7:30 PM ET, April 13, 2021
April 13, 2021
6:15 PM
Paul Resnikoff / Digital Music News:
Spotify has now removed 42 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, offering no explanations for the removals
5:30 PM
Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai writes to his Apple Daily staff ahead of his sentencing for participating in a protest: “Freedom of speech is a dangerous job”
5:10 PM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Air Mail, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's media venture, expects to employ 40 people by year's end, up from 30 now, and has added an e-commerce shop
4:05 PM
Arianne Cohen / Fast Company:
Live Nation is outfitting 60+ venues for livestreaming, using Veeps, a service launched by Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden, bought by Live Nation in Jan.
3:40 PM
Tim Peterson / Digiday:
Ad agency Dentsu says it has developed a tool to consolidate audience-based buys across TV networks via a single source of viewership data provided by VideoAmp
1:55 PM
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A look at the damage already done to Tribune's nine metro papers: since Alden acquired a 32% share, NewsGuild says staff fell 30.4% in one year
12:55 PM
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Unlike national and international outlets, some local Minnesota news outlets were not let in to a police press conference after the shooting of Daunte Wright
12:35 PM
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Disney, Viacom, and 10 ad tech companies agree to remove or disable software from children's apps that could target children with ads, resolving three lawsuits
12:00 PM
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Contextual adtech company GumGum raises $75M, sources say at a ~$700M valuation, almost tripling from last funding round, as Google and Apple limit targeted ads
11:45 AM
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP:
Epoch Times says its printing presses in Hong Kong were attacked by men wielding sledgehammers, the second such attack since 2019
11:10 AM
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: CBS News President Susan Zirinsky is nearing a deal to step down from the role and sign a wide-ranging production partnership with ViacomCBS
10:35 AM
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Over 650 tech workers at the NYT announce they have formed a union to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York and are seeking union recognition from the NYT
10:05 AM
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify announces Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car, launching today for free for select US users
9:45 AM
Jeff Dunn / Ars Technica:
Roku announces new devices Express 4K Plus streaming device, rechargeable Voice Remote Pro, and Streambar Pro, and an OS update that includes Instant Resume
9:15 AM
Sara Fischer / Axios:
DraftKings hires Brian Angiolet as its first chief media officer: sources: he'll lead a team that will evaluate potential media acquisitions and content efforts
8:45 AM
Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board will now accept appeals to remove content from Facebook and Instagram; previously, users were only able to appeal to restore content
7:55 AM
Alice Speri / The Intercept:
Campus Reform, a conservative news site for higher education that uses students as reporters, has targeted professors, leading to harassment, doxxing, and more
April 12, 2021
10:40 PM
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Casey Newton, 7 other writers covering tech, media, and culture to launch Sidechannel, a “virtual newsroom” on Discord open to subscribers of their publications
8:10 PM
Reuters:
Reuters News names Alessandra Galloni as its next EIC, starting April 19; she will be the first woman to lead the news agency
5:30 PM
Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:
Polish court suspends state oil giant Orlen's purchase of hundreds of local media outlets, as it considers competition watchdog's authorization of the takeover
4:40 PM
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
In a letter, Lachlan Murdoch dismisses ADL complaint and claims a review of Tucker Carlson's comments found Carlson “decried and rejected replacement theory”
3:10 PM
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
BuzzFeed UK had revenues of £18.9M in 2020, down from £22.4M YoY, with operating losses down 60% to £2.9M, driven by the sale of Germany and Brazil units
2:10 PM
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sources: a record ~110K viewers complained about BBC coverage of Prince Philip's death; 116 complained that BBC is making it too easy to complain about coverage
12:15 PM
Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
Will Smith says his film Emancipation will not shoot in Georgia due to the state's new voting law; Apple bought the film last June for a reported $130M
11:30 AM
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Vice launches an affiliate vertical called Rec Room, after a post during its six month trial led to more than 600 sales with a conversion rate of 9%
