is staging a 24-hour walkout after failing to reach a contract establishing a $65K salary floor with Ziff Davis, owner of PC Mag and others — The union represents the editorial staffs of Mashable, PC Mag, Ask Men, and Geek

Twitter permanently suspends James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, for violating rules on platform manipulation and spam — James O'Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, was permanently suspended from Twitter on Thursday. — When reached for comment, a Twitter spokesperson said the account …

CBS, ABC, NBC, and other networks are demanding that Nielsen submit to a third-party audit, alleging it undercounted TV viewership during the pandemic — CBS, ABC, NBC and other TV networks want the company that audits their audiences every day to submit to an audit of its own.
Discussion:
Adweek, Hollywood Reporter and Digiday

A look at theguardian.org, The Guardian's US-based philanthropic arm, which raised $9M in the last year and seeks out subject-specific funding — There has been much (understandable!) handwringing over how the pandemic would affect big donor support for news organizations.
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @miguel_castro and What's New in Publishing

Amazon says it spent $11B on video and music content in 2020 for Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music, up from $7.8B in 2019, as Prime passes 200M subscribers — In his final letter to Amazon shareholders, Jeff Bezos says new CEO Andy Jassy “will muster the energy needed to keep alive in us what makes us special.”
Discussion:
CNBC, Observer, @alexweprin, Too Much TV Newsletter, Insider, @dee_bosa, Engadget, The Verge and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Televisa Univision is launching its planned streaming platform in the US and Mexico next year before expanding elsewhere in Latin America and Europe — MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Television Univision, a newly formed Spanish media venture, will launch its planned streaming platform in the United States …
Discussion:
@casslgarrison, Variety and Digital TV Europe
RELATED:
Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:
Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund
Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund
Discussion:
@gtzarcelia, Los Angeles Times, @giancarlosopo, @megjameslat, Pink's Bottom Line on Media …, @aquinas82nd, @fidmart85, The Hill, @w7voa, FierceVideo and Axios
Megan Greenwell / @megreenwell:
[Thread] Megan Greenwell, editor of Wired.com and former EIC of Deadspin, announces she is leaving Wired next week, saying she's drained and needs a break — Hi, some news: I'm leaving @WIRED next week. Several journalists I admire, most recently @millie and @s_m_i, have been open about leaving their jobs because of burnout. Like them, I am totally drained, and I've realized I cannot do my best work without a break.
Discussion:
@sirenabergman, @fedecherubini, @jewelwickershow, @michellelegro, @megreenwell, @millie, @katenocera, @tball, @aklingus, @ash_detroit, @megreenwell, @aleksnotalex, @knibbs, @megreenwell, @lyzl, @megreenwell, @brfreed, @saba_h, @marincogan, @vermontgmg, @megreenwell, @mitrakalita, @cecianasta, @halophoenix, @laurengoode and @seywarddarby

Clarissa Ward's reporting in Myanmar for CNN endangered those who spoke to her and provided little information that local reporting hadn't already uncovered — CNN reporter Clarissa Ward's shallow coverage of the Myanmar coup, her endangerment of her sources and her embarrassing rationalisations …
Discussion:
@the_ayeminthant, @kemc, @vidyakrishnan and The Rural Blog