Mediagazer: USAID launches Reporters Shield, a program to defend journalists globally from legal threats aimed at silencing critical voices, a tactic described as “lawfare” (Michelle Nichols/Reuters)

4:30 PM ET, May 4, 2023

Top News:

Ross A. Lincoln / The Wrap:

In a show of solidarity, the WGA was joined by members of the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Teamsters, and six other guilds at a Los Angeles rally — Participants included SAG, DGA, IATSE, the Teamsters, and more — In a massive show of solidarity, on day 2 of the ongoing Writers' strike …

Discussion: Variety, Variety, Mediaite, SlashFilm, @caityweaver, @mattbelloni, @mediumsizemeech, Breitbart, Variety, @samthielman, @wgangelinab, @wgangelinab, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

David Robb / Deadline:

AMPTP pushes back against WGA demands, saying studios don't seek to force writers into a gig economy, are committed to more discussion about AI's use, and more — The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers struck back today, providing answers to the WGA's talking points …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, @jelenawoehr, @avishaiw, @jenafriedman, IndieWire, @karenyhan, @merrillbarr, The Hollywood Reporter and @merrillbarr

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Striking WGA writers have two main worries about AI: their work being used as training data and being tasked with just fixing AI-generated “sloppy first drafts”

Discussion: HuffPost, The Nation, @variety, @iethics, @katiekilkenny7, Axios, The Hollywood Reporter, Gizmodo, CBS News and Wall Street Journal

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:

Paramount's Bob Bakish says consumers won't notice the writer's strike impact “for a while”, citing unscripted content, a large library, and offshore production — The studio says it has a slate of new releases, a large library and offshore production to get through the strike.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @marisatomay, @thisiskaia, @elplethora, @tvgrimreaper, @coelasquid, @kirkwrites79, @merrillbarr, @tinseltownpr, IndieWire and Deadline

Tim Baysinger / Axios:

Bob Bakish says Paramount is restarting the sales process for Simon & Schuster, after US regulators blocked a 2022 attempt to sell to Penguin Random House — - Tim Baysinger, author of Axios Pro: Media Deals — Paramount Global has restarted the sale process for book publisher Simon & Schuster …

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

Paramount Q1: revenue down 1% YoY to $7.3B and a $1.23B loss; streaming revenue up 39% YoY and a $511M loss; Paramount+ reaches 60M subs; stock falls 25%+ — The media giant slashed its dividend 79% as it posted adjusted earnings per share of 9 cents on revenue of $7.3 billion for the first quarter, missing Wall Street estimates

Discussion: CNBC, Engadget, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, MediaPost, @jyarow, @sherman4949, Wall Street Journal, Variety, @sherman4949, @bristei, @tvgrimreaper, Media Play News and TechCrunch

Washington Post:

Sources: Tucker Carlson has aspirations of a larger role without the limitations of a single medium and is exploring moderating a GOP candidates' forum for 2024 — The fired Fox host, hoping for a next act bigger than podcasting, would forfeit millions owed to him in his network contract …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Guardian, The Hill, Mediaite, Rolling Stone, Breitbart, @froomkin@journa.host, @washingtonpost, @matthewkassel and Rolling Stone

ABC News:

Ed Sheeran wins the copyright infringement lawsuit that accused him of copying the sheet music for his song Thinking Out Loud from Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On — The case involved “Thinking Out Loud” and Marvin Gaye's “Let's Get It On.” — Ed Sheeran has defeated a copyright infringement …

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Fox opposes news outlets' efforts to unseal redacted Dominion lawsuit material, saying it settled the case in large part to end “the media spectacle” — Fox said in a court filing Wednesday that it settled the monster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million to …

Discussion: Variety and TVNewsCheck

Editor and Publisher:

Yahoo announces the promotion of Lauren Johnston to executive editor of Yahoo News, which she joined in 2014 from the New York Daily News — Johnston will lead original content strategy across news, entertainment and lifestyle verticals — Yahoo today announced the promotion of Lauren Johnston …

Troy Smith / Axios:

Convicting a Murderer, a docuseries hosted by right-wing commentator Candace Owens that rebuts Netflix's Making a Murderer, will premiere on DailyWire+ — “Convicting a Murderer,” the docuseries from Cleveland's Transition Studios that serves as a rebuttal to Netflix's “Making a Murderer,” has found a home.

