Mediagazer: 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 (Matthew Keys/The Desk)

3:20 PM ET, May 1, 2023

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,” …

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.

Discussion: Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, Nerdist, The Verge, The Wrap, Comic Book, TMZ.com, @starryeyedwho, The Week, IGN, Associated Press, Media Play News, Forbes, Screen Rant, SlashFilm, Vanity Fair, Collider and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

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 …

Discussion: @mashable, @drivenbyboredom, @wickdchiq, @samthielman, @mattbinder, WordPress.com News, Gizmodo, Crain's New York Business and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

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: The Verge, Mediaite, TechCrunch, The Guardian, Engadget, @josephpolitano, @ryanatdust2, @idvck, @jsblokland, @arctechinc, @panopticonomy, @sharonodea, @strobist, @ashkan, @catale7a, @icodrops, @deanrosario, @jakehaleee, Variety, @aphelelejody, @beirutspring, 9to5Mac, @apagut, @whereisdaz, @givenality, @apagut, @electroniceggs, @jt_mag_os, @hacksultan, @electionlegal, @juddlegum, @mahirzeynalov, Metro.co.uk, @stevanzetti, @mcwm, @benedictevans, @ezralevant, @prestonjbyrne, New York Daily News, @brianmbunde, @mattnavarra, @jamesrbuk, @realtombohn, @iamasarch, @martinsfp, @choisungho, @chaddepue, @taylorlorenz, @philduan, @bmeiselas, @sullycnbc, @royprice, @t0nyyates, @schmmuck, @truedevonthomps, @arrington, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, Deadline, The Information, The Hill, Insider, Fortune, New York Magazine and Bloomberg

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 …

Discussion: @businessposthq, @alistairmbarr, @daveyalba, @gianluca_string, Gizmodo, @sarahscire, @daveyalba, @adamsinger, @mattdpearce, @ouranosaurus, @mmitchell_ai, @independent_ie and @mylesudland, more at Techmeme »

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: @semaforben, @rafat, @chr1sa, @lisatozzi, Digiday, CNBC, @amelscript, @brianroemmele, @localmediarocks, @bobbyallyn, @ckrewson, @mattvella, @marcissist, @jwherrman, NPR, BuzzFeed, Wired and Press Gazette

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

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Brian Stelter / Los Angeles Magazine:
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@hearstunion:
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Angie Drobnic Holan / Nieman Lab:
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Reuters:
EU lawmakers push forward an AI Act draft, which includes requiring companies deploying generative AI tools to disclose copyrighted material used for training

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Alexandra Bruell / @alexbruell:
The New York Times is using a new format that breaks down some news articles into sections like “Why It Matters” and has told some reporters to shorten stories

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The NBA's Phoenix Suns sign a broadcast deal with Gray Television and a streaming deal with Kiswe, bringing the games to 2.8M+ households, triple the old RSN

From Techmeme:

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sources: after closing several video game studios, Microsoft plans more cuts, as the massive Activision acquisition has ramped up scrutiny on the Xbox division

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Dell warns customers of a data breach after a threat actor claimed to have stolen data for ~49M customers, but says financial and payment data was not stolen

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's first server chips for its upcoming AI features will be the M2 Ultra; simpler AI tasks will be processed directly on iPhones, iPads, and Macs

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