Mediagazer: NBC Sports says it won't send any Winter Olympics announcing teams to Beijing due to COVID-19 but still plans “a large presence on the ground” (Christine Brennan/USA Today)

1:50 PM ET, January 20, 2022

Top News:

Christine Brennan / USA Today:

NBC Sports says it won't send any Winter Olympics announcing teams to Beijing due to COVID-19 but still plans “a large presence on the ground” — As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games approach and COVID-19 concerns mount, NBC Sports will not send any of its announcing teams to China …

Discussion: American Press Institute, Los Angeles Times, Pew Research Center, Associated Press, Poynter, Bulletin, @cbrennansports, @devin_heroux, @tvgrimreaper, @b52malmet, NPR, The Wrap, The Hill, NBC Sports Pressbox, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Deadline and Sports Illustrated

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Journalists covering Olympics say they'll be using burner phones and laptops as they assume surveillance by the government intent on controlling China's image — Journalists covering the Winter Olympics next month say they'll do their work in Beijing on brand-new cellphones and laptops.

Discussion: The Citizen Lab, USA Today, Insider, @yaqiu, @chrisbohjalian, @mbgelman, Reclaim The Net, ScreenRant, The Register and Fox News

Mahira Dayal / The Information:

TikTok says it is testing allowing creators to charge subscriptions for their content — TikTok is testing the idea of allowing its creators to charge subscriptions for their content, a spokesperson told The Information. Earlier Wednesday, rival Instagram announced it was offering paid subscriptions to a small group of influencers.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Observer, 9to5Mac, IGN and The Mac Observer, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram Subscriptions launches as an alpha, initially letting 10 US creators offer their followers paid access to exclusive Instagram Live videos and Stories

Discussion: ScreenRant, Adweek, MediaPost, Wall Street Journal, After School, @alexeheath, Transistori, @marshallk, Terms of Service w …, @caseynewton, Music Ally, Mark Zuckerberg, Protocol, The Verge and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Political reporter Robert Costa is leaving WaPo to become a full-time journalist for CBS News, but will continue collaborating on some Post projects — The longtime Washington Post political reporter will take an on-air role covering campaigns and elections.

Tom Jones / Poynter:

Q&A with NBC News president Noah Oppenheim about advocacy journalism, the future of the NBC News NOW streaming service, what makes Dateline addictive, and more — 'We are ferociously defending the traditional approach to journalism ... that it's possible to hold the middle ground and be objective and nonpartisan.'

Discussion: TVNewser, @poynter, @nbcnewspr, @jmacnyc, @oliverdarcy and Mediaite

Mark Mulligan / MIDiA Research:

Research finds the base of global music subscribers grew to 523.9M by the end of Q2 2021, up 26.4% YoY; Spotify's market share dropped from 33% to 31% — MIDiA's annual music subscriber market shares report is now available here (see below for more details of the report). Here are some of the key findings.

Discussion: JOMO, 9to5Google, The Verge, @mintroyale, @mark_mulligan, @mark_mulligan, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Forbes, Complete Music Update, Music Ally and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Michael Malone / nexttv.com:

Peacock launches 24/7 local news channels for NBC-owned stations, starting with Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Miami; the channels won't be geo-targeted — WMAQ Chicago, WCAU Philadelphia, WBTS Boston and WTVJ Miami have debuted on streaming platform — Peacock is launching 24/7 local …

Discussion: The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, 9to5Mac, Robert Feder, Media Play News and Daily Herald

Lydia Moynihan / New York Post:

Sources: TikTok ousted its marketing chief Nick Tran after he went “rogue” with plans like TikTok Kitchen, NFTs by Lil Nas X and others, and TikTok Resumes — TikTok's marketing chief has been ousted after blindsiding top management with a series of increasingly bizarre campaigns, The Post has learned.

Discussion: MediaPost, @markmilian and Pandaily, more at Techmeme »

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

Democratic lawmakers unveil the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, which would ban targeted ads but allow broad location-based and contextual ads — It could reshape the entire tech industry — On Tuesday, Democrats introduced a new bill that would ban nearly all use …

New York Times:

Journalist in Peru sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $100K in a defamation suit brought by a politician, part of a trend of using courts to punish media — The author of a book about a powerful politician has been sentenced to two years in prison. Media advocates say the case is part …

Discussion: @cathyrosegarcia, @nytimesworld, @melissajpeltier, @chrissabatini, @penamerica and @kenroth

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Three philanthropies invest $20M+ to launch an independent nonprofit news operation in Houston with about 40 journalists in late 2022 or early 2023 — Three Houston philanthropies are coming together to launch an independent nonprofit news operation in Houston, executives tell Axios.

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Brat TV, which produces content aimed at teens, launches an ad-supported app that offers all of the shows it distributes via YouTube and on services like Tubi — Brat TV, a Hollywood production studio for Gen-Z content, is launching a standalone app that will house all of the shows it typically distributes on other platforms.

Discussion: @sarafischer and @richlightshed

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