Mediagazer: How Netflix uses both personalization and objective rankings in its lists of popular shows, and how it continues to test rankings to encourage more viewing (Josef Adalian/Vulture)

8:40 AM ET, May 17, 2021

Top News:

Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise in Gaza City that housed offices of AP and Al-Jazeera, after the military warned people to evacuate the building — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home …

Discussion: Associated Press, Associated Press, Jerusalem Post, Committee to Protect …, The Definitive Source, @linahalsaafin, @idf, Al Jazeera, New York Times, @tomgara, @ajenglish, Mediaite, @eylonalevy, New York Times, The Guardian, @presssec, @w7voa, @jpacedc, Poynter, @wesleylowery, News of the Jews, Washington Post, NPR, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Variety, @rafaelshimunov, Vanity Fair, @brhodes, @annaknelson_rsf, @willdizard, New York Post, @imtiaztyab, @isobelroe, The Times of Israel, @mattifriedman, APOLLO NETWORK Newsletter, The Chief Brief, The Indian Express, Voice of America, @tvietor08, Fox News, @ap, @abihabib, @snowden, @ap, @mirza9, @mirza9, @brianstelter, @jpacedc, @tomgara, @kredo0, @ztsamudzi, @eylonalevy, @karenattiah, @imtiaztyab, @jimlaporta, @mattmcbradley, @jimlaporta, @ggreenwald, @cbsnews, @brandondarby, @seldeeb, @lsarsour, @adamjohnsonnyc, @mitchellreports, @johnmdonnelly, @snowden, @gchikermane, @alastairmca30, @redsteeze, @margbrennan, @dloesch, @jongambrellap, @jerrydunleavy, @ranaayyub, @mrglenn, @sdkstl, @misstessowen, @alexcrawfordsky, @phillipsian, @dillonreedrose, @jasonrantz, @golan_yarden, @piersmorgan, @raniakhalek, @ostrov_a, @nytimes, @kenroth, @harryslaststand, @ajenglish, @rssliam, @wesleylowery, @ap, @berniceking, @richardgrenell, @bendepear, @johncardillo, @ajenglish, @ajenglish, @naveedajamali, @ase, @iamumer1, A. Khaled's Blog, Newser, National Press Club, Slate, The Week, The Independent, Reuters, Daily Sabah, Agence France-Presse, The Straits Times, Wall Street Journal, Insider, The Hill and The Wrap

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

IDF spokesman is suspected of misleading the international press on a ground invasion in Gaza to dupe Hamas, which was mistakenly reported by NYT and others — A spokesman led the international media to believe that Israeli forces had entered Gaza. They hadn't. But the army wanted Hamas to think they had.

Discussion: Politico, @rasmus_kleis, @hotlinejosh, @dellcam, @kenklippenstein, @adammilstein, @hotweatherisbad, Melanie Phillips, @amyspiro, @geraldngom, @doranimated, @wolfe321, @huwlemmey, @octavianasr, @mazdaki, @marietjeschaake, @leahmcelrath, @e_h_carpenter, @sebusher, @zaidjilani, @alistaircoleman, @davidgura, @jvplive, @sasapetricic, @qifanabki, @sameralatrush, @sameralatrush, @sameralatrush, @janinedigi, @naveedajamali, @pseudocia, @eliothiggins, @digiphile, @lukeisamazing, @mazdaki, @jonathancohn, @lisang, @markberman, @scottdetrow, The NewsGuild - CWA, Newser, @evanlaksmana, @aaschapiro, @hichamyezza, @multied, @sameralatrush, @janearraf, @eylonalevy, @danaelkurd, @saimamohsin, @bbcjonsopel, @maxblumenthal, @danaafana, @yousefmunayyer, @theblahdalia, @mariambarghouti, @nytimes, @halbfinger, @davidgura, @dellcam, @therealestspoon, @wesleylowery, @chrstphr_woody, @froomkin and Insider

Committee to Protect Journalists:
IDF destroyed two buildings in Gaza City housing 12+ media outlets; IDF says the buildings were targeted as sites of Hamas' intelligence and military offices

Discussion: Foreign Exchanges, Dispatch from the San Juans, @anealla, Al Jazeera, @emilygorcenski, @briannawu, @winter, The Daily Beast, The Hill and @mtracey

Brian Stelter / CNN:

AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in a $43B deal; the new company will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav — New York (CNN Business)The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive. — On Monday morning AT&T (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA) …

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Jason Kilar says he expects no long-term negative effects of releasing 2021 movies on HBO Max; sources: Warner Bros. paid $200M+ to appease talent

Discussion: Ad Age, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, nexttv.com, The Wrap, MediaPost, @jyarow, @drewfitzgerald, @brooksbarnesnyt, @wsj and @jbflint

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

Source: former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni has become a founding member of a new media company that has raised $7M and aims to launch this summer — Matthew Belloni, former Editorial Director at The Hollywood Reporter, has joined as a founding partner for a new media company …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @jimmaiella, @mattbelloni and Variety

Josef Adalian / Vulture:

How Netflix uses both personalization and objective rankings in its lists of popular shows, and how it continues to test rankings to encourage more viewing — This story is the second in a two-part series about the inner workings of Netflix's homepage. Read the first story here.

