Top News:
BBC R&D:
The BBC plans to continue its Mastodon trial for at least six months and publish its work using ActivityPub, after gaining 60K followers on six trial accounts — In July 2023 we announced our plan to establish a BBC presence in the distributed collection of social networks known as the Fediverse …
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart is in talks to buy smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2B+, as the company looks to bolster its advertising business in its battle with Amazon — Retail giant discussing a more than $2 billion deal that would boost its advertising business in battle with Amazon
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Jon Stewart's Daily Show return drew 930K viewers, the most for a Daily Show installment in almost six years; simulcasts brought the total to 1.85M viewers — Comedy Central records its most watched episode of the late night show since March 2018. — The reunion of Jon Stewart …
Discussion:
Axios, Barrett News Media, Associated Press, The Independent, The Wrap, Variety, UPROXX, The A.V. Club, @deanobeidallah@threads.net, @iamspoonbedner.bsky.social, @adamkotsko.bsky.social, @reallyseansmith.bsky.social, Rolling Stone, @bartholomewb.bsky.social, @bencollins.bsky.social, @sudsterkel.bsky.social, New York Times, MSNBC, @daviddarmofal.bsky.social, NPR, Next TV, @screamerjim.bsky.social, New Yorker, @emilystjams.bsky.social, Boing Boing and The Daily Beast
Sara Fischer / Axios:
An interview with Jimmy Finkelstein, who says The Messenger's model was working and the outlet would have been profitable by August 2024 if it had raised $20M — The Messenger CEO Jimmy Finkelstein told Axios he did not mislead a New York Times reporter about the company's revenue …
Discussion:
Poynter, @jakewilkns, @pressgazette, @mradamtaylor, @jimlaporta, @sarafischer, @coreypein.bsky.social and @tomgara
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
In a letter to the WHCA, the White House expresses concern over media coverage of the Special Counsel's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified material — Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
As The Daily Beast put Confider on hiatus, weeks after editor at large Lachlan Cartwright left, sources say the media newsletter could instead be “dead” — “We decided to put Confider on hiatus after Lachlan Cartwright, who initiated it, departed The Daily Beast,” The Daily Beast editor in chief said in a statement
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Mail publisher DMGT reports 2023 revenue up 2% YoY to £997M and a pre-tax loss of £12.6M, as a £63M growth in B2B events revenue offset consumer media decline — Print advertising revenue dropped by 16% in the year to 30 September 2023. — Mail publisher DMGT grew revenue …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and General Trust plc
James Ball / Columbia Journalism Review:
How Reddit, after the catastrophic online manhunt to find the Boston Marathon bomber, quietly became a civilized place to discuss news, due to strong moderation — Twitter had been our place. Where journalists gathered and pored over news in as near to real time as possible.
Discussion:
@jamesrbuk, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Pete Distad, who was in charge of Apple's video and sports businesses, is among the top CEO candidates for the Disney/Fox/WBD streaming venture — Planned venture from Disney, Warner and Fox would combine their live-sports channels into a streaming package
Discussion:
@dylanbyers and The Desk
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Sony Pictures reports Q3 sales up 5% YoY to $2.47B, operating income up 56% to $281M; Sony Music revenue up 16% YoY to $2.81B, operating income up 21% to $507M — Operating income at the ‘Pictures Division’ of Sony Group Corporation climbed by 56% to hit $281 million in the October to December 2023 quarter …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Sony Group, Sony Group, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Associated Press and Sony Group, more at Techmeme »
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
TikTok plans to launch an in-app local language Election Centre in March 2024 in all 27 EU countries, to fight misinformation ahead of the Parliament elections — ByteDance-owned social media platform TikTok said on Wednesday it will ramp up its fight against fake news and covert influence operations …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, TikTok and RTÉ, more at Techmeme »
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Forbes' Cyrus Farivar and Poker.org's Haley Hintze face libel lawsuits from Bitcoin Latinum over their coverage of securities fraud lawsuits against the firm — Bitcoin Latinum angry about quotes from fraud lawsuit and Star Trek reference. — The cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Latinum …
Discussion:
Techdirt, @Lazarou@mastodon.social, @arstechnica@mastodon.social and Talking Biz News