10:05 AM
Youkyung Lee / Bloomberg:
Kakao Entertainment, the digital comic and movie unit of South Korean mobile giant Kakao, says it is considering a US IPO, seeking a valuation of $17.8B+
9:10 AM
Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:
Bustle Digital Group confirms it is reviving Gawker under former Gawker writer Leah Finnegan
8:55 AM
Bloomberg:
Sources: Ofcom chair shortlist includes former UK culture secretary Ed Vaizey, former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, and others
8:00 AM
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is in early stages of developing a product that combines an Apple TV with a HomePod speaker and has a FaceTime camera and smart home functions
7:50 AM
Rebecca Ratcliffe / The Guardian:
Cambodia condemns Vice for publishing colorized victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide, with some apparently edited to add smiles to the victims' faces
April 11, 2021
11:05 PM
Charlie Warzel / Galaxy Brain:
Charlie Warzel announces he is leaving NYT Opinion to launch a new Substack called Galaxy Brain, aiming to forge a deeper relationship with readers
7:30 PM
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Substack strikes deals with trans writers, amid claims it supports allegedly anti-trans writers and is a kind of lucrative off ramp for “cancel culture” victims
6:45 PM
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Vox Media says it's buying Cafe Studios Inc., which publishes podcasts including one hosted by ex-US attorney Preet Bharara; Café Studios will remain as a brand
1:55 PM
Clayton Davis / Variety:
In 2020 Oscar nominations, only 4 of the 23 categories had any form of Latino representation; 2021 is likely to have more Latino nominations
April 10, 2021
9:35 PM
Wall Street Journal:
Erroneously unredacted court docs reveal Google ran a secret program called “Project Bernanke” that used past bid data to boost its win rate in ad auctions
2:10 PM
Edmund Lee / New York Times:
A look at WSJ's internal study, The Content Review, which recommended ways for WSJ to attract new readers, specifically, women, POC, and younger professionals
1:05 PM
Nicholas Kulish / New York Times:
Across the US, billionaires have decided that a newspaper is an essential part of the civic fabric and are buying local papers, often with mixed results
10:50 AM
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Bainum had a side arrangement with Alden CEO Heath Freeman to buy Baltimore Sun, but made his own Tribune bid after suspecting Alden changed terms
10:45 AM
Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
How a gamer calling themselves Kacey Montagu posed as a reporter for fictitious White House News and managed to fool journalists and the Biden administration
April 9, 2021
5:15 PM
Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:
The potential rescuers of individual Tribune newspapers should stop printing the papers and go all digital, right away, to cut major costs of standalone outlets
4:55 PM
Brian Stelter / CNN:
In a letter to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, the head of the Anti-Defamation League called on her to fire Tucker Carlson for invoking “white replacement theory”
4:35 PM
William Turvill / Press Gazette:
Print circulations of WSJ and USA Today fell 19% and 60% respectively from Q1 2020 to Q2/Q3 as hotels closed, accounting for the majority of the decline
4:00 PM
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nielsen says the pandemic shrunk the size of its TV consumer panel, but it defends its viewership data and says streaming's rise doesn't offset linear TV's fall
3:20 PM
Thomas Wilde / GeekWire:
Report: March was Twitch's biggest month to date, with 2B+ hours watched, helped by “sleep streaming,” where popular streamers film themselves while sleeping
2:35 PM
Timothy Garton Ash / The Guardian:
A look at anti-press policies in Poland, including a proposal targeting foreign media owners, ending public sector advertising in independent media, and more
12:40 PM
The Markup:
YouTube blocks advertisers from using terms like “Black Lives Matter” to find videos to advertise against but was letting them use phrases like “White power”
10:50 AM
Kathimerini:
Greek veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz was shot and killed near Athens in what appears to have been a planned ambush
10:30 AM
Peter White / Deadline:
A feature documentary about examining the evolution of American journalism from Dan Rather's perspective is in the works
10:00 AM
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Community, which lets public figures, media outlets, and brands text with fans, raises $40M from Salesforce Ventures, bringing its total raised to $90M
9:10 AM
Jeff Horwitz / Wall Street Journal:
Study: Facebook algorithms disproportionately show certain types of job ads to men and women, reflecting the concentration of that gender in a position or field
8:40 AM
Reuters:
Press freedom at English- and Portuguese-language outlets is being curtailed in Macau as its public broadcaster bars staff from sharing opinions contrary to CCP
April 8, 2021