Discussion: Streamfunc, @tvmojoe, @vulture, @tvmojoe and @blackamazon

Paul Volpe / Politico:

Why WaPo likely looked outside its own ranks to hire a female EIC, including a shrinking newsroom before Bezos' takeover, plus structural and cultural issues — When the Washington Post on Tuesday named Sally Buzbee of the Associated Press as its next executive editor—the first woman to have the role …

The Daily Beast:

Unlike many in the media, MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin are granting airtime to Palestinians instead of heavily relying on Israeli government accounts — NEW VIEW — Much of the American television news coverage of the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip has followed a familiar …

Discussion: Financial Times and @joyannreid

Zack Zwiezen / Kotaku:

After publishing and removing an article listing Palestinian charities, IGN says it didn't mean to make it seem “we were politically aligned with one side” — Following the most recent set of violent military strikes by the Israel Defense Forces that have leveled entire buildings …

Discussion: @charalanahzard, Axios and A. Khaled's Blog

Variety:

Investors and analysts including Warren Buffett weigh in on “stupid” stock swings affecting ViacomCBS, Discovery, and AMC Entertainment, plus problematic SPACs — There's no better moment to take the pulse of the investment landscape than during the annual shareholders meeting …

Discussion: @elainelow

Jack Crosbie / Discourse Blog:

In internal meeting, CEO Meredith Levien defended NYT's refusal to voluntarily recognize The NYT Tech Guild, saying its members are tech people, not journalists — In a meeting with staffers, Meredith Levien had several reasons for why she's fighting her paper's newest organizing effort.

Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:

A look at the Ambies, Podcast Academy's annual podcast awards whose nominees across 23 categories were chosen by 100+ members, ahead of its inaugural show — Podcasts: Where can you listen to them? Anywhere podcasts are available! — But how do you know the best podcasts to try?

Discussion: @stephenwilson, @davewiner, @mattdpearce, @laura_nelson, @neddonovan, @teddwoods, @mattdpearce and @latimes

The Intercept:

The Intercept stands by its reporting on Gab and “Riot Squad”, after it was accused of doxxing conservative journalists, says its reporters have been harassed — Over the past several days, wild and unfounded accusations have been hurled at The Intercept.

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 8:40 AM ET, May 17, 2021.

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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

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More News:

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches miniTV, an ad-supported free video streaming service that is available within the Amazon shopping app in India

Discussion: TNW, @yourstoryco, @amazonin, @sub8u, @8ap, The Verge, Hindustan Times, Livemint, NDTV Gadgets 360, Engadget, BGR India, The Indian Express, IN Day One Blog, India Today and The Economic Times

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
A new Biden executive order revokes a Trump-era EO that targeted protections for social media platforms and asked the FCC to conduct a review of Section 230

Discussion: Engadget, The White House, @brendancarrfcc, @evan_greer, @johnhendel, @aclu, @cendemtech, @jameeljaffer, @issielapowsky, @davidgreene, @davidgreene and The Verge

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Les Moonves and ViacomCBS settle dispute over his payout; a contractor will pay a sum to Moonves, which he'll donate to charity, and $120M reverts to ViacomCBS

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @megjameslat, New York Times and ViacomCBS Inc.

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:
A look at Spotify-exclusive “music and talk” podcasts, which let hosts avoid music licensing fees and fair-use legal fights via free access to Spotify catalog

Discussion: Podcast Movement, @nytimesmusic, @donthatebehated, @producertd, @danamo, @blackamazon, @dada_drummer, @justintinsley, @danamo, @feliciapride, @loganmmurdock, @lpolgreen, @ringer, @tonyamosley, @nicktheandersen and @harvilla

Earlier Picks:

Julia Alexander / IGN:
Nickelodeon is a primary reason people are signing up for and watching streaming service Paramount+, says ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish

Discussion: @ign and @danimichaeli1

RFE / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
RFE/RL's bank accounts in Russia have been frozen; Russia's media monitor has imposed fines on the news outlet for failing to label itself as a foreign agent

Discussion: @soychicka, @gladstein, @roachaugustine, @damelya_hrw, @anneapplebaum and @rferl

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Southern Theatres follows Alamo Drafthouse and AMC, launching a service to let subscribers rent films after their theatrical run and before they're on streaming

Discussion: @usunitedjustice and @eshap

Ben Munson / FierceVideo:
TiVo buys MobiTV's assets for $18.5M, including its live and on-demand video delivery offerings to launch app-based streaming TV services

Discussion: @davezatz and PR Newswire

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

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

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Hacking group GhostR claims it stole 5.3M records from World-Check screening database, used for KYC checks for sanctions and financial crime links, in March

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