Substack / Richard J. Tofel
Early thoughts on the New York news subsidy →“Among the surprising number of critical issues that will only be decided once the regulations are issued (and perhaps survive court challenges) are the following: whether digital news organizations will be included within what the law refers to as ‘newspapers’; whether the subsidy is limited to news employees, or extends to business staff; whether eligible employees must be engaged in local news as opposed to, for instance, national or international news; and whether opinion journalism is included along with news reporting. The law itself makes no distinction between for-profits and non-profits.”
The Hollywood Reporter / Alex Weprin
Inside The New York Times’ next big bet on audio, “The Interview” →“In a crowded marketplace for interview shows, The Interview is hoping to stand out not just in the quality of its bookings, or in the brand identity of the Times, but with an interesting twist on the format as well. Every subject will be interviewed twice: Once for an initial conversation, likely in studio, and a second interview days later, over a phone call or a Zoom.”
Media Nation / Dan Kennedy
Cuts at WBUR underscore the black swan event that now threatens public radio →“Critics like Uri Berliner would have us believe that public radio is suffering because of liberal bias, but that’s based on the dubious premise that there is some large bloc of conservative listeners who’ve stopped listening, or that underwriters suddenly were offended by what they heard. There is no evidence for either proposition. Rather, this is a business problem, and it’s not at all clear what the solution is going to be.”
The New York Times / Cecilia Kang
The FCC votes to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules →“In a three-to-two vote along party lines, the five-member commission appointed by President Biden revived the rules that declare broadband a utility-like service regulated like phones and water. The rules also give the F.C.C. the ability to demand broadband providers report and respond to outages.”
Adweek / Kathryn Lundstrom
Best Buy and CNET debut a new retail-publisher partnership →“He predicted that retailers — aiming to mimic the “flywheel” created by Amazon’s mutually beneficial media, ads and commerce businesses — would begin pairing up with relevant publishers to accelerate the growth of their retail media businesses … Think grocery chains pairing up with recipe publishers, pharmacies with health publishers or beauty retailers and fashion sites.”
The Information / Erin Woo, Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa
ByteDance is exploring scenarios for selling TikTok without its algorithm →“One scenario under discussion involves ByteDance selling more than 50% of TikTok U.S. but retaining a minority stake. ByteDance could retain 20%, the limit that the law puts on Chinese ownership…The sale options being discussed wouldn’t include the algorithm that powers TikTok, but it would include the TikTok brand. China would probably block the sale of the algorithm anyway. In 2020, when ByteDance last considered selling TikTok, China changed its export control rules to include technology such as the algorithm.”
The New York Times / Sam Roberts
Alfonso Chardy, who helped expose the Iran-Contra scandal at The Miami Herald, dies at age 72 →“Mr. Chardy joined other teams of reporters at The Herald in winning Pulitzer Prizes for public service in 1993, awarded for the paper’s coverage of Hurricane Andrew; for investigative reporting in 1999, for revealing voter fraud in a mayoral election, which was subsequently overturned; and for breaking news in 2001, for articles about Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy who was seized in a raid by immigration agents and returned to Cuba after a court challenge to his U.S. qualifications for asylum.”
Press Gazette / Charlotte Tobitt
The Washington Post / Will Sommer
Gateway Pundit to file for bankruptcy amid election conspiracy lawsuits →“Gateway Pundit is not alone among far-right media outlets to file for bankruptcy as they face legal judgments. The conspiracy-theorist outlet Infowars and its founder, Alex Jones, both filed for bankruptcy in 2022 as they faced huge legal judgments for promoting conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.”