Media Matters

By Ken Yeung

a magazine devoted to talking all about media-related news and events.

Technology
Medium’s Ev Williams Is Said to Discuss Buying New York Magazine
Bloomberg - Emily Chang, Gerry Smith and Felix Gillette
Medium, the publishing website run by Twitter Inc. co-founder Ev Williams, expressed interest in buying New York Magazine and other media properties, …
Technology (Australia)
'They don't care': Facebook fact-checking in disarray as journalists push to cut ties
The Guardian - Sam Levin in San Francisco
Journalists working as factcheckers for Facebook have pushed to end a controversial media partnership with the social network, saying the company has ignored their concerns and failed to use their expertise
U.S. Politics
New York Magazine's Staff Is Unionizing
buzzfeednews.com - Steven Perlberg
Staffers are asking that New York Media management voluntarily recognize an editorial union. Staffers at New York magazine on Wednesday morning asked …
Apple
Report: Apple looking to launch news subscription service as soon as the spring, publishers wary to sign up
9to5Mac - Benjamin Mayo
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple is set to relaunch its Texture acquisition as a paid news and magazine subscription service, likely built into the Apple News app, as soon as spring 2019. Just like Apple
Magic Leap
Exclusive: Cheddar to launch in mixed reality on Magic Leap devices
Axios - Sara Fischer
Cheddar, the streaming news service for millennials, and Magic Leap, a mixed reality company, are teaming up to put Cheddar's two live news networks …
Long-form Journalism
The Guardians and the War on Truth
TIME - Karl Vick
The stout man with the gray goatee and the gentle demeanor dared to disagree with his country’s government. He told the world the truth about its …
Economics
Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2018 Jealousy List
Bloomberg
from BuzzFeed News An investigation into St. Joseph’s Orphanage, in Burlington, Vt. The orphanage has been closed for a long time, thank God. Christine …
Media Industry
“Everyone’s for Sale”: A Generation of Digital-Media Darlings Prepares for a Frigid Winter
Vanity Fair - By Joe Pompeo
Vice, Vox, and BuzzFeed, among other companies that once heralded the dawn of a new media age, are now grappling with decidedly old-media problems. It was around this time last year that things were starting
Media Industry
Threat to journalists at highest level in 10 years, report says
The Guardian - Jim Waterson Media editor
Journalism is more dangerous – and more under threat – than at any point in the last decade, according to a report, which found that 78 journalists were killed last year while doing their job. The rise
Advertising
The CEO of media giant Turner says content is still king, but television needs to evolve
Business Insider - Lucia Moses
• Turner president David Levy said television needs to be rethought as people increasingly view shows on all kinds of devices. • The AT&T-Time Warner deal will help Turner better serve viewers with better
World News
Thomson Reuters to cut 3,200 jobs in next two years
NBC News - By Reuters
The news provider said it would cut the number of offices around the world by 30 percent. Thomson Reuters said Tuesday that it will cut its workforce by 12 percent in the next two years, axing 3,200 jobs,
Verizon
Paywall for HuffPost? Verizon Hunt for Web Revenue Goes Beyond Ads
The Wall Street Journal. - Sarah Krouse
Oath media unit at the wireless carrier to focus on e-commerce and paid subscriptions to content By Sarah Krouse Sarah Krouse The Wall Street Journal Biography @bysarahkrouse sarah.krouse@wsj.com Verizon
Human Rights
Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales says his crowd-sourced news platform will hire journalists again in future despite cutting staff
pressgazette.co.uk - Charlotte Tobitt
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said there will be journalists working on his crowd-sourced news website Wikitribune again in the future, despite …
Advertising
How tech companies are fighting fake news with humans
Business Insider - Rob Price
• Microsoft and NewsGuard are among the companies today fighting fake news with human oversight and moderation.• Disinformation and hoaxes have run rampant in recent years, fueled by tech platforms like
Lifestyle
The digital-media bubble is bursting. That’s hurting a generation of promising young journalists.
