Good morning. Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

AT&T-Discovery deal is more evidence media, telecom don’t mix — www.bloomberg.com

AT&T is spinning off its media wing, merging it with Discovery. Following the sale of Verizon Media's media assets last month it's evidence that the much sought-for 'synergy' between telecoms and media never materialised. This time, the effective write-off of $85bn (plus debt) signals that there's a sea change coming in how we value media as a commodity. As Gerry Smith writes for Bloomberg:

"It’s the end of an era for so-called vertical integration - owning media and the means to distribute it - and that could ultimately throw the spotlight on Comcast Corp., another major carrier that made a bet on media."

Owning both the media and distribution was seen, not so long ago, as a bulwark against the creation of third party platforms.  It also creates another media giant - one with holdings in the UK - in this new combined Discovery and Time Warner.

Journalism students now need training for 'vile' online abuse they will face, study finds — www.pressgazette.co.uk

Journalists - especially women and those from Black and Jewish backgrounds, among others - are frequently targeted by trolls online. It's escalated to the point that trainee journalists should now probably receive training in how to deal with the vitriol they'll receive. Sad state of affairs.

Facebook, German publisher Axel Springer strike global cooperation deal — www.reuters.com

The last holdout against the partnership between Facebook and German publishers has fallen. Axel Springer, which had previously pushed back against the terms of the deal, has agreed to jump into bed with Facebook. Gosh, who could have foreseen that it was less about principle and more about money?

News publishers continue environmental initiatives — www.newsmediauk.org

National, regional and local newspapers are continuing a range of initiatives to support climate change and environmental causes. Whether you think it's a cynical attempt to appeal to younger, more environmentally conscious consumers or not, we should applaud every effort to bring these initiatives to the fore.

This week's episode:

Media Voices Special: Which publishers won the pandemic? — voices.media

In this special episode, the Media Voices team take a look at which media companies and personalities have been the biggest winners and losers of the lockdown-era.

Support us with virtual coffee — ko-fi.com

Thank you so much to everyone who's helped us reach our Ko-Fi goal - we're planning to invest in some mics and soundproofing. Our podcast and analysis is free but done in our spare time, so your support genuinely goes a long way towards keeping us going during the early Sunday morning recordings.