Gannett Sees ‘Fake News’ Site Become a New Rival
NPR: As Gannett's Stockton Record newspaper in Stockton, Calif., lost resources and reporters, a local website called 209 Times — said to be trafficking in misinformation and racism — has emerged as the go-to source for the community. The Stockton Record sits behind a...
Tribune to Relocate Headquarters, Chicago Flagship
Chicago Tribune: The Chicago Tribune and its parent company will relocate out of Prudential Plaza at the end of this month, leaving the city's largest newspaper without a downtown office less than three years after its exit from the landmark Tribune Tower. The Tribune...
Atlantic Hit with Charge of Stealing Freelancer Work
TheWrap: The Atlantic has been accused by freelancer Dean Sterling Jones of stealing his work and denying him adequate credit — and payment — for his writing and research. In a Sunday post on his personal website, Jones said editors at the publication have "refused"...
Vox Under Fire for ‘Lab Leak’ at New York Magazine
Deez Links: New York magazine's Covid-19 "Lab Leak Hypothesis" cover story neglected to bring to light any solid evidence, according to popular newsletter writer Delia Cai. The magazine story's writer, Nicholson Baker. "doesn't provide evidence that's convincing...
Wikipedia Wins Praise as a Crowdsourcing Success
The Economist: Wikipedia will mark its 20th birthday on January 15 as the 13th-most-visited place on the web, offering more than 55 million articles written in 300 languages. Worries about fake news, filter bubbles and market power have soured public opinion on the...
Apple, Amazon, Google Make Moves to Stifle Parler
New York Times: Apple, Amazon and Google have pulled support for the "free speech" social network Parler, all but killing the service just as many conservatives are seeking alternatives to Facebook and Twitter. "Big tech really wants to kill competition," said Parler...
Twitter Braces for Pro-Trump Rally at Headquarters
San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco police said they are preparing for a possible pro-Trump demonstration at Twitter's headquarters on Monday, days after the social media company banned President Trump. Daily Mail: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reportedly banned...
Verizon Chief to Deliver Keynote at All-Digital CES
Wired: This year, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the annual CES will take place entirely on computer screens. The first-ever completely remote staging of the consumer tech industry's tentpole event starts Monday. The Consumer Technology Association said that...
Netflix Joins Studios Delaying Shoots Citing Covid
Los Angeles Times: Due to the rising Covid-19 infection rate, several studios including CBS, ABC, NBC and most recently Netflix have delayed film and television productions that were set to restart. There have been clusters of coronavirus infections identified...
AT&T to Unveil Streaming Pay Plan for Filmmakers
Bloomberg: Warner Bros has come up with a new plan to compensate filmmakers during the pandemic: treat every movie like a box-office smash. The studio has adjusted terms of its deals with partners to guarantee payment regardless of box-office sales and to increase the...
Disney Mulls Relocating Some Divisions to Florida
Orlando Business Journal: Disney is in talks to relocate some of its office divisions from its headquarters in California to Lake Nona, a master-planned community in southeast Orlando. Nothing has been signed, and it isn't clear which Disney divisions or how many...
Fox Corp: No Comment on US Capitol Riot, Trump
New York Times: No Fox News prime-time star has yet blamed President Trump for his role in inciting the riot at the US Capitol. And rather than reckon with years of backing Trump, the network's pundits have simply swiveled, finding new ways to take on old targets....
Disney-ESPN Veterans to Unveil Venture in Sports
Miami Herald: ESPN former president John Skipper is said to be teaming up with exiting ESPN sports host Dan Le Batard on a new media operation. Skipper is expected to take the lead in finding a new platform for Le Batard's program, which blends sports, pop culture,...
AT&T’s HBO Max Plans Revival of ‘Sex and the City’
New York Times: "Sex and the City," the landmark HBO series that ran from 1998 through 2004 and was later made into two feature films, is returning yet again. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis will reprise their original characters for a new...
Roku Buys Shows from Short-Lived Streamer Quibi
Associated Press: Roku has bought the content library of Quibi, the short-lived streaming service, to bulk up its own free ad-supported channel. Quibi, short for quick bites, had raised $1.75 billion from investors including major Hollywood players like Disney,...
