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

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:30 PM ET, May 4, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

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:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Thoughts on Apple TV's history and future; sources: a larger-than-usual number of features scheduled for iOS 19 have been postponed to iOS 19.4 in spring 2026

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Cantor Fitzgerald agreed to invest as much as $600M in Tether for about a 5% stake in the past year; Cantor holds most of Tether's $134B in assets

Benedict Evans:
An overview of macro tech trends for 2025, focusing on generative AI, LLMs, scaling challenges with training ever bigger AI models, the capex surge, and more

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page