Top News:
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Biden's FCC nominee Gigi Sohn tells the White House she is dropping out after her nomination stalled for 16 months amid industry opposition and personal attacks — Gigi Sohn notified the White House she would drop out after her nomination stalled for 16 months, amid industry opposition
Discussion:
Next TV, Ars Technica, Inside Radio, The Desk, Radio & Television …, The Hill, NPR, New York Post, Politico, Engadget, CNN, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, The Verge, @vwpickard, @cruickshank, @berinszoka, @normative, @lindseyboylan, Free Press, @brooklynmarie, Deadline, @karlbode, @publicknowledge, @cat_zakrzewski, @notaaroncraig, @mayawiley, @heritage_action, @seungminkim, Reuters, CBS News, Fox News, TVNewsCheck and @joshsternberg@mstdn.social, more at Techmeme »
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Reach's CEO says the company published its first three AI-written articles last week and that AI may be reliable enough to produce data- and list-based content — Chief executive says journalists should not fear it means being replaced by machines — The owner of the Daily Mirror …
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Axios:
Filing: Gannett had 11,200 employees as of December 31, 2022, down from 21,255 after its 2019 merger with GateHouse and 562 more than before the merger — A major leadership shakeup at Gannett, along with drastic cost-cutting and strategy shifts, underscores just how much pressure …
Discussion:
@deborahblum, @ilanakeller, @robertharding, @mattdpearce, @shehanjeyarajah, @tednesi, @tvgrimreaper, @mdixon55, @jamesebriggs, @kerrymflynn, @domdifurio, @lerdody, @anthony, @johnbohnenkamp and @gaufre
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Bailey Schulz / USA Today:
Gannett says Kristin Roberts, most recently McClatchy's chief content officer and formerly Politico's national editor, will join the company on March 27 as CCO — Gannett, the owner of USA TODAY, has appointed former McClatchy newsroom executive Kristin Roberts as chief content officer.
Discussion:
Gannett, Kristin Roberts, Talking Biz News and MediaPost
Christianna Silva / Mashable:
TikTok launches Series, letting select creators sell Collections of up to 80 paywalled videos, each up to 20 minutes; creators initially keep 100% of earnings — Series puts premium content behind a paywall, which means more money for creators. … TikTok is introducing new ways for creators to get paid.
Discussion:
TikTok, Variety, The Wrap, CNET, TechCrunch, ZDNet, The Verge, Tubefilter, Engadget and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »
J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:
An interview with YouTube Global Head of Gaming Leo Olebe on the appeal of YouTube's exclusivity model and the growth of YouTube Gaming, which has 500M+ DAUs — The video giant said it hit more than 120 billion hours of watch time for gaming-related content on the platform in 2022.
Discussion:
Tubefilter
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Former The Week executives launch Heatmap News, a subscription-based climate media outlet, with eight staff and a $4M Series A at an $11.5M post-money valuation — The former executives in charge of The Week magazine are launching a new subscription-based climate media company on Wednesday called Heatmap News, its founders told Axios.
Discussion:
@raju
Masha Gessen / New Yorker:
How TV Rain and dozens of other exiled Russian media outlets fled to Latvia's capital Riga, only to encounter a distrustful public and strictly enforced laws — Dozens of media outlets have fled to the capital of Latvia, only to encounter a distrustful public and a set of strictly enforced laws and regulations.
Discussion:
Reuters Institute, @newyorker, @ilvestoomas, Columbia Journalism Review, @sevslv, @brianstelter and The Guardian
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Google plans to retire overlay ads on YouTube videos starting on April 6 to “improve the viewer experience and shift engagement to higher performing ad formats” — YouTube is changing the way some ads are shown on videos very soon with the removal of “Overlay ads” from content starting April 6.
Discussion:
Thurrott, Ars Technica, Tubefilter and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Axios:
Semafor draws criticism in the US for partnering with the Center for China and Globalization, a Chinese think tank that has obscured its close ties to the CCP — Semafor, the 5-month-old news startup, is drawing criticism in the U.S. for partnering with a think tank in China that is known …
Discussion:
Semafor, @joshrogin, @michaelsobolik, @michaelsobolik, @michaelsobolik, @matt_schrader_, @chuckrossdc and @michaelsobolik
David Pierce / The Verge:
All TV streaming boxes suck in 2023, as the ever-cheaper, ad-supported commodity items fail to improve on smart TVs, most of which are slow and riddled with ads — There are no good streaming boxes, and I blame everybody. — Streaming boxes had so much potential.
Discussion:
SPY, @tvgrimreaper, @matthewkeyslive, @despair, @pierce@mas.to, @steven_aquino, @angelostzelepis and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Benedict Evans:
Analysis: Amazon had $38B in 2022 ad revenue, more than the entire global newspaper industry and likely more than the revenue Prime generated from subscriptions — I first started paying attention to Amazon's ad business a couple of years ago, when a line called ‘other’ in the back of the accounts started to grow really fast.
Discussion:
Substack, @minethatdata, Inside Radio, @btsavage, @aparanjape, @vilile, @riolongacre, @benedictevans and Cord Cutters News
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