How WhatsApp Channels, launched in late 2023, are driving traffic to digital news outlets, especially readers from outside the US, as social media traffic falls (New York Times)

Mediagazer: How WhatsApp Channels, launched in late 2023, are driving traffic to digital news outlets, especially readers from outside the US, as social media traffic falls (New York Times)

Top News:

Press Gazette:

Reach CEO Jim Mullen says there is “too much power in the hands of platforms and their algorithms” and calls for regulation to make platforms pay for content— The chief executive of the UK's biggest commercial news publisher has called for big tech regulation so the platforms pay …
Discussion: Liverpool Echo and HoldtheFrontPage

Discussion:

Maria Breslin /
Liverpool Echo: Why backing proud brands like the Liverpool Echo must be on the political agenda

TechCrunch:

TikTok rolls out its redesigned Subscription feature, which lets creators offer three tiers, to eligible creators in select regions, including the UK and the US— TikTok announced on Monday that its redesigned “Subscription” monetization offering is rolling out to eligible creators in select regions …

Discussion:
TikTok, @wildtiktokss, @liahaberman, @zachbussey, @tiktokcomms, ZDNET, MediaPost and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:
TikTok: Subscription Expansion: Enabling More Creators to Enhance Relationships With Their Communities @wildtiktokss: subscriptions are now available on my page! they're only $1 subscribers will get daily exclusive posts and other memes/shitposts. I will also do giveaways and frequent shoutouts to the main feed for subscribers and talk about life i will also follow back all subs and feel free [image]

Lia Haberman /
@liahaberman: TikTok announced its updated “Subscription” feature is rolling out to more eligible creators in select markets Creators will be able offer followers exclusive access to premium perks, unique experiences, and a members-only community for a monthly fee https://newsroom.tiktok.com/ ... [image]

Zach Bussey /
@zachbussey: TikTok is expanding Subscriptions with new features. - Open to All eligible Creators, not just LIVE. - Three Tiers New Perks: - Private Comm Channels - Exclusive Content - Unique Stickers + Evolving Badges - Custom Perks (Discord Role, Shoutouts) #StreamerNews #TOSgg [image] @tiktokcomms: Our newly expanded Subscription feature launches today in select regions, with more to come. The redesigned feature will enable more creators to offer their followers exclusive perks, unique experiences, and access to a members-only community. Read more: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/ ... [image]

Cesar Cadenas /
ZDNET: TikTok rolls out expanded Subscription packages letting fans unlock exclusive content

Jessica Bursztynsky /
Fast Company: TikTok expands its subscription feature for creators

Reuters:

Source: Meta plans to launch the voices of Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key for its Meta AI chatbot at Connect this week— Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) is planning to announce this week that it has secured deals with actors including Judi Dench …

Discussion:
MEDIANAMA, The Wrap and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Vallari Sanzgiri /
MEDIANAMA: Meta to Use AI Voices of Celebrities Like Judi Dench, John Cena Amid Consent Concerns

Sean Burch /
The Wrap: Meta AI to Begin Speaking in Voices of Judi Dench, Awkwafina and John Cena | Report

Matthew Sedacca /
New York Post: Meta AI chatbot praises Kamala Harris for her ‘trailblazing leadership’ — but warns critics have called Trump ‘crude and lazy’

Variety:

An interview with Joanna Coles and Ben Sherwood on making The Daily Beast “an intelligent tabloid” with 30+ new contributors like Tina Brown and Kara Swisher— If the media industry is burning, Joanna Coles and Ben Sherwood aren't afraid to play close to the flames.

Discussion:
The Daily Beast, @variety, LateNighter and @bristei

Discussion:
@variety: Samantha Bee will co-host a new podcast on The Daily Beast, and the publication is tapping more than 30 prominent journalists, comedians and thought leaders to help revitalize the site. Among the list are Kara Swisher, Larry Wilmore and Phoebe Robinson. https://variety.com/...

Nick Riccardo /
LateNighter: Samantha Bee is Launching a New Podcast for The Daily Beast

Semafor:

A look at Tim Miller's “Never Trump” outlet The Bulwark's surging popularity on YouTube, with subscribers up from 50,000 in September 2023 to 631,000 now— The Scoop — Tim Miller doesn't enjoy making the MrBeast face, the wide-eyed, open-mouthed smile of a million YouTube thumbnail images.

