Top News:
NPR:
A freelance ABC News producer was working for a consulting firm representing utility companies; sources: she falsely traded on her work for ABC at least thrice — NPR's David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza and Miranda Green of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates …
Discussion:
@mirandacgreen, @mirandacgreen, Floodlight, @4lisaguerrero, @joshmankiewicz, @cliffschecter, @grace_panetta, @jbarro, @edmundlee, @emilygorcenski, @floodlightnews, @lindaholmes, @davidfolkenflik, @johnson_carrie, @marioarizabaez, @marioarizabaez, @tcblume, @byrontau, @johnarchibald and @jeffweineros
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the NFL is in advanced talks to give YouTube exclusive Sunday Ticket rights; a deal could be reached as early as December 21 after an NFL owner meeting — DirecTV currently pays for rights to subscription package that allows football fans to watch most Sunday afternoon games
Discussion:
New York Times, Ad Age, Awful Announcing, Ars Technica, Tubefilter, Light Reading, ProFootballTalk, Sports Business Journal, Next in Marketing, @ourand_sbj, @ourand_sbj, @haffnhaff_tpl, @realmamaeagle, @jelynchjr, @sherman4949, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive, @darrenrovell, @mhbergen, @mediumbuying, KRON4, AppleInsider, MediaPost, The Comeback, Sportico, UPROXX, CNBC, CNET, The Desk, The Information, The Streamable, Deadline and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The Guardian says it has been hit with a “serious incident” affecting IT systems, believed to be a ransomware attack; online publishing is largely unaffected — Incident has hit parts of media company's technology infrastructure, with staff told to work from home
Discussion:
@tomphillipsin, TechCrunch, The Register, Financial Times, @yonettejo, @janlemnitzer, @pressgazette, @profwoodward, @dangainor, @jackinpogform and Bloomberg
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Justin Bieber is close to a deal to sell his music rights to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital in a transaction valued at around $200M — Expected deal for star's publishing and recorded music includes hit songs ‘Love Yourself’ and ‘Baby’ — Justin Bieber is close to a deal …
Discussion:
@ashkan, @danprimack, @phil_lewis_, @hoodiegleyber and @threetwoeephus
Katie Campione / Deadline:
The Netflix series Wednesday topped Nielsen's US streaming chart in its first week, with 5.9B minutes viewed, the second-highest weekly total since early 2020 — By now, it should come as no surprise that Netflix's Wednesday generated a massive audience in its opening week.
Discussion:
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, TVLine, Media Play News and Collider
Micah Lee / The Intercept:
Donie O'Sullivan, Drew Harwell, and other journalists remain locked out of their Twitter accounts despite lifted suspensions, until they delete a specific tweet — I've been writing critically about billionaire Elon Musk since he took over Twitter — particularly about his “free speech” …
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, Talking Biz News, @repadamschiff, @robohanrahan, @moviehooligan, @timcast, @anthony, @dandrezner, @digiphile, @lorakolodny, @ericareport, @shiraovide, @acosta@mstdn.social, @theintercept, @olafstorbeck, @ali_gharib, CNN, @drewharwell@mastodon.social, @drewharwell@mastodon.social, @donieosullivan@mastodon.ie, @micahflee@infosec.exchange, The Wellness Call!, @drewharwell@mastodon.social and New York Post, more at Techmeme »
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Vox Media plans to return nearly all of a $200,000 grant from Sam Bankman-Fried's foundation; others like Semafor and The Intercept await investigation details — ProPublica and Vox Media plan to give back journalism grants from the indicted crypto tycoon. Other newsrooms have been less clear.
Discussion:
@raylong, @rwpusa, New York Post, @jeremymbarr, @mcelarier, Observer and Axios
BreAnna Bell / Variety:
Netflix will add Nike Training Club workouts to its offerings from December 30, with plans to add over 90 Nike Training Club workouts in total — Netflix is adding Nike Training Club workouts to its offerings, the streamer announced on Wednesday. — The first five programs including …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Deep Voodoo, founded by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to develop deepfake tech and cost-effective visual effect services, raised a $20M seed — The creators of “South Park” have secured a $20 million investment for their AI entertainment startup Deep Voodoo.
Discussion:
PRESS - DEEP VOODOO, TechCrunch, @beforesmag, @blackamazon, @lanceulanoff, The A.V. Club and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Laura Barton / The Guardian:
Q&A with two true-crime podcasters who have helped the genre become a vital new form of investigative journalism, taking inspiration from Serial, and more — Mandy Matney's Murdaugh Murders and Hedley Thomas's The Teacher's Pet have recently seen the subjects of their investigations jailed.
Discussion:
@janebsinger and Slate
Tom Gerken / BBC:
The UK's Intellectual Property Office says sharing passwords for online streaming services such as Netflix breaks civil and criminal law — Sharing passwords for online streaming services such as Netflix is against the law, according to a government agency.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, The Sun, AppleInsider and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Twitter says Community Notes will now require that contributors achieve a “Rating Impact” of 5+ by rating enough notes before they can write notes themselves — Twitter has announced that its recently released Community Notes feature will now require all contributors to rate …
Discussion:
Adweek and @grrlscientist
Agence France-Presse:
Mirror Group Newspapers apologizes to Princess Diana's former butler and will pay substantial damages in a phone hacking case involving his voicemail messages — Member of the British royal family; first wife of Prince Charles (1961-1997) — Former domestic servant of the British Royal Household
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
An investigation details BBC StoryWorks' partnerships with at least 18 Chinese clients since 2015, including producing tourism campaigns for state media outlets — EXCLUSIVE: When BBC journalist Edward Lawrence was detained and beaten by Chinese police during anti-lockdown protests last month, the condemnation was swift.
Discussion:
@jamesrbuk, @thedragonfeeder, @jake_kanter, @jake_kanter, @jake_kanter, @davidaltonhl, @jake_kanter, @jake_kanter, @jake_kanter and @jake_kanter
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