Mediagazer: Investigation: Dan Wootton was the subject of at least six bullying claims from Sun colleagues, but was promoted while they were silenced with payoffs and NDAs (Byline Times)

5:55 PM ET, July 21, 2023

Top News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

News reporters shouldn't write off AI assistance for first drafts of stories; often, those drafts aren't publishable but can be useful to human journalists — Dystopian, yes — but tools don't have to be perfect to be useful to journalists. — Every other semester, I teach …

Discussion: @niemanlab@mastodon.social, @mmasnick.bsky.social, MediaNama, The Information, The San Diego Union-Tribune, CNN, Gizmodo, MediaPost and New York Times

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:

Memo: an Insider executive editor updates staffers on AI experiments and recommends AI not be used for quoting facts, data analysis, or getting up-to-date info — Insider's executive editor sent a note to staff today addressing how the newsroom's pilot group is using AI [image]

Discussion: @journalist_guy, @thenewsan, @scottnover, @kaylaepstein and @scottnover

Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
News organizations' deals with OpenAI and its rivals echo past Google and Meta “partnerships” and could ultimately help companies put journalists out of work

Discussion: New York Post, The Verge, @espiers, @mathewi, @cjr, @jayrosen_nyu, Platformer, The Information, @sarahposner.bsky.social and Vanity Fair, more at Techmeme »

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Sources: Disney CEO Bob Iger and ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro have held early talks with the NFL, NBA, and MLB about adding them as minority investors in ESPN — - ESPN has held early talks about strategic partnerships with the NBA, NFL and MLB that could include the leagues taking an equity stake in the business, sources told CNBC.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Desk, Awful Announcing, The Streamable, The Information, @susanlitv, Front Office Sports, @sherman4949, Barrett Media, The Verge, @sherman4949, @sherman4949 and Cord Cutters News

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Spotify plans to raise its US ad-free premium tier's price for the first time, by $1 to $10.99/month, and increase prices globally in the coming months — Audio company had avoided raising prices, but faces investor pressure to increase profitability

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, The Information, @carnage4life@mas.to, @liquor_american …, @CStamp@mastodon.social, Music Business Worldwide, 9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Marie Woolf / Globe and Mail:

Some Quebec radio stations and news pubs are refusing to run Meta ads that inform Canadians of the company's plan to block news links on Facebook and Instagram — Meta has started to run ads to inform Canadians of its plan to block the viewing and sharing of news content on Facebook …

Discussion: CBC News, @fancrtcprofling, @pagmenzies, @dylanlindgren, @mgeist and @freemangrist

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

Former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield joins CNN as an on-air political commentator; she left her White House post in February 2023 — Former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield has joined CNN as an on-air political commentator.

Discussion: Mediaite, CNN, The Hill, The Wrap and Politico

Noam Scheiber / New York Times:

How TV writing became a dead-end job with dwindling weekly pay as studios break down the job of making TV shows into simpler, lower-paid tasks — The writers say Hollywood studios are increasingly limiting their roles in television productions, highlighting a trend for white-collar workers.

Discussion: @noamscheiber, @wajahatali, @tylerdinucci, @wgawest, @brucebartlett, @hiattb, @bigmeaninternet, @alexnpress, @leavittalone, @shawnryantv, @whet.bsky.social and @aworkinglibrary@mstdn.social

Adam Sherwin / The i Paper:

UK's Global radio, which owns the LBC, Capital, and Heart brands, plans to restructure 11 newsrooms across the country, which could mean up to 40 job cuts — Journalists warn Global radio plans could ‘decimate local news’ with 40 jobs under threat at the home to Capital, Smooth, LBC and Heart

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Former ABC News producer James Gordon Meek pleads guilty to transportation and possession of CSAM; the US DOJ arrested him in February 2023 — The harrowing legal saga—the type of story that could've appeared on Meek's former network— has reached its conclusion.

Discussion: Variety, The Desk, Insider, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Boing Boing, The San Diego Union-Tribune and Rolling Stone

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

TikTok launches Commercial Content Library, giving access to ad data, including targeting parameters, but only ad data from Europe is available — TikTok has finally launched an ads transparency library — starting with data on ads and other commercial content running in Europe but with plans to expand that.

