Mediagazer: An armed gang stormed Ecuador's TC Televisión during a live broadcast, after Ecuador's president declared a state of emergency; all the gunmen were arrested (The Guardian)

Top News:

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirms plans to cut 500+ jobs, or 35% of its staff, and says the workforce was oversized for its current position, after March 2023 cuts — Twitch is laying off more than 500 employees, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced this morning, reportedly accounting for around 35 percent of its staff.

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Internal memo: Amazon Studios SVP Mike Hopkins says “several hundred roles” are being cut in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units; both had cuts in early 2023 — Mike Hopkins announced the cuts Wednesday. — Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs in its Prime Video and MGM Studios division.

Discussion: Variety, TechCrunch, Business Insider, IndieWire, The Information, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, @jessicalessin, Media Play News, @lucas_shaw, Bloomberg and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Maria Sherman / Associated Press:

Luminate's 2023 report: the global music industry passed 4T streams in 2023, a new record and up 34% from 2022; Taylor Swift had one in every 78 US streams — Listened to more music last year? You're not alone. — The global music industry surpassed 4 trillion streams in 2023 …

Discussion: Luminate, Variety, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide

Press Gazette:

The Reuters Institute survey of news leaders: 48% say money from AI deals will be very little for any publisher, most will put more effort into WhatsApp, more — The Reuters Institute survey touched on AI pessimism, news avoidance and paywall success. — Less than half of news leaders feel confident …

Discussion: Decrypt and BuzzMachine

Paul Linford / HoldtheFrontPage:

Chartbeat: in 2023, aggregate traffic to news and media sites from Facebook fell 48% YoY, traffic from X fell 27%, and traffic from Instagram fell 10% — A new report has revealed that traffic to news sites from Facebook plummeted by nearly half in 2023 with publishers fearing further falls in the next 12 months.

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Advanced Television and Fast Company

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:
Survey of 314 news leaders from 56 countries: just 47% say they are confident about journalism's 2024 prospects; 63% worry about declining social media traffic

Discussion: Media Voices, @nicnewman, @charliebeckett, @risj_oxford and Mitali Mukherjee on LinkedIn

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Sources: Kevin Merida and the Soon-Shiong family clashed over his decision to ban journalists who condemned Israel's bombing of Gaza, 2024 budgeting, and more — Kevin Merida, who took over the job in 2021, said in an internal note that his last day would be on Friday.

Discussion: Media Nation, Columbia Journalism Review and @benmullin

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Source: the Los Angeles Times is looking at another round of cost-cutting this year, aiming to cut more than $10M from its budget

Discussion: @pkafka, @tomaxwell, Axios and Bloomberg

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
In a memo to staff, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announces he is stepping down on January 12, two-and-a-half years after joining the newsroom

Discussion: Washington Post, Poynter, @jamesrbuk, @jonnypeltz, @simonesnews, @benmullin, @raineytime, @maxwelltani, @megjameslat, MediaPost, Deadline, Awful Announcing, Talking Biz News, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and @benmullin

The Guardian:

An armed gang stormed Ecuador's TC Televisión during a live broadcast, after Ecuador's president declared a state of emergency; all the gunmen were arrested — Gangsters unleashed wave of terror following move by President Daniel Noboa in response to gang leader's prison escape

Discussion: The Mirror, Semafor, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, @sentdefender, Financial Times, Blaze Media, Fox News, Voice of America, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Universe As A Causal Set, The Daily Caller, abc7NY, New York Post and Deseret News

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

A look at Brazilian fact-checking org Aos Fatos' bot FátimaGPT, which pairs an LLM with its archives to answer questions on WhatsApp, Telegram, and the web — “Instead of giving a list of URLs that the user can access — which requires more work for the user — we can answer the question they asked."

Discussion: American Press Institute

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

The British Film Institute names Jay Hunt, the creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe, as its chair for a four year term starting on Feburary 16 — She serves as creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe. — Jay Hunt, the creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe …

Discussion: Variety

Anton Wilen / Bloomberg:

Swedish streaming service Viaplay avoids bankruptcy after getting approval to recapitalize, as part of which Canal+ and Czech PE firm PPF will get a 58.6% stake — Swedish streaming service Viaplay Group AB has stepped back from the brink of bankruptcy after getting approval for a rescue plan …

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

In a letter to Washington Post executives, top reporters raise concerns about the gutting of the research department as part of the paper's ~10% staff cuts — Top reporters have urged executive editor Sally Buzbee and publisher Will Lewis to address the gutted research department, a casualty of the paper's roughly 10% staff reduction.

Discussion: @seamushughes and @charlottetklein

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Carbon Brief: UK newspapers published 42 editorials opposing climate action in 2023, ~3x more than before in a single year and mostly from right-leaning titles — Carbon Brief analysis shows apparent link between Rishi Sunak's net zero policy and newspaper columns.

Discussion: Carbon Brief and New Jersey Online

Dylan Smith / Digital Music News:

ERA: UK music sales grew 9.6% YoY to £2.22B in 2023, the highest since 2001, with £1.87B from streaming; CD sales grew for the first time in two decades, up 2% — Following the across-the-board implementation of music streaming price increases, UK subscription revenue rose nearly 10 percent year …

Discussion: Billboard, @drewhill, @eraltd, @musicweek, ERA Ltd, Music Ally and CMU