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Elon Musk's intent in buying Twitter apparently was not only to dismantle a traditional media tool but also to turn Twitter into a right-wing media heavyweight — It was only a year ago that Elon Musk, then simply the guy who was hoping to buy Twitter, insisted that his politics sat squarely at the center of the national spectrum.
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The Atlantic, New York Times, MIT Technology Review, @danprimack, @zaleskiluke, @zaleskiluke, New Republic, CNN, Quartz, Fox News, @stillgray, @pbump, @stollmeyereu, @pbump, @penamerica, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Media Play News, The Guardian, The Hill, Financial Times, CBS News, Mediaite, Boing Boing, Forbes and Politico, more at Techmeme »
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to launch his presidential bid on Twitter Spaces on May 24, in a discussion with Elon Musk moderated by David Sacks — The Florida governor will announce he is running for president on Twitter Wednesday evening in a conversation with Musk.
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Axios, Reuters, Mediaite, CNN, Quartz, New York Times, Politico, @brianstelter, Poynter, @cwarzel, @jbouie, @semaforben, @jordanbpeterson, Semafor, The Verge, @svdate, The Source, The Hill, CBS News, @digiphile, @vabvox, @rubinreport, @bakari_sellers, @digiphile, @christinapushaw, NBC Bay Area, @simonwdc, @chrislhayes, @joohnchoe, @joncoopertweets, @michaelkruse, @sparrowmedia, @lanceulanoff, @jamesrbuk, @scalzi, @tfl1728, @rachelbitecofer, @sparrowmedia, @rmac18, @ewong, @wholemarsblog, @emeriticus, @warddpatrick, @ozraeliavi, @vabvox, @jaynordlinger, @mattbinder, @cwarzel, @briannawu, @shanegoldmacher, @brianstelter, New York Post, @ambernoelle, @jakelahut, @jakelahut, @rachelsklar, @aishacounts, @nbcnews, @blake_allen13, @tripgabriel, @imillhiser, @benjysarlin, @_cingraham, @curtishouck, @radiofreetom, @donmoyn, @mehdirhasan, The Guardian, NPR, Associated Press, Vanity Fair, Slate, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, The Information, The Wrap, Forbes, Gizmodo, Deadline, Associated Press, TMZ.com, Insider, ABC7, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone and New York Daily News, more at Techmeme »


The New York Times reaches a tentative deal with the NewsGuild of New York that would set a salary minimum of $65K; a vote is expected in the coming week — The new agreement, if ratified, will give union members immediate salary increases of up to 12.5 percent.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @katie_robertson, @nytimes, @michaelroston, @tsnyderdc, @lleibowitzz, @nytimesguild, @michaelroston, @nytimesguild, @reemadamin, @edrabinski, @heytherehaley, @scottgurian, @emily_lip, @latguild, @4evrmalone, @bencasselman, @katierogers, @carolynryan, @taffyakner, @jennyvrentas, @wendyluwrites, @nytimesguild, @ktbenner, The Daily Beast, @ktbenner, @the_log_lady, @maragay, @daveyalba, @abarnardnyt, @benjamindictor, @nytimesguild and MediaPost


Netflix cracks down on password sharing in the US and offers paid sharing, which lets some accounts add an extra member outside their household for $7.99/month — Streamer intros “extra member” option priced at $7.99/month for adding access to those outside account holder's household
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Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, The Streamable, Bloomberg, Metro.co.uk, The Verge, NPR, Quartz, Comic Book, Radio Times, @trumwill, UPROXX, Washington Post, New York Daily News, CBS News, Associated Press, Eurogamer.net, Media Play News, CNET, Dark Horizons, TVLine, The Messenger, SlashFilm, Reuters, The Hill, 9to5Mac, NBC Bay Area, The Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch, ABC7, Forbes, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, IGN, CNN and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »


A US West Coast editor quit before The Messenger launched; she said she was hired for long-form journalism but the job demanded aggregated content and clickbait — “What was presented to me as the job and what the job was was two entirely different things,” said Bender, an editor who quit the much-hyped startup days before its launch.
Discussion:
@jayrosen_nyu, @devonheinen and @justinbaragona


WBD's Max, formerly HBO Max, does not provide specific credits for writers, directors, and other creatives, instead grouping them under “Creators” — The former HBO Max no longer provides specific credits for writers, directors and other creatives.
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@jfrankensteiner, @empirestatebldg, @agraybee, @brennancaldwell, @johnlevenstein, @trulyrick, @nkulw, @nycsouthpaw, @justysilverman, @johnsemley3000, @scottemovienerd, @kimmasters, @scottderrickson, @imjohnleary, @derrific, @jfkenney, @acuna_mattata, @fb_bmb, @jamessabata, @nicksharafinski, @mileskahn, @geoffwilt, @zachsilberberg, @jfrankensteiner and The Wrap


Google launches topic authority to surface content for Search and News based on the source's notability of topic or location, reputation, and original reporting — Google has announced a search system named “topic authority” to help surface relevant, expert, and knowledgeable content in Google Search and Google News.
Discussion:
@pt, @rustybrick, @glenngabe and TechCrunch
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Google plans to experiment with running Search and Shopping ads, which are fully customized based on users' queries, inside its conversational AI Search tool
Discussion:
Reuters, @fabiochiusi, @mark_riedl, Neil Patel, The Verge, Search Engine Land, The Keyword, The Drum, MediaPost, Ad Age and Bloomberg


Belarus pardons Roman Protasevich, the journalist sentenced to eight years after he was arrested on a Ryanair flight; former allies say he has turned on them — Roman Protasevich became a symbol of the struggle for democracy when Belarus forced down a plane and arrested him.
Discussion:
Washington Post, BBC, @kenroth, @philippe_dam, Politico, @velvetblade, @emanuelderman, @velvetblade, @stevenerlanger and Reporters Without Borders


A look at New York Magazine's investment in newsletters, growing its subscribers from ~500K in 2019 to pass 1M across its 30 email products in December 2022 — The publisher has used pop-up, subscriber-only newsletters to boost retention — Since retooling its newsletter strategy in 2019 …
Discussion:
@markstenberg3


News sharing app Artifact now lets users flag articles as clickbait, monitoring reported articles to potentially reduce distribution or change their headlines — Feel like an article is clickbait-y? Artifact, the AI-powered news app from Instagram's co-founders, now has a tool that lets you feel like you can do something about it.
Discussion:
@davezatz, Gizmodo and TechCrunch


How The American Prospect, Balls and Strikes, Bolts, The Guardian US, Hammer & Hope, Popular Information, and States Newsroom are changing political journalism — Political journalism is in crisis. Over the past few months, BuzzFeed News, FiveThirtyEight, Vice and a number of other outlets …
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@chrisgeidner, @jmshumway and The Rural Blog


Georgetown and the Knight Foundation commit $30M to establish the Knight-Georgetown Institute to connect researchers, journalists, and tech leaders on policy — Georgetown has partnered with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to invest $30 million in a nonpartisan institute …
Discussion:
@grahambrookie, @emilytav, @paulohm, @paulohm, @blackamazon, @jcperrino, @techgeorgetown, @ashleyzohn, @iohnsands, @csetgeorgetown and @lauradenardis


How playwrights worked to find a compromise with the WGA amid the writers' strike to allow the Tony Awards on June 11 to go on, without a written script — The screenwriters' strike threatened next month's broadcast, a key marketing moment for the fragile theater industry.
Discussion:
@newyorktheater, @dramatistsguild, @hesherman, @joeycsims, @froomkin, The Hollywood Reporter, The Messenger and Observer