Good Morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Peter.

Journalists no longer an 'endangered species' thanks to Duopoly — www.pressgazette.co.uk

I don't quite know where to start with this one, other than to say, 'Aye Right' *.

* Scottish, sarcastic response to someone suspected of being less than truthful.

To give you a bit of context, Press Gazette is reporting News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson as saying recent progress in the news industry’s battle for payments from Google and Facebook mean the future for journalism will be 'not only auspicious, but to a certain extent, prosperous'.

It suits the News Corp narrative with investors to say it's winning the fight with Google and Facebook. And they may do fairly well out of ongoing negotiations (until the Duopoly change their mind). But to suggest that journalism is safe because big-tech is coughing up some money to publishers to help them head off government regulation is both myopic and blinkered.

Journalism, from national to local news and from newsstand to specialist magazines, needs to find sustainable business models separate from the Duopoly. A pivot to platform philanthropy is not the answer.

Apple TV was making a show about Gawker until Tim Cook found out. — www.nytimes.com

We had a wee chat this week about the possibility of Apple getting into the news business. Esther was horrified at the prospect, I said it would depend if they hired good journalists and editors. Guess I forgot about the proclivity for powerful business leaders to interfere with the stories that get covered. One nil Esther.

What Thomas Baekdal learned from 10 years as a media analyst — baekdal.com

Thomas Baekdal's subscription information service Baekdal Plus is 10 this month. Big congratulations to Thomas, but also a big thank you for sharing so honestly what he's learned over that decade. The personal journey is fascinating, but as always, there's lots for media operators to learn. Here's to the next 10 years!

Roula Khalaf's first year at the Financial Times — www.inpublishing.co.uk

Must be that time of year, but here's another look back, this time to Roula Khalaf's first year as editor of the FT. There is some great detail in here around the FT's approach to reporting Covid and what it meant for the paper, from subscription growth to the success of the data team and broader structural changes.

This week's podcast:

The Economist’s Deputy Editor Tom Standage on why newspapers should predict the future — voices.media

As well as its flagship paper, The Economist also publishes future-gazing issues looking at what to expect the next year and even further into the future. This week Tom Standage, its Deputy Editor and Head of Digital Strategy tells us about the reason why it believes doing so is central its mission, what needs to happen to prevent journalists revisiting familiar mistakes in the near future, and why blaming the Duopoly for revenue doldrums is unhelpful.

Have you read Media Moments 2020 yet? — mailchi.mp

From the collapse of events to the boom in subscriptions and shifting trust in journalism, our latest report explores how 2020’s defining moments have changed the media landscape, and what the future holds for 2021 and beyond. Get it now for free.