7:15 AM ET, December 4, 2023
December 4, 2023
6:35 AM
Reuters:
A group of 83 Spanish media outlets files a €550M lawsuit against Meta, citing unfair competition in ads due to its “massive” and “systematic” use of data
6:00 AM
Sam Buckingham-Jones / Australian Financial Review:
The Guardian's senior editors issue a rare joint message to staff, warning them on signing letters and posting messages that “risk compromising” its integrity
5:10 AM
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Kick, the livestreaming site that grew by embracing online gambling and lax moderation, tries to move away from edgy content amid public and regulatory pressure
December 3, 2023
7:55 PM
Aletha Adu / The Guardian:
UK PM Sunak says the proposed £500M BBC budget cuts are “welcome” and the broadcaster “should be realistic” on what people can pay if it hikes its fees in 2024
2:45 PM
Celeste Katz Marston / Nieman Reports:
Five lessons from successful local news startups, including focusing on a single mission, openness to non-traditional reporting, and engaging the public
9:05 AM
Dawn Wotapka / Talking Biz News:
Q&A with Kevin Delaney, who co-founded “future-of-work” media and research company Charter in 2021, on the company's goals, his time at Quartz and WSJ, and more
December 2, 2023
6:50 PM
Phil Walker / The Guardian:
How successful cricket podcasts, often begun as labors of love by obsessive fans, have persisted in a broadcasting landscape saturated by rivaling media outlets
December 1, 2023
11:10 PM
Sophia Stewart / Publishers Weekly:
Scholastic magazine unionized employees reach a tentative new contract deal that includes a $65K salary floor, wage increases, and a hybrid work agreement
6:10 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
CNN launches a test of CNN Shorts, a vertical video player on its website, for smartphones; CNN's mobile app will get a CNN Shorts section in the near future
5:45 PM
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
An interview with Dow Jones CEO and WSJ publisher Almar Latour about how Dow Jones continues to grow subscriptions, news media's prospects for 2024, and more
4:09 PM
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
The Washington Post Guild authorizes a 24-hour walkout for December 7 after securing 700 commitments, saying that The Washington Post is bargaining in bad faith
3:15 PM
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Hasbro's EOne cuts 10% of its workforce before Lionsgate closes its $500M acquisition, likely by 2023's end; eOne cut 20% of its staff in June 2023
1:41 PM
Siddharth Cavale / Reuters:
Walmart says the company is not advertising on X “as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers”
11:15 AM
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Business Insider faces criticism after promoting a story about a female founder in a well-known influencer “snark” subreddit known for harassment against women
10:25 AM
Aditya Kalra / Reuters:
Sources: streaming services like Netflix and Viacom18 plan to collectively lobby India to delay or revamp a bill that would set up content evaluation committees
9:40 AM
Financial Times:
X accelerates its plan to attract ad spending by SMBs, including outsourcing some ad sales to third parties, such as US-based marketing startup JumpCrew
9:10 AM
Mike Nelson / The Streamable:
Tegna-owned TV stations, which reach ~39% of US households, go dark on DirecTV after the two companies did not renew their three-year retransmission agreement
8:45 AM
Kyodo News:
Sources: South China Morning Post reporter Minnie Chan has gone missing after visiting Beijing to cover a forum in October; SCMP says she's “on personal leave”
8:25 AM
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
Viaplay sells its UK business back to Premier Sports, just a year after acquiring the unit for £30M, and plans to exit the Baltics and Poland by summer 2025
7:16 AM
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple and Paramount have discussed an Apple TV+ and Paramount+ bundle that would cost less than subscribing to both streaming services separately
November 30, 2023
9:35 PM
Emma Nelson / Star Tribune:
Minnesota's Star Tribune hires Aron Pilhofer, who co-founded DocumentCloud, Hacks/Hackers, and Tiny News Collective, as chief product officer
8:45 PM
Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:
Canada's deal with Google showed the flaws in a link tax, and now California and the US have a chance to adopt provable ways to increase trustworthy local news
6:35 PM
Reuters:
A US district judge issues a preliminary injunction blocking Montana's first-of-its-kind state ban on TikTok from taking effect on January 1, 2024
5:59 PM
New York Times:
Some marketing agencies say their brands don't plan to return to advertising on X while others advise brands to stop posting on X, after Elon Musk's comments
5:30 PM
Michael Geist:
A close look at Canada's Google deal under Bill C-18: most of the CA$100M will likely go to big broadcasters and existing deals will be rolled into the payment
4:05 PM
Angelique Jackson / Variety:
Macro hires Jamila Hunter as president of Macro Television Studios; Hunter had been Freeform's executive VP of original programming and development
3:00 PM
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Memo: Bloomberg plans to launch a digital weekend product in 2024 and relaunch Businessweek as a monthly; Businessweek Editor Joel Weber will move to a new role
2:55 PM
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Some nonprofit digital outlets are hiring full-time cartoonists, as newspapers increasingly cut the role; fewer than 30 cartoonists worked at newspapers in 2021
2:00 PM
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Internal email: Vox lays off staff as part of “tightening our editorial focus” and set an all-staff meeting for December 1 to discuss the changes
12:55 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney says former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, who is working with Nelson Peltz, has a “longstanding personal agenda” against Bob Iger
12:22 PM