Discussion:

John Ettorre /
@workinwithwords: “The Bulwark is currently the 4th-most popular news publication on Substack, behind Bari Weiss' Free Press, Heather Cox Richardson's long running history newsletter, & Nate Silver's polling/media analysis project, the Silver Bulletin.” Wow. https://www.semafor.com/...

Simon Owens /
@simondowens@threads.net: The Bulwark, the never-Trump outlet that's become one of the biggest political publications on Substack, has grown its YouTube following by 600,000 in just the last year. Most of the videos consist of short clips from its longform podcasts. — https://www.semafor.com/...

Eric Michael Garcia /
@ericmgarcia14@threads.net: The Bulwark and @timodc honestly put together some of the smartest commentary out there. I find myself checking it regularly.

Bill Kristol /
@billkristol: “It's mission-driven. So we're always going to be looking for how to reach more people...Because my bigger political ambition is: How do you build a new center in the country? And so I want to build as big a community as possible.” https://www.semafor.com/... @risj_oxford: Centre-right US news outlet the @BulwarkOnline has grown rapidly this year, evolving from “an anti-Trump refuge into a promising media business,” writes @maxwelltani who looks at the delicate line it's treading between political and business success. https://www.semafor.com/...

Peter Hamby /
@peterhamby: The Bulwark — a real media company! Great @maxwelltani piece, starring a lot of @Timodc face https://www.semafor.com/...

Aaron M. Renn /
@aaron_renn: Love them or hate them, there's no denying that there's a big market for Never Trump takes, and both the Bulwark and Dispatch have done extremely well. https://www.semafor.com/...

Tim Miller /
@timodc: “Since Biden dropped out, The Bulwark has netted 88 million views on YouTube (the prior 5 years were 64.2 mil)...It has been averaging 296k views per video...making it one of the most-viewed-per-video producers in all of English-language news media.” https://www.semafor.com/...

Justin Kanew /
@kanew: Good stuff here. Grateful for @Timodc and the Bulwark crew's voices as (former) Republicans who saw Trumpism for what it was early on. https://www.semafor.com/...

New York Times:

A look at Racquet, a tennis magazine whose co-founders, David Shaftel and Caitlin Thompson, are in a legal dispute over their differing visions for the magazine— The indie magazine Racquet aims to become a major player in the business of tennis — after a messy dispute between its two founders.

Discussion:
@jtes

Discussion:

New York Magazine:

An interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new nonfiction book The Message, how US journalistic institutions failed in covering the Israel-Hamas war, and more— A decade after “The Case for Reparations,” he is ready to take on Israel, Palestine, and the American media.

Discussion:
@coopercooperco, @bwdbwdbwd, @hofrench, @strawburriez, @dwallacewells, @jackmirkinson, @dbattistella@mstdn.ca, @wireracing, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @jazzedloon, @longreads@mastodon.world, @achingkneejoint, @zschrieber, @seywarddarby, @ryuspaeth, @damonlinker, @brianstelter, @yacobg42, @jackmirkinson and Longreads

Discussion:
@coopercooperco: Coates spending the last decade in comics, movies, and fiction, and coming back to no fiction ready to burn all his Obama-era won bridges by unequivocally calling Palestine an occupation and ongoing genocide really underscores the general cowardice of that media class.

Bradford William Davis /
@bwdbwdbwd: A woman shouted down Ta-Nehisi Coates over a how passage in his The Case for Reparations framed Israel, and it changed his life. Bullying works! [image]

Howard French /
@hofrench: On American journalism during the Israel-Gaza conflict, from a long piece about Ta-Nehisi Coates. https://nymag.com/... [image]

Roxanna Asgarian /
@strawburriez: Something that struck me about the Ta-Nehisi profile is that even he has a hard time getting his work and ideas past the editors. [image]

David Wallace-Wells /
@dwallacewells: “'The fact of the matter is,' he said, 'that kid up at Columbia, whatever dumb shit they're saying, whatever slogan I would not say that they would use, they are more morally correct than some motherfuckers that have won Pulitzer Prizes...'” https://nymag.com/...

Jack Mirkinson /
@jackmirkinson: apparently vox guy was actually subtweeting ta-nehisi coates which, have a good time with that @dbattistella@mstdn.ca: “The Israeli occupation is a moral crime, one that has been all but covered up by the West. I don't think I ever, in my life, felt the glare of racism burn stranger and more intense than in Israel.” - Ta-Nehisi Coates https://nymag.com/... [images] @wireracing: Looks like Ta-Nehisi Coates's time as a liberal darling is about to come to an end [image]

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social: Coates: “What I suspect is that American media in general thinks of itself as separate from the ends and goals of American power. And I don't think that's true.” — https://archive.ph/...

