Top News:
Dominic Patten / Deadline:
At the WHCD, President Biden called for the release of Evan Gershkovich and Austin Tice, offered support to their families, and said “journalism is not a crime” — “I believe in the First Amendment, and not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” …
Discussion:
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Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
The Super Mario Bros. Movie crosses $1B globally at the box office, becoming the first to do so in 2023 and the most financially successful video game movie yet — “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is officially the first film of the year to cross the coveted $1 billion milestone.
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John Eggerton / Next TV:
An FCC judge suspends her review of Standard General's acquisition of TV broadcaster Tegna, likely killing the deal as financing is set to expire on May 22 — Says, in effect, why start the process if deal may crater anyway — There will now definitely not be any action …
Discussion:
The Desk, Tv Technology, Adweek, Fierce Video, NAB Blog, FTVLive and Inside Radio
Sarah Fielding / Engadget:
Amazon plans to make 100+ Prime Video original series and movies available on its free streaming service Freevee, formerly IMDB TV, gradually throughout 2023 — Amazon has announced it's making over 100 Prime Video original series and movies available on Freevee, its free streaming service.
Discussion:
The Streamable, The Wrap, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Tv Technology and Deadline
Amrita Khalid / The Verge:
Spotify's Findaway says Findaway Voices, its audiobook distributor for indie authors, is dropping its 20% distribution fee for audiobooks purchased on Spotify — Spotify-owned audiobooks seller Findaway will no longer take a 20 percent cut of royalties for titles sold on its DIY Voices platform …
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Findaway Voices Blog
Matt Binder / Mashable:
Automattic plans to drop its WordPress plugin JetPack's ability to automatically tweet blog posts, citing Twitter's dramatic change to its API terms and pricing — Twitter continues to lose vital support from major companies. — When users set up a brand new WordPress-powered website …
Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: ABC News is scrambling to replace Nate Silver's election forecasting model, which the network rented from Silver as part of ESPN's 2013 deal with 538 — I've spent my career in digital media, so it was humbling to stand in a corner at the lavish CBS News party at the French …
Discussion:
Mediaite and @jbillinson
Elon Musk / @elonmusk:
Elon Musk claims that Twitter plans to let media publishers charge users on a per-article basis, with one click, starting in May 2023 — Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click. This enables users who would not sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article.... https://twitter.com/...
Discussion:
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Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
NewsGuard finds 49 websites with generic names like “News Live 79” using generative AI and posing as news outlets; some feature falsehoods and programmatic ads — The news-rating group NewsGuard has found dozens of news websites generated by AI chatbots proliferating online …
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Source: Sinclair plans to replace three more local news operations with The National Desk in the coming months, on top of two newsrooms shutting down last week — Three more local television stations will shut down their local news operations, with even more slated to close in the coming months.
Discussion:
The Streamable, FTVLive and Cord Cutters News, Thanks:@thedeskdotnet
John Herrman / New York Magazine:
The death of BuzzFeed News and the pivots to nowhere by bloated social media giants show the absurdity of the news media marrying a speculative tech industry — The media bet its future on Facebook. Did it learn from that mistake? — BuzzFeed, the archetypal new media company of the 2010s …
Discussion:
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Jason Zengerle / New York Times:
How Tucker Carlson became the far right's standard-bearer in the culture wars, as his dark influence on US politics is set to continue after his Fox News ouster — For the quarter-century-plus that the Fox News Channel has been coming into America's living rooms, it has operated according …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Next TV, @jayrosen_nyu, @kausmickey, @nandoodles, @andrew_levidis, Poynter, @curtishebert, @notjessewalker, The Desk and The Hill