For the Record

Digital Media Veterans Launch Talent-Driven Subscription Media Company:

Three digital media figures are launching a new paid subscription media company with a multi-million dollar Series A funding round led by 40 North Media, a related investment business of Standard Industries, and private equity giant TPG Growth," Sara Fischer of Axios reported Wednesday. The co-founders of the outlet include CEO Joe Purzycki, a former Luminary executive; Editor-in-Chief Jon Kelly, who developed Vanity Fair's Hive vertical; and marketing lead Max Tcheyan, an early Athletic employee. The co-founders of the as yet unnamed venture "plan to hire seasoned journalists and provide them with the technology and marketing support needed to help them build their audiences further across new platforms, like live audio, newsletters and live events" while continuing to "bundle journalists and resources, just like a traditional newsroom." Standard Industries Co-CEO David Winter and TPG Co-CEO Jim Coulter will serve on the company's board.

Risen: Investigative Reporting, Leak Investigations on 'Collision Course':

In a new essay for The Intercept, 2006 National Reporting winner James Risen has contended that "the fate of modern investigative reporting is now on a collision course with high-tech government leak investigations" amid "hatred of the press" and more than 20 criminal cases "related to leaks to the press" since the 9/11 attacks. "The rest of the media must stop enabling the Justice Department and the FBI," he said. "The press must stop covering leak investigations like bank robberies and start covering them for what they really are: threats to press freedom." In the early 2010s, Risen refused to testify in the Espionage Act trial of Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, a former CIA employee who allegedly served as a source for Risen's book "State of War," leading to a standoff with the Justice Department that encompassed an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. He was ultimately excused from testifying in a 2015 hearing prior to Sterling's conviction.

Contextual Advertising Company Raises $75 Million From Goldman Sachs:

GumGum, an advertising company that offers "tools to analyze and place ads based on content across desktop, mobile and internet-connected TV platforms," has raised $75 million in additional funding from Goldman Sachs Growth, Sahil Patel of The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The infusion brings the company's funding total to $122 million on a valuation of $700 million. As "government regulations and new privacy rules instituted by Apple and Alphabet's Google [...] limit the ability of advertisers, publishers and tech companies to track users and target ads based on identifiable data," contextual advertising platforms "[use] computer-vision and natural-language processing technologies to scan and analyze text, images, video and audio" to match ads to content. Holger Staude, managing director of Goldman Sachs Growth, will join GumGum's board of directors under the conditions of the agreement. “Privacy is global and regulation is global," said Phil Schraeder, the company's chief executive.

Lai Writes to Staff Before Sentencing:

In an open letter released Tuesday, the Hong Kong publisher and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has enjoined the staff of Apple Daily to "stand tall" as he awaits sentencing on foreign collusion charges, according to Helen Davidson of The Guardian. Lai, who is 72, said it was “a journalist’s responsibility to uphold justice” while adding that the situation in Hong Kong had deteriorated: "It is precisely this that we need to love and cherish ourselves. The era is falling apart before us." Although he has been convicted over his involvement in unauthorized protests, Lai will be tried separately on national security charges stemming from a law imposed by Beijing's government last year. Fellow activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to an additional four months in jail Tuesday "for his involvement in an October 2019 unauthorized assembly and for violating an anti-mask law."

Facebook Oversight Board to Accept User Appeals:

Facebook's independent Oversight Board said Tuesday that it "will now begin accepting user appeals to remove other people's content from Facebook and Instagram," according to Sara Fischer of Axios. Previously, users "could only appeal decisions for content they thought needed to be restored." To ensure the privacy of users, the body "will only include details in its decisions that could easily identify the person who reported the content if they have given permission for them to do so." Its review of Facebook's decision to indefinitely suspend former President Trump is expected within 90 days.

Reuters Names Galloni Editor-in-Chief:

Reuters News has named Global Managing Editor Alessandra Galloni as its next editor-in-chief, the news organization announced Monday. She will be the first woman to lead the newsroom in its 170-year history. Galloni, a Rome native who received degrees from Harvard University and the London School of Economics. rejoined the news agency in 2013 following more than a decade at The Wall Street Journal, where she specialized in economics and business coverage. “For 170 years, Reuters has set the standard for independent, trusted and global reporting,” Galloni said. “It is an honor to lead a world-class newsroom full of talented, dedicated and inspiring journalists.” She will succeed past Pulitzer juror Stephen J. Adler, "who is retiring this month after leading the newsroom for the past decade."

Secret Google Advertising Project Revealed in Texas Antitrust Case:

Google operated a multi-year "secret program that used data from past bids in the company's digital advertising exchange to allegedly give its own ad-buying system an advantage over competitors, according to court documents filed in a Texas antitrust lawsuit," Jeff Horwitz and Keach Hagey of The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The program, known as Project Bernanke, "wasn't disclosed to publishers who sold ads through Google’s ad-buying systems" and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. A federal judge let Google refile pertinent documents under seal after an unredacted iteration was mistakenly uploaded to the court's public docket, enabling Horwitz and Hagey to pursue the story. Peter Schottenfels, a Google spokesman, said the Texas lawsuit "misrepresents many aspects of our ad tech business."

Bustle Digital Group Plans Gawker Revival:

Former Gawker writer Leah Finnegan confirmed that she is overseeing Bustle Digital Group's second attempt to revive the blog Sunday following an initial report by New York Times Media Columnist Ben Smith, according to Michael Grothaus of Fast Company. An earlier attempt under the aegis of former Details Editor in Chief Dan Peres was abandoned in 2019 "after months of staff turnover and disagreements over leadership." BDG founder Bryan Goldberg purchased the property in a July 2018 bankruptcy auction for less than $1.5 million, nearly three years after it filed for the legal process following a $140 million legal judgment against the company in a lawsuit brought forward by wrestler Hulk Hogan and funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. As of Monday morning, Gawker had not been added to BDG's brand page.

Vox Media Acquires Bharara Family's Podcast Company:

Vox Media announced Sunday that it has acquired Cafe Studios, a podcast company co-founded by former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, according to Thomas Moore of The Hill. Bharara established the venture with his brother, Vinit Bharara, after leaving public service in early 2017. Preet Bharara "will stay on as a host and creative director of Cafe while Vinit Bharara will not have a role in Vox Media," Moore said. Vox Media said that the company's eight podcasts “explore how law and policy intersect with politics, news, business, history and technology.” 

Facebook Labels Fan, Satire Pages:

Facebook "s adding additional labels to posts from Pages that appear in users’ News Feeds in a bid to reduce confusion about their origin," according to James Vincent of The Verge. The labels, including "public official," "fan page," and "satire page," could forestall the inadvertent sharing of satirical stories from such outlets as The Onion and The Babylon Bee "at face value." Last june, the platform began labeling publishers and media outlets which are “wholly or partially under the editorial control of their government.”