Jemima Kelly / Financial Times:

Twitter's Community Notes is changing fact-checking by avoiding the term and using a crowdsourced consensus, a model for a fairer and more transparent approach — The strength of the platform's Community Notes feature is that it works through consensus — I think I might have let out an audible groan …

Discussion: @nickpickles, @daveleebbg, @jakuuire, @warrenpearce, @legendaryenergy, @jemimajoanna, @duncanrobinson, @hodgetwins, @scotthortonshow, @zaidjilani, @redleg1066, @wallstreetsilv and @sethdillon, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Hulu plans to roll out PBS, PBS Kids, and Magnolia Network on Hulu Live TV in the coming months — Hulu Live TV announced Thursday that it is adding new channels to its library, bringing the total to over 90 channels across live sports, news and entertainment.

Discussion: The Verge, Hulu, Engadget, Current, The Wrap, The Streamable, 9to5Google, The Desk, Tv Technology, The Hollywood Reporter and Cord Cutters News

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More News:

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with writers Daniel Lavery and Jo Livingstone, creators of The Stopgap blog, on starting a fun website, newsletters, using tip jars for writers, and more

Discussion: @laurahazardowen and @niemanfdn

Sam Jabri-Pickett / Reuters:
Google and Meta executives say their platforms would withdraw access to news articles in Canada if the lawmakers pass the Online News Act as currently drafted

Discussion: @jason_kint, @glenngabe, Bloomberg and The Canadian Press, more at Techmeme »

Michelle Nichols / Reuters:
USAID launches Reporters Shield, a program to defend journalists globally from legal threats aimed at silencing critical voices, a tactic described as “lawfare”

Discussion: New Yorker, @natesibley, @b_judah, U.S. Agency …, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Editor and Publisher, The Hill and Metro

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Sources: NBCUniversal will close LX, its news network aimed at viewers ages 18 to 49, in mid-2023, and consider nearly 40 affected workers for other NBCU jobs

Discussion: The Desk, @jakegbennett and @deadline

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Twitter announces to ad buyers an expansion of its NBCUniversal partnership for the 2024 Summer Olympics; Snap announced a similar initiative with NBCU on May 1

Discussion: The Desk, @attorneynora, @funflaw, MediaPost, Marketing Brew, Ad Age, Next TV and TVNewsCheck

Earlier Picks:

Max Tani / Semafor:
Court docs: the top HR exec at the publisher of Inc. and Fast Company allegedly stole $429K+ from the company; she was fired in April 2023 and arrested on May 1

Discussion: @mattzeitlin, @maxwelltani, @w7voa and Adweek

Lachlan Cartwright / The Daily Beast:
A judge tosses out Donald Trump's lawsuit against The New York Times and his niece Mary Trump, in which he alleged an “insidious plot” to obtain his tax records

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, @robertmaguire_, Forbes, @elienyc, @deanobeidallah, @susannecraig, @freedomofpress, @fpwellman, CBS News, The Guardian, Mediaite, The Hill, New York Post and Deadline

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Dow Jones plans to launch a streaming radio channel on TuneIn with content from The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Investor's Business Daily

Discussion: RAIN News, Inside Radio, AllAccess.com and Talking Biz News

Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:
IAB report: US digital video ad spend, including social video and connected TV, rose 21% YoY to $47.1B in 2022 and is projected to rise 17% to $55.2B in 2023

Discussion: Next TV, IAB, Forbes, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News and Tv Technology

JC Reindl / Detroit Free Press:
Detroit Free Press names Nicole Avery Nichols as its new top editor, returning to the outlet after a two-year stint as editor-in-chief of nonprofit Chalkbeat

Discussion: Poynter, American Press Institute, @froomkin, @kristenshamus, @nushratr, @ron_fournier, @rjconsults, @rochelleriley, @kat__stafford, @makingnews, @loriahiggins and @polarbarrett

From Techmeme:

Gleb Bryanski / Reuters:
Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments to counter Western sanctions

Bloomberg:
Taiwan's FTC blocks Uber's $950M acquisition of Delivery Hero's Foodpanda, arguing it would decrease competition as their combined market share would be 90%+

Qwen:
Alibaba's Qwen unveils QvQ-72B-Preview, an experimental research model focused on “enhancing visual reasoning capabilities”, built upon Qwen2-VL-72B

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