AMC, FuboTV Join List of Media Acquisition Targets
TheWrap: AMC Entertainment, Sony Pictures, DirecTV, Roku, iHeartMedia, FuboTV, OnlyFans, Peloton, Upwork, and Tidal have been marked as potential M&A targets in 2021. iHeartMedia could become a prime target for Spotify or Amazon, as both have been angling to...
LionTree Among Media Bankers Eyeing New Deals
Business Insider: From fighting activists to raising money and managing mergers, top media bankers had a busy year in 2020, with telecom, media and tech M&A soaring 77%. Pivoting is the business plan du jour, and the telecom, media and tech sector bankers have...
IAC Chief Sees No Need to Ban ‘Irrelevant’ Trump
CNBC: IAC chairman Barry Diller: "Just let him go. Let it be over. I don't think it makes sense to ban him. He has used these megaphones extraordinarily effectively. I think that's ended. He's no longer relevant. I think he's disqualified himself. He has declared his...
New York Times Taps Atlantic Alum for New Effort
New York Times Co: Matt Thompson has joined the New York Times as editor of Headway, a new journalism initiative to investigate global and national challenges. He will hire a team of journalists to cover a range of economic, social, health, infrastructural and...
Hearst Newspaper Calls on Ted Cruz to Step Down
TheHill: The Houston Chronicle's editorial board has called for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to resign after he helped lead the effort to challenge the 2020 election results in Congress. The Chronicle, which has been a vocal critic of Cruz over the years, wrote in an...
Conde Nast Gets Buzz from Kamala Harris in Vogue
Associated Press: Kamala Harris has landed on the cover of the February issue of Vogue magazine, but her team said the shot isn't what both sides had agreed upon. The photo of Harris wearing sneakers is the one that will grace the cover of the print edition. The cover...
Forbes Chief Warns Against Hiring Reps for Trump
Forbes: "Hire any of Trump's fabulists, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie," said Randall Lane, chief content officer at Forbes. "We're going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we'd approach...
BuzzFeed’s Move Indicates Interest in Going Public
The Information: BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer Rascoff's Supernova Partners Acquisition Co., in a sign that it is actively exploring going public. New York Times: A former BuzzFeed staffer turned up in a...
Allbritton to Kick Off Global Expansion for Protocol
Digiday: Protocol, the nearly 1-year-old tech-news sibling of Politico, plans to launch three verticals — Protocol China, Protocol Enterprise and Protocol Fintech — in the first quarter of 2021. "Protocol wants to be your deep dive into specific areas of tech, not...
Axios, Insider See Challenges Ahead in Journalism
Press Gazette: What is the biggest challenge for journalism in 2021? "There can be massive gulfs between how people of different political persuasions view the world," said Axios editor in chief Nicholas Johnston. "A great challenge is creating journalism that can...
Twitter Bans Trump Citing Risk of Inciting Violence
USA Today: Twitter has permanently banned President Trump, citing the risk that he would incite further violence. "After close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and...
Facebook, Twitter Set to ‘Rocket’ After Capitol Riot
CNBC: The violence on Capitol Hill by a mob of President Trump's supporters is likely to be a "rocket ship" for social media advertising, according to ad media expert Mark Douglas. "Political turmoil drives increased engagement on social media, and right or wrong,...
Twitter Runs Trump Video as Facebook Issues Ban
Reuters: President Trump returned to Twitter on Thursday with a new video saying that Joe Biden would be the next president as Facebook blocked his accounts over concerns that his messages might spark further violent protests. Twitter unlocked the @realDonaldTrump...
Amazon CEO is No Longer World’s Richest Person
CNBC: Elon Musk has become the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion. Thursday's increase in Tesla's share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk's...
Yahoo Alum’s Local News App Raises $115 Million
TechCrunch: The popular news app News Break said it has raised $115 million in new funding. The press release claims this round makes News Break "one of the first new unicorns of 2021," but the startup declined to disclose its actual valuation. Founder and CEO Jeff...