Jazmine Hughes /
@jazzedloon: “What I suspect,” he told me, “is that American media in general thinks of itself as separate from the ends and goals of American power. And I don't think that's true.” on our moral responsibility: https://nymag.com/... @longreads@mastodon.world: “'I have a deep-seated fear,' he told me, 'that the Black struggle will ultimately, at its root, really just be about narrow Black interest. And I don't think that is in the tradition of what our most celebrated thinkers have told the world.'” — A #NewYorkMagazine profile of Ta-Nehisi Coates by Ryu Spaeth: https://nymag.com/... … @achingkneejoint: the most telling paragraph from the Ta-Nehisi Coates profile — i get the sense he's still overly forgiving towards the establishment media that embraced him, but it's incredibly rare for a figure like him to realise his complicity and deliberately turn against it. Props to him [image] @zschrieber: Ta-Nehisi Coates is a once in a generation writer who transformed the way we view race in America. And it would be a shame if he tried to superimpose those uniquely American issues on to a completely unrelated conflict in the Middle East

Seyward Darby /
@seywarddarby: This paragraph (entirely a quote) in @RyuSpaeth's profile of Ta-Nehisi Coates, my god. https://nymag.com/... [image]

Ryu Spaeth /
@ryuspaeth: For the latest issue of @NYMag I profiled Ta-Nehisi Coates, who talked to me about Israel and Palestine, the failures of the media, and what Gaza means for the civil rights movement https://nymag.com/...

Damon Linker /
@damonlinker: I see Ta-Nehisi Coates has come down from Mt. Sinai to pronounce on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, declaring one side wicked & the other righteous & dismissing all efforts to acknowledge moral ambiguity. Such relief to be unburdened of complexity and difficulty.

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: Ta-Nehisi Coates: “What I suspect is that American media in general thinks of itself as separate from the ends and goals of American power. And I don't think that's true.” https://nymag.com/...

Jacob Geller /
@yacobg42: My god [image]

Jack Mirkinson /
@jackmirkinson: it's kind of crazy that a profile of ta-nehisi coates that spends so much time talking about the erasure of palestinians from the us media...contains almost no palestinian voices in it

Seyward Darby /
Longreads: The Return of Ta-Nehisi Coates

New York Times:

How Russia uses criticism of the US and the West to spread propaganda through RT and related networks in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa— Social media companies may try to ban RT, the Russian state media broadcaster. But the network has proved in the past to be a wily adversary …

Discussion:
Jay Paxton on LinkedIn and Jay Janzen on LinkedIn

Discussion:

Jay Paxton /
Jay Paxton on LinkedIn: I share this Saturday morning read not only as a good synopsis of how state-run (dis)information is organized but for the report links within the article. …

Android Police:

Reddit users say YouTube has raised the prices of individual and family YouTube Premium plans outside the US, with hikes of 30% to 50% based on the region— - YouTube is increasing subscription prices outside the US, affecting both individual and family plans.

Discussion:
The Verge, The Desk, 9to5Google, @MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net and Digital Music News

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: YouTube increases price for YouTube Premium in Europe

Damien Wilde /
9to5Google: YouTube Premium is getting major price increases in Europe

MylesRyden /
@MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net: @Mediagazer — And in the meantime has cranked up the number of ads with a “reminder” after every ad block that you can stop the pain by subscribing. — I wonder if advertisers are aware that their ads are being used as punishment for non-subscribers.

Press Gazette:

DMG Media CEO Rich Caccappolo discusses how UK tech regulation and Google lawsuits may benefit news publishers, Mail Online's partial paywall success, and more— DMG Media chief executive Rich Caccappolo has said that monopoly lawsuits against Google and the prospect of new UK tech regulation …

New York Times:

How WhatsApp Channels, launched in late 2023, are driving traffic to digital news outlets, especially readers from outside the US, as social media traffic falls— An illustration of a man sitting on a green chair reading a newspaper called “World News” as he looks at his phone behind it.Jackson Gibbs

Nieman Reports:

A project that tracked 50 Ukrainian newsrooms over the past 15 months finds they are upholding high standards of journalism, some reinvented themselves, more— Many news organizations are adapting to the realities brought by the ongoing conflict. — Until Feb. 24, 2022 …