Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Documents and sources: WaPo execs weigh how to attract young readers and expand features content as the outlet faces a slump in readership and subscriber growth — News outlet's audience is down sharply, amid sector-wide declines; subscription growth has stagnated as readers look beyond politics
Discussion:
@benmullin, @alexbruell, @claremalone, @drewsav, @sewellchan, @pressgazette, @joshsternberg, @karaswisher, Poynter, @dellavolpe, @jbenton, @budkennedy, @stephengutowski, @chuckrossdc, @alexthomp, @walldo, @millie, @justupthepike, @ylichterman, @genepark, @daviduberti, @bmorrissey and @asharma
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
CNN plans to pull its original series off HBO Max and put them on its own streaming service, CNN+, which a source says has a planned March debut for $5.99/month — - News channel eyes $5.99 price and March launch date for CNN+ — CNN plans to pull its original series off HBO Max and put …
Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:
Polish parliament passes bill that limits foreign ownership of media, affecting Discovery-owned TVN, which is critical of the government; the bill may be vetoed — A bill to restrict foreign ownership of Polish media was unexpectedly passed by parliament today.
Discussion:
Financial Times, Bloomberg, Broadband TV News, Variety, C21Media, @mooonlightbby, Reuters, Deadline, @ecpmf, The Hollywood Reporter, DW.COM, @notesfrompoland and @globalfreemedia
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Judge lets Dominion go ahead with Fox suit as Fox had “countervailing evidence of election fraud” and says commentators' “hyperbolic” rhetoric can be defamatory — - Fox had enough information to know claims false, judge says — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson also targets of lawsuit
Discussion:
@benyt, TVNewser, @timobrien, Hollywood Reporter, @obarcala, @obarcala, CNN, Raw Story, Washington Post, @svdate, @deanobeidallah, MediaPost and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
The Citizen Lab:
The phone of an exiled Egyptian TV news host was compromised in June using Cytrox's Predator spyware, delivered via a WhatsApp message with a link — Key Findings — Two Egyptians—exiled politician Ayman Nour and the host of a popular news program (who wishes to remain anonymous) …
Discussion:
Futureprotech, NPR, ScreenRant, The Register, Gizmodo, Wired, Bloomberg, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Study finds evidence that suggests IAB Europe's TCF allows many adtech vendors to track and profile users even when they've rejected personalized ads — New research examining what happens after Internet users in Europe land on an ad-supported website and express their “privacy choices” …
Discussion:
@johnnyryan, @kfranasz and @jason_kint
William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Sources: Google delayed the US launch of News Showcase, live in 14 countries, to at least Q1 2022 as pubs find the offers underwhelming and doubt its efficacy — Google is struggling to persuade some of America's largest publishers to sign up to its News Showcase aggregation scheme, an investigation by Press Gazette has found.
Discussion:
@newsalliance, @davidclinchnews, @pressgazette, @simonowens, @simonowens and @tomnamako
Katie Kilkenny / Hollywood Reporter:
Vice employee union reaches a three-year deal with Vice Media that raises minimum salaries to $63K, institutes anti-harassment measures for staff, and more — The new agreement, which consolidates four previously separate contracts, will offer salary floors of $63,000 by the end of the contract …
Discussion:
@greenhousenyt, Writers Guild of America …, bookforum.com and Deadline
Henry Meyer / Bloomberg:
Google loses a court appeal in Russia and faces daily fines following a lawsuit to unblock a YouTube account of a TV channel owned by a sanctioned Putin ally — - Google lost an appeal over suit to unblock a YouTube account — U.S. technology giant says it's complying with U.S. sanctions
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
NYT fires a Wirecutter editor for “repeatedly invoking the NYT's name in an unprofessional way” in messages she allegedly left a gun rights advocacy group — Erin Marquis, a staffer for the popular product-review site, had also lashed out at a gun-rights organization on Twitter.
Discussion:
Mediaite and @jeremymbarr
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Washingtonian Editor Michael Schaffer is leaving to write a weekly Politico column as a senior editor; Sherri Dalphonse becomes interim Washingtonian editor — He'll write a column about DC power. The city magazine needs a new editor. — Washingtonian Editor Michael Schaffer will leave the publication to take a job at Politico.
Discussion:
@abeaujon, @abeaujon, @michaelkruse, @jeffreygoldberg, @lucasfleischer, @michaelschaffer, @dankois, @abeaujon and @brfreed
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Spotify acquires Australian company Whooshkaa, which helps radio broadcasters and others turn existing content into podcasts and sell ads around them — Spotify on Thursday said it acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast technology platform that specializes in technology for radio broadcasters to turn existing content into podcasts.