The Washington Post - By Margaret Sullivan
About five years ago, I was asked to visit the newsroom at Mic, a digital-media start-up backed by venture capital and focused on news for the millennial audience. As the public editor of the New York
Apollo Global Management
Nexstar will acquire Tribune Media for $4.1 billion
The Verge - Andrew Liptak
The combined company would be the largest local broadcaster in the US Reuters reports that Nexstar Media Group has agreed to acquire the Tribune Media Company for $4.1 billion, which will make the combined
Education
A High School Newspaper Was Suspended For Publishing An Investigation Into Football Players’ Transfers
buzzfeednews.com - Amber Jamieson
“They are like, ‘Well, you raised an uproar, we’re going to try and silence you,’” said Halle Roberts, 17, the editor-in-chief of the Har-Ber Herald …
Webcomics
Mic has laid off the majority of its staff
Recode - Peter Kafka
The publisher is trying to sell the remainder of the company to Bustle Digital Group. Mic is laying off the majority off its staff while the digital publisher works on a deal to sell the remainder of assets
Technology
is in talks to sell to Bustle
Recode - Peter Kafka
Sale talks started after Facebook ended a video deal with Mic. Mic.com, a digital publisher with a millennial focus, is in talks to sell at least part of the company to Bustle, a publisher that has focused
Opinion
Can Laurene Powell Jobs Save Storytelling?
The New York Times - By KARA SWISHER
Just what is Laurene Powell Jobs up to? Over the last few years, Ms. Powell Jobs, an activist, investor and entrepreneur, has been investing in media companies through her social impact firm, Emerson Buying
Laurene Powell
Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective bought Pop-Up Magazine Productions
Recode - Kara Swisher
The social impact firm makes another media acquisition, this time of the publisher of California Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up events. The Emerson Collective, the social impact firm run by Laurene Powell,
Nicole Kidman
Condé Nast CEO Bob Sauerberg to Exit Amid Restructuring
Variety - Todd Spangler
Bob Sauerberg will depart as CEO of Condé Nast, which plans to merge U.S. and international operations and has launched a search for a new chief exec …
Business
Employees Say Startup Civil Hyped Crypto Returns, But Failed to Pay - CoinDesk
coindesk.com - Leigh Cuen
Civil was supposed to create a more transparent and democratic model for journalism. But so far, journalists working on its platform have yet to …
Mergers & Acquisitions
Founder’s Big Idea to Revive BuzzFeed’s Fortunes? A Merger With Rivals
The New York Times - By EDMUND LEE
BuzzFeed has long positioned itself as the future of publishing — it practices the mysterious arts of digital media better than anyone. From the beginning, its ability to know, before anyone else, what
Handbags
BuzzFeed News launches a paid membership program (and yes, there’s a tote bag)
TechCrunch - Anthony Ha
BuzzFeed News is giving readers a new way to support its journalism — by paying a monthly or yearly fee. BuzzFeed might not seem like the most obvious publication to ask readers for financial support,
Google Assistant
Report: News reports aren't translating well on smart speakers
Axios - Marisa Fernandez
News consumption on smart speakers isn't picking up in the U.S. even though the purchases and overall usage of smart speakers is increasing overall, …
Google News
Google News may shut over EU plans to charge tax for links
The Guardian - Jim Waterson Media editor
Google’s top news executive has refused to rule out shutting down Google News in EU countries, as the search engine faces a battle with Brussels over plans to charge a “link tax” for using news stories.
Women Entrepreneurs
Newsonomics: Can The Correspondent “unbreak news” in the United States?
Nieman Lab - Ken Doctor
Ad-free, member-funded, and Dutch: The team behind the breakout success De Correspondent is translating its ideas into English (and Judd Apatow is on board). How zen is a non-breaking news notification?
New York Magazine’s Sites Are Going Behind a Paywall
The New York Times - By JACLYN PEISER
Information may want to be free, as an aphorism had it in the early days of digital media. But these days, increasingly, journalism wants to be paid for. New York Media, the parent company of New York