Mediagazer: The US DOJ says Iranian hackers breached a media company in fall 2020 and tested how to create false news content; sources say Lee Enterprises was targeted (Dustin Volz/Wall Street Journal)

1:10 PM ET, November 22, 2021

Top News:

Fox News contributors Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes resign from the network in protest of Tucker Carlson's streaming special on the January 6 Capitol mob — Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, stars of a brand of conservatism that has fallen out of fashion, decide they've had enough.

Discussion: The Dispatch, @benyt, NPR, Washington Post, Washington Post, Mediaite, @brianstelter, @nytdavidbrooks, @jonathanchait, @jayrosen_nyu, TVNewser, @deggans, @liz_cheney, @mattnegrin, @billkristol, CNN, @ndrew_lawrence, @eugene_scott, The Guardian, @adamkinzinger, @davidafrench, @jayrosen_nyu, @ggreenwald, @heerjeet, @davidcorndc, @jrubinblogger, @julieroginsky, @erickfernandez, @pftompkins, @cam_joseph, @froomkin, @walshfreedom, @itguy1959, @owillis, @jmartnyt, @thehowie, @davidfolkenflik, @tripper_grebe, @dandrezner, @dangillmor, @curtmills, @davidgura, @urbanachievr, The Wrap, @gerrycallahan, @blackamazon, @davidafrench, @bradmossesq, The Racket News, @rachaelbl, @maxblumenthal, @shermichael_, @davidfolkenflik, @bryvkin, @anneapplebaum, @owillis, @rpsagainsttrump, @nedryun, Rolling Stone, @frankconniff, @brianjameswalsh, @writerjms, @jonahdispatch, Newser, @arthurschwartz, @ninaburleigh, @nedryun, @jrubinblogger, @samstein, @paulwaldman1, @ericboehlert, @jonkarl, @oliviatroye, @nprinskeep, @jaredlholt, @jkirchick, @elivalley, @zigmanfreud, @yesnicksearcy, @peter_wehner, @pkafka, @marceelias, @jerrydunleavy, @drgjackbrown, Campaign Update, UPROXX, @urbanachievr, The Hill, Deadline and Insider

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

Alden Global Capital announces an offer to acquire Lee Enterprises for $24/share, a ~30% premium to its stock's Nov. 19 closing price — The hedge fund has developed a reputation for slashing staff in newsrooms and other departments and selling off real estate at outlets it owns.

Jennifer Meierhans / BBC:

Spotify removes shuffle play as the default option on albums for premium users, so tracks play in the order artists intended, after Adele requests the change — Adele has persuaded Spotify to take the shuffle button off all album pages so tracks play in the artist's own order.

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:

Jessica Lessin says The Information has 225,000 “active users”, including paid subs and newsletter readers, as it prepares to launch a weekend lifestyle edition — Website aimed at Silicon Valley proves value of subscription model for journalism

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @mohamed, @clockwerks, @aservais1, @pressgazette, @annaknicolaou, @markdistef, @jakesherman and @rafat

Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:

Investigation shows how Facebook and Google fund misinformation globally by paying millions of dollars in ad revenue to the operators of clickbait pages — A month after the fall of the democratic government. — In 2015, six of the 10 websites in Myanmar getting the most engagement …

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Nielsen says it will overhaul its commercial ratings in 2022, with plans to measure audiences for individual ads — Nielsen has a new proposal for TV networks that have been threatening for months to find other means of measuring their audiences: Stick with the yardstick you already use.

Discussion: MediaPost, Ad Age, Radio & Television …, Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, @bristei, Deadline, Advanced Television, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei and @nina_metz

Gizmodo:

Gizmodo says it will begin responsibly publishing the Facebook Papers with help from partners including NYU, Marquette, and the ACLU in redacting sensitive info — Independent experts from NYU, UMass Amherst, Columbia, Marquette, and the ACLU are partnering with Gizmodo to responsibly publish this historic leak.

Discussion: @lauraedelson2, @film_girl, @swodinsky and @andrewcouts, more at Techmeme »

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

A look at the product box programs offered by InStyle, The Cut, Eater, and Group Nine, as more publishers launch them as worthwhile revenue streams — InStyle and The Cut created their first product boxes for sale this month, as this line of business at Eater and Group Nine reaches their one-year anniversaries.