Discussion: @tiktokcomms, @carolinegreer, @jadenester, @parkerjbach, Search Engine Land, TikTok and Gadgets 360

Nora Neus / Poynter:

A look at the ethics policy of not paying sources for stories or information, and how compensating people for their time could enable broader, deeper reporting — Amid industrywide conversations about whose stories get told and who profits, it's worth revisiting this blanket rule with some more nuance.

Discussion: @poynter

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:

Hearst Magazines Media Union says 41 of its members were laid off over “company restructuring”; impacted publications include Elle, Seventeen, and Men's Health — Hearst Magazines Media Union, which announced the news Thursday, says, “We are losing talented people whose creativity …

Discussion: @hearstunion, Daily Front Row, @fsp_nwu, @katie_robertson, @alisonbrower, @hannahorens, @eschumer, @emmaspecter, @kath_krueger, @bdwilliams910, @stacey_grant91, @tamara_fuentes, Insider, Business of Fashion and WWD

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Wall Street Journal:
Artisan Gateway: box-office sales for US films in China hit $592M in H1 2023, down from $1.9B in H1 2019, as Chinese audiences gravitate toward local movies

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Ken Stone / Times of San Diego:
San Diego Union-Tribune Editor and Publisher Jeff Light is leaving after the outlet's sale to Alden; an unofficial list of staffers taking buyouts has ~30 names

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Byline Times:
Investigation: Dan Wootton was the subject of at least six bullying claims from Sun colleagues, but was promoted while they were silenced with payoffs and NDAs

Discussion: @adambienkov, @hardeep_matharu, @archewellbaby, The Guardian, @bylinetimes, @jasonpedlow, @jacquihames, @themeredish, @themeredish, @harriettmb@mastodon.ie and The Guardian

Ellise Shafer / Variety:
Q&A with NME Networks COO Holly Bishop on relaunching the magazine as a global bimonthly using a “high-hype model” after shutting down print production in 2018

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Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
The New York Times' newsroom union files a grievance over the company's plans to shutter its sports section and rely on The Athletic for sports news coverage

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Earlier Picks:

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
Production workers, 66 at Warner Bros. Animation and 22 at Cartoon Network, file an NLRB petition to form a union and ask WBD to voluntarily recognize the unit

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Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
The Taylor family donates The Moab Times-Independent to The Salt Lake Tribune, which plans to offer the weekly free in print to Moab residents and online to all

Discussion: The Rural Blog, @sltrib, @sltrib, @sltrib, @sltrib, The Times-Independent, Institute for Nonprofit News and Salt Lake Tribune

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: a syndicate of investors led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 is close to acquiring CoinDesk in a deal worth ~$125M

Discussion: The Information, Bloomberg and Talking Biz News

Makena Kelly / The Verge:
A look at Gigi Sohn's unsuccessful FCC confirmation: Joe Biden nominated her in October 2021 and she withdrew 497 days later after a fierce opposition campaign

Discussion: The Desk, @matthewkeys.net, New York Post, @joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org, @petersuber@fediscience.org, @jvagle@mastodon.lawprofs.org and @acarvin.bsky.social

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Sources: AMC Entertainment drops its seat location pricing plan; a test didn't grow revenue as moviegoers didn't pay up for better seats or less for worse seats

Discussion: TechCrunch, Corporate Profile, Insider, Variety, Deadline, KGET 17, CNET, CBS News, New York Times, The Verge, Screen Rant, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, TMZ.com, Forbes, UPROXX, CNN, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, SlashFilm, The Hollywood Reporter and Collider

From Techmeme:

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
OpenAI pulls ChatGPT's Sky voice after users said it sounded like Scarlett Johansson, saying it is an actress' voice and wasn't chosen to be an “imitation”

Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein resigns, to be replaced by the head of strategy for asset and wealth manager at Goldman Sachs, Peter Mintzberg, on August 15

Chae-Yeon Kim / KED Global:
Sources: LG has ended its Meta partnership due to a lack of “synergy”, three months after the companies agreed to develop XR devices; LG may partner with Amazon

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