Mediagazer: Warner Bros. Discovery launches CNN Max in an open beta in the US, offering a 24/7 live news streaming feed and 900 hours of CNN Originals to Max subscribers (Ted Johnson/Deadline)

5:35 PM ET, September 27, 2023

Top News:

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

WGA leaders lift the strike order as of 12:01am PT on September 27, release the tentative AMPTP deal, and let writers return to work before final ratification — The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is officially over. — On the 148th day of the work stoppage, the board of the WGA West …

Hollywood Reporter:

A play-by-play of the final negotiations between the WGA and the studios, represented by Bob Iger, David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, and NBCUniversal's Donna Langley — From the Chris Keyser-CEO calls that brought them back to the table to the ask that almost derailed the deal, a play-by-play of the final negotiations.

Discussion: @rking618, @dmaguz, @thatrebecca, @jbflint, @maghielse, @corbinbolies and @timothydowling

Alex Cranz / The Verge:
The WGA contract calls for streaming data transparency, requiring studios to provide “the total number of hours streamed” of self-produced high budget programs

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, The Messenger, @thewrap, Mashable, Collider, @waxy@xoxo.zone, The Wrap, Screen Rant, TVLine, New York Daily News and IGN, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the WGA and AMPTP's deal lets studios train AI models on writers' work while writers would be compensated for work on scripts even if AI tools are used

Discussion: Fox News, Bloomberg, Music Ally, Cord Cutters News, @michellemanafy@journa.host, @jbflint, Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, TechCrunch, Screen Rant, @carnage4life@mas.to, Reuters, @pogue.bsky.social, Los Angeles Times, CNBC and The Messenger

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

GB News suspends presenter Laurence Fox after he went on a misogynistic on-air rant about the political journalist Ava Evans; Fox refused to apologize — Broadcaster says it will apologise to Ava Evans about comments Fox made about her on Dan Wootton's show on Tuesday

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

After suspending Laurence Fox, GB News suspends presenter Dan Wootton over “totally unacceptable” comments Fox made about a female journalist on Wootton's show — GB News has suspended both Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton over “totally unacceptable” comments made by Fox …

Discussion: Byline Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Mirror, @hardeep_matharu, The Independent, NME, @arusbridger, BBC, @gbnews, @shockproofbeats, @daveleebbg, The London Economic and Guido Fawkes

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Source: National World lines up advisers for a £600M takeover bid for The Daily Telegraph, joining multiple other interested parties, including Lord Rothermere — David Montgomery's National World is lining up Cavendish Capital Markets and Peel Hunt to muster the firepower for a £600m takeover bid, Sky News learns.

Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage and Press Gazette

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Sources: GB News co-owner Paul Marshall, along with Citadel founder Ken Griffin, plans a bid for the UK-based Telegraph through his UnHerd Ventures media group — Founder of Citadel hedge fund Ken Griffin linked to group of investors including Sir Paul Marshall

Discussion: Telegraph, The Wrap, City A.M. and Financial Times

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

A profile of Kasie Hunt as she launches State of the Race, a weekday show about US politics for CNN's international service, after moving from NBC News in 2021 — Two years later, she's just starting to find out whether she might sink or swim. — On Wednesday, Hunt will launch …

Discussion: Adweek and CNN

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Warner Bros. Discovery launches CNN Max in an open beta in the US, offering a 24/7 live news streaming feed and 900 hours of CNN Originals to Max subscribers

Discussion: @dcnorg, @tomaxwell, Variety, The Streamable, CNN, @2xaught7.bsky.social, @cnnpr and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Sources and new documents detail how Meta executives repeatedly shied away from punishing the BJP or associated accounts in India for hate speech and propaganda — SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly three years ago, Facebook's propaganda hunters uncovered a vast social media influence operation …

Discussion: @indianewswatch@kolektiva … and @acdha@code4lib.social, more at Techmeme »

Gerry Shih / Washington Post:
Employees and allies of India's BJP detail how they crafted posts for a vast network of WhatsApp groups aimed at exploiting the fears of India's Hindu majority

more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / Semafor:

Sources: Fox News is charging ~$200K for a 30-second ad during the second GOP primary debate, down from ~$495K for the first, as the primary becomes a “snoozer” — The Scoop — Advertisers paid a premium for airtime during the first Republican presidential debate on Fox News …

Discussion: The Messenger, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, @semaforben, @imyourmoderator and @maxwelltani

Sara Atske / Pew Research Center:

US survey of 4,742 Black adults: 63% say news about Black people is more negative than news about other races and 43% say the coverage stereotypes Black people — Black Americans are critical of news coverage of Black people and say educating journalists would make coverage fairer

Discussion: Nieman Lab, WISH-TV, Columbia Journalism Review, American Press Institute, Forbes, @black_intellect@mstdn.social, @mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io, @twrling@sfba.social and Poynter

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

In his new book, Marty Baron says Jared Kushner pressured the Washington Post publisher to fire Baron as editor over the outlet's Russia investigation coverage — Marty Baron says Trump's son-in-law leaned on Post publisher to withdraw support of Russia election interference investigation

Discussion: Puck, New Republic, @DemocracyMattersALot …, @froomkin, @stevesilberman@newsie.social and @kbeninato@mstdn.party

Martin Baron / The Atlantic:
An excerpt from Marty Baron's upcoming book, Collision of Power: the “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan, Trump asking Bezos for better Post coverage, and more

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Messenger, @edokeefe, @postbaron, @jmart, @mckaycoppins and CNN

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

Linda Yaccarino reflects on her first 100 days as X's CEO, says the intense public scrutiny is “hard on me”, as sources describe her relationship with Elon Musk — Can the chief of the company formerly known as Twitter survive Musk's chaos and win back advertisers?

Discussion: The Information, MobileSyrup, @kateconger, @rmac18, The Messenger, Jerusalem Post, Insider, @cordeliaj, @chris_skinner, TechCrunch, @ft, @mattvella, Reclaim The Net and @janinegibson, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl: AI will greatly impact the music industry in the next year and YouTube Content ID can be a blueprint for protecting rightsholders — Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl believes AI will be significantly impacting the music industry within the next year.

Discussion: Billboard, Gizmodo and Music Ally

Emma Garland / Huck:

A look at The Paper, an independent magazine about the “confusing, hopeless but hilarious” state of life in Wales, funded via a Michael Sheen-backed Kickstarter — Founded by three friends from South Wales and funded by a Kickstarter backed by Michael Sheen …

Discussion: @emmaggarland and @emmaggarland