Discussion: @simonowens

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

The US DOJ says Iranian hackers breached a media company in fall 2020 and tested how to create false news content; sources say Lee Enterprises was targeted — Computer systems of Lee Enterprises, which owns dozens of daily papers, were targeted in disinformation campaign

Discussion: @dnvolz, Metacurity, @dkiesow, @dnvolz, @rossacrosswi, @dnvolz, @airspaceiowa, @roncharles, @justinhendrix, @andreasharsono, @justinhendrix, @dnvolz and @dnvolz

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Thirty journalists fired from the Kyiv Post earlier this month launch Kyiv Independent, promising to use reader donations before adding commercial activities — Thirty journalists who were abruptly fired from the Kyiv Post this month have started their own publication and promised to block …

Discussion: The Fix, @pressgazette, @olgatokariuk and @thefixmedia

Nicole LaPorte / Fast Company:

A look at Spotify's podcast investments, including its push into advertising and video, as it appears poised to dominate the industry — With 3.2 million podcasts on its platform and more monthly active users than Apple, Spotify is the new heavy in podcasting. It's just getting started.

more at Techmeme »

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify's Findaway acquisition will turn it into an audiobook producer, distributor, and retailer, while becoming the app for consuming all audio

Discussion: @evan_greer, @adrs, @joshhunt, @alphachromeyayo, @simonowens and @ashleyrcarman, more at Techmeme »

Moiz Syed / Source:

Interview with Moiz Syed, formerly of The Intercept and ProPublica, on the lack of empathy among newsroom managers, the “straitjacket of objectivity”, and more — “Journalists are encouraged to hold the powerful accountable, but never to proclaim the larger moral lessons of their work.”

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Walmart will be the first to test Twitter's shoppable livestream platform, with a live Cyber Deals event on November 28 — Twitter's e-commerce initiatives now include livestream shopping and Walmart will be the first retailer to test the new platform. Over the past year …

Discussion: Ad Age and Adweek

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 1:10 PM ET, November 22, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Editorial Assistant, Remote US — Launch Potato

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

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:

Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Royal, which wants to help musicians create and sell NFTs, share royalties with fans, and more, raises $55M, following a $16M seed in August

Discussion: Fortune, @anthonyha and @jeffjohnroberts

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Paul Dacre is re-appointed EIC of DMG Media, an advisory role that won't involve day-to-day editing, less than three weeks after leaving the role

Discussion: Financial Times, The Guardian, @andyoakes and @direthoughts

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
A look at projects like The Voguverse and companies like Pixel Vault that are trying to build media franchises around their NFT collectibles

Discussion: The Thndrhs Nifty and hi, tech.

Jim Morrill / The Assembly:
Profile of Asheville Watchdog, which produces investigative reporting in North Carolina with accomplished, volunteer journalists who “retired” to the mountains

Discussion: @theassemblync, @barry_yeoman, @jimmorrill, @john_drescher, @coreyhutchins, @colmorrisdavis and @carolleonnig

Renju Jose / Reuters:
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's Minderoo Foundation will help 18 Australian small news publishers negotiate collectively with Google and Facebook

Earlier Picks:

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
A voter turnout group says Facebook served 36.8% of their conversion ads to iOS users after Apple's ATT change, down from 63.6%

Discussion: @somospostpc, @codinghorror, @carnage4life, @issielapowsky, @protocol, @issielapowsky, @voterformation, @tatendacheryl, @issielapowsky, @saramorrison, @issielapowsky and @issielapowsky

Peter Kafka / Vox:
James Andrew Miller's new book reveals that some HBO execs pushed for selling subscriptions directly to consumers in 2005, and some wanted to buy Netflix

Discussion: @jasonhirschhorn, @ritholtz, @gadyepstein, @carlquintanilla, @kbandersen, @tsuvik, @jkosner, Baraja de oro and @pkafka

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Chernin Entertainment has hired bankers to explore its options, including a sale of a stake in the business or other equity partnership

Discussion: @benmullin, @phkeane, @benmullin, @claireatki and @benmullin

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York appeals court judge rejects the NYT's request to unblock it from publishing or seeking Project Veritas documents; the next hearing is on November 23

Discussion: @joshgerstein, @eriqgardner, @jesselynradack, @ggreenwald, @maxkennerly, @williamturton, @iwanttotalk_now, @gaberusk, @mmasnick, @pnjaban, @mathewi, @pressfreedom, @kylenabecker, @janemayernyer, Associated Press and Washington Post

Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Gothamist, the news site of radio station WNYC, deleted four articles in October that used language from Wikipedia, Salon, and NYT without credit

Discussion: @jonscollins, @awinston, @nypr_union, @nypr_union, @nypr_union, @jimog, @davidleighx, @marcatracy, @lexandrapinel, @nypr_union and @katie_robertson, Thanks:@ologhaiofmordor

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

The Linux Foundation:
A survey of 501 organizations globally estimates organizations contribute $7.7B annually to open source software and 86% of contribution value is employee labor

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

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