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
The UK opens a review into whether Jeff Zucker's bid for The Telegraph, using ~$1B in Emirati money, could result in adverse foreign influence over the UK press
11:50 AM
David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR names Gimlet executive Collin Campbell as its podcast chief, as it looks to regain footing after cutting staff and canceling four podcasts in early 2023
11:20 AM
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners says they intend to take their “case for change directly to shareholders” after Disney turns down its Board representation request
11:15 AM
CNBC:
Source: Nelson Peltz seeks more than two seats on Disney's board, a day after Disney added Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky TV boss Jeremy Darroch
11:00 AM
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The BEUC and its members follow noyb in filing a complaint against Meta's €9.99+/month subscriptions in the EU, saying the tier amounts to charging for privacy
10:11 AM
Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: MSNBC cancels Mehdi Hasan's show and expands Ayman Mohyeldin's program to replace Hasan's show; Hasan will become an on-camera analyst and fill-in host
10:00 AM
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Bari Weiss' Free Press attracts readers miffed with “unfair” Israel media coverage; Free Press now has ~520K subscribers, including nearly 75K paying $8/month
9:35 AM
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
TikTok launches verified artist accounts, offering various tools to deepen engagement and improve discoverability, seemingly inspired by Spotify
9:10 AM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Tubi hires David Salmon, former CTO of Endeavor Streaming, as executive VP and managing director of international, and plans to launch in the EU and the UK
7:20 AM
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta plans to launch Threads in the EU in December, its largest expansion since its July 2023 debut, but only for consumption, no profiles or posting
November 29, 2023
10:15 PM
Institute for Nonprofit News:
The INN board announces that Karen Rundlet will become CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News on January 8, succeeding Sue Cross
9:20 PM
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Substack rolls out video creation and editing tools to enable creators to publish video podcasts, create interactive AI-made transcripts, and customize clips
8:10 PM
Jennifer Bowers Bahney / Mediaite:
Elon Musk says organizations that don't pay for X subscriptions don't get recommended, in a reply to a question about X's throttling of The New York Times
5:51 PM
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Elon Musk scoffs at advertisers leaving X because of his controversial posts: “If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising ... go fuck yourself”
5:25 PM
Sports Business Journal:
NASCAR announces media rights deals with Amazon's Prime Video, WBD's TNT Sports, Fox Sports, and NBC Sports, for 2025 to 2031; sources: deals are worth $7.7B
4:30 PM
Paresh Dave / Wired:
Investigation: Palestinians are excluded from, or face barriers to, monetizing via Google's services, as the region's digital divide comes under new scrutiny
3:50 PM
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says ABC is not for sale, despite his earlier comment that it might not be “core” to Disney, and he'll “definitely” step down in 2026
3:10 PM
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Intuit Mailchimp plans to shut down TinyLetter on February 29, 2024, to focus on its core Mailchimp marketing product; Mailchimp acquired TinyLetter in 2011
2:50 PM
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD CEO David Zaslav says “generational disruption” is affecting the entertainment industry and “requires more aggressive, tougher, faster, decisions”
12:40 PM
CBC News:
Google and Canada reach an agreement in their dispute over the country's Online News Act; Google plans to pay news companies around CA$100M, or ~$74M, per year
12:30 PM
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix plans to add Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy to its mobile app, the App Store, and Google Play on December 14, available to its users at no extra charge
12:00 PM
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
Plex users express alarm after getting a “Week in Review” email that showed what they and their friends watched, part of Plex's opt-out Discover Together tool
11:10 AM
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The BBC plans to cut ~127 jobs across BBC News and Current Affairs, but will create 147 digital-focused roles and expand BBC Verify with new reporting roles
10:55 AM
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
The BBC plans to produce nine fewer hours of BBC2 documentaries, cut BBC News' Our World, and move BBC News at One to Salford and extend the show by an hour
10:13 AM
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
The BBC says Newsnight will become a “30-minute interview, debate, and discussion show” and cuts 30+ jobs to save £7.5M as part of plans to make £500M in cuts
9:35 AM
Steph Brawn / The National:
The BBC apologizes after an “editing error” led to an inaccurate Arabic translation being shown against an interview with a released Palestinian prisoner
8:15 AM
Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
Spotify reveals 2023's most-streamed artists, albums, songs, and podcasts: Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus' Flowers, The Joe Rogan Experience, and more
8:10 AM
Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify launches Spotify Wrapped 2023, adding a Me in 2023 feature that assigns users one of 12 themes to describe their listening habits, on mobile and desktop
8:06 AM
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Music and culture outlet Paste Magazine buys Jezebel, with plans to start publishing today, and Splinter, the political news site shut down by G/O Media in 2019