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The Times’ Smith v The New Yorker’s Farrow: the great powers of liberal journalism go to war — www.vanityfair.com

Everyone loves a good media feud. Well, everyone who works in media, anyway. The latest bout of competitive naval gazing comes courtesy of the NYT's Ben Smith née BuzzFeed Ben, who's attacked The New Yorker's columnist Ronan Farrow for perceived failings in his journalism exposing abuse and corruption in Hollywood. This in turn led to a spate of counter-recriminations and attacks on the NYT and a lot of sound and fury.

There are legitimate reasons to attack another publication and columnist, especially when their output is contributing to a fall in public trust in the media more generally. This... doesn't seem to be one of those cases. But it does imply that the star of the media columnist isn't waning. And speaking of...

Joe Rogan’s podcast is becoming a Spotify exclusive — www.theverge.com

In other media personality news, the Joe Rogan podcast which reportedly has 190 million downloads a month - is going to be a Spotify exclusive from September, in a deal worth reportedly $100m.

Much of the focus of the analysis has understandably been on this potentially spelling the end of the open podcast ecosystem (tl;dr it's bad for everyone except the industry giants), but it's also evidence that big names are a draw no matter the medium.

How the ‘Call Her Daddy’ Feud Boiled Over - The New York Times — www.nytimes.com

The downside of personality? It's usually built around one or two personalities, and when those personalities overshadow the brand that publishes them, all that investment potentially goes down the pan. This longread examines the case of 'Call Her Daddy', its value to Barstool Sports and what happens when a relationship with a brand sours. As newspapers reappraise the value of their star journalists, it's something worth bearing in mind.

Is American Media Inc’s National Enquirer in its final ‘death spiral’? — www.thedailybeast.com

And speaking of salacious media gossip, the National Enquirer - purveyor of scandal and gossip of dubious veracity - is potentially on its way out. Writing for the Daily Beast, Lloyd Grove and Lachlan Cartwright argue that the tabloid is spiralling as a result of a number of crises coming along at the same time.

Throwback Thursday

Evening Standard Executive Producer Chris Stone on the role of video & audio in publishing — voices.media

The issues around media personalities aside, the rise of audio and video at traditional publishers is continuing unabated. In this throwback episode, Chris Stone, the Executive Producer of Video & Audio at the Evening Standard, tells us about the role video plays in their journalism, why they decided to launch two podcasts late last year, and what they’re doing to capture the attention of the commuter audience.

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