Mediagazer: Washington's legislature passes a bill giving a tax break to newspapers and websites that grew from newspapers; the bill awaits Governor Jay Inslee's signature (Rebecca Pettingill/Columbia Basin Herald)

11:10 AM ET, April 20, 2023

Top News:

Steven Monacelli / @stevanzetti:

[Thread] Twitter suspends Wired's Dell Cameron, saying he broke hacked material rules, by reporting about a hack of anti-trans activist Matt Walsh's account — WOW: @dellcam has been suspended by Twitter after reporting about the hack of Matt Walsh's Twitter account https://twitter.com/...

Matt Binder / Mashable:

Microsoft plans to drop Twitter support from its ad platform on April 25; users won't be able to access or manage Twitter accounts through Microsoft's tool — Yet another big B2B service passes on paying for Twitter's new high-priced API. — Twitter is being removed from yet another big B2B platform.

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:

Sources: the prospect of fired Fox News producer Abby Grossberg's secret recordings being played during trial helped push Fox News to its Dominion settlement — The prospect of a fired Fox News producer's secret recordings being played during trial helped push the conservative network …

Discussion: @timobrien

CNN:

Sources and the mediator detail how Fox and Dominion settled, after Dominion notified Fox that Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson were among its first witnesses — Veteran mediator Jerry Roscoe was on a relaxing river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest celebrating his 70th birthday on Sunday when he received an urgent phone call.

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Imgur plans to ban explicit images from May 15; it will allow artistic nudity but expects problems as it switches to a mix of automatic and human moderation — Image hosting platform Imgur is set to ban explicit images on its platform from May 15. The company updated its terms of service …

Discussion: Windows Central and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Imgur says it will delete “old, unused, and inactive content” that's not tied to a user account, starting on May 15

Discussion: Mashable and @tomgara, more at Techmeme »

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Insider is laying off about 10% of its US-based staff, affecting editorial and commercial roles; the company employs approximately 950 people globally — The company president emailed staff to inform them at 7am Eastern time on Thursday. — Insider is laying off 10% of its staff in the US …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Talking Biz News, @david_slotnick, @pressgazette and @pressgazette

Financial Times:

Internal presentation: Google plans to deploy generative AI in ads, allowing advertisers to supply creative material which will be “remixed” to create campaigns — Big tech groups are racing to incorporate the groundbreaking new technology into their products

Discussion: Engadget, The Verge, @johnreedwrites, @ruslantrad, @cristinacriddle, @lukolejnik and Insider, more at Techmeme »

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Paramount files a countersuit against Warner Bros. Discovery in the dispute over South Park streaming rights, alleging the company withheld $52M in license fees — LATEST

Discussion: The A.V. Club, @geekvibesnation, @cnschedules and The Desk

Carl Sullivan / Flipboard:

Flipboard adds Mastodon accounts corresponding with editorial “desks” to curate content on four topics: news, tech, culture, and science — Flipboard joined the Fediverse a couple of months ago when we announced our Mastodon integration and launched our own community …

Discussion: TechCrunch, @flipboard, Flipboard, @glecharles@zirk.us and @mike@flipboard.social

Liam Scott / Voice of America:

Two reporters in North Carolina were convicted on April 19 of trespassing following their 2021 arrests while covering a homeless encampment; they plan to appeal — Two local reporters in North Carolina were convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor trespassing after being arrested while covering …

Discussion: @kelan_lyons, @uspresstracker, @kelan_lyons, @kelan_lyons, @freedomofpress, Freedom of the Press … and Reporters Without Borders

Julia Rock / The Lever:

Fox says it can deduct the cost of its Dominion $787.5M payout; if Fox can write off the full payment, it could amount to an estimated $213M in tax savings — Fox's massive settlement with private equity-backed voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems didn't just spare …

Discussion: @davidsirota, New York Times, Forbes, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and Mediaite

Rosa Flores / CNN:

County official Mark Jennings resigns after an Oklahoma newspaper released audio allegedly of him and others talking about killing journalists and Black people — An Oklahoma county commissioner allegedly heard on a recording of local officials that included remarks about lynching Black people and killing journalists has resigned.

Discussion: @jennburrill, @sankalots, @dabeard, @sebastian2blue, @bgrueskin, New York Post, @pjackson_nl, CBS News, New York Daily News, Rolling Stone, Fox News, The Hill, HuffPost and Voice of America

Jack Shafer / Politico:

For Fox Corp., which ended 2022 with $4.1B in “cash and cash equivalents” on hand, $787.5M is a bargain to avoid more embarrassment and continue its sleazy ways — For the media mogul, the massive Dominion settlement fee is just the cost of doing business.

Washington Post:
The Fox-Dominion settlement is the largest publicly disclosed one in a US defamation case yet; sources: Fox doesn't have to make an on-air correction or apology

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, American Press Institute, @aaronblake, @tripgabriel, @davidsirota, @danprimack, @justinbaragona, @maassp, Wall Street Journal, @11tulips, @senatormenendez, @leonidragozin, @seanstanglanddh, @billablog, @kdeitsch_wx, @aaschapiro, @kbandersen, Poynter, @nytopinion, @awelder, Adweek, @con_carnage, @finnertymike, @bizballmaury, @espuelasvox, @gibsonradio, @famousbl3, @ibishblog, @therealzblog, @ronfilipkowski, @ibishblog, @mcfaul, @dvillella, @bbtrashstan, Digital Journal, @michellebhasin, @toddhallidy, New York Daily News, @jeffjarvis, @goangelo, @martinishark, @1414maple, @fabienmajor, @bollywoodhq, @johncusack, @niemanlab, @kennethcolereal, @froomkin, Los Angeles Times, @b52malmet, @mattgertz, @goangelo, HuffPost, @alexpadilla4ca, @macfarlanenews, @ryanvanvelzer, @jamilsmith, Sydney Morning Herald, @donmoyn, @mollyjongfast, @steven_strauss, @timobrien, @walshfreedom, @waltisfrozen, @renato_mariotti, @wilkowmajority, @davidaxelrod, Deadline, @davidfolkenflik, @ron_fournier, @tedlieu, The Hill, @tomfitton, The Hollywood Reporter, Robert Reich, The Intercept, New York Times, Media Matters for America, CBS News, @nickconfessore, @brianstelter, @bgrueskin, Vanity Fair, New Republic, @haldavis3, @lindyli, @erikwemple, @jakeadelstein, @farhip, @farhip, @claremalone, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, @erikwemple, @mattiweil, @blowryontv, @brianklaas, @alfranken, @kbandersen, @tripgabriel, @lindyli, @pickardje, @maassp, @aaronblake, @froomkin, New York Times, CBC News, @heidilifeldman@mastodon …, @juddlegum@journa.host, @JoshuaHolland@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @Theoreticalb@mastodon.social, @heidilifeldman@mastodon …, NPR, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour and The Atlantic

CNBC:
Fox Corp and its cable networks agree to pay $787.5M to Dominion Voting Systems to settle the defamation lawsuit over Fox's lies about Dominion's machines