Mediagazer: Source: National World lines up advisers for a £600M takeover bid for The Daily Telegraph, joining multiple other interested parties, including Lord Rothermere (Mark Kleinman/Sky News)

4:05 PM ET, September 27, 2023

Top News:

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

WGA leaders lift the strike order as of 12:01am PT Wednesday, release the tentative AMPTP deal, and allow writers to 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 …

Discussion: WGA Contract 2023, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, @adamconover, WGA Contract 2023, The Wrap, Defector, Decider, UPROXX, WORLD SCREEN, @jesserodriguez, Collider, @whipsical, @baldur@toot.cafe, @lpcprof, @scobie, ComingSoon.net, Engadget, Sputnik News, Forbes, The Messenger, @raymondpert@mstdn.social, @ianrosewrites@scicomm.xyz, The Guardian, Advanced Television, The Daily Beast, The Hill, @millsjenjen@aus.social, The A.V. Club, CBS News, @antimnguyen@mastodon …, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, @deweyritten@infosec.exchange, Us Weekly, @danhon@dan.mastohon.com, Screen Rant, The Verge, @tananarivedue.bsky.social, @mikedrucker.bsky.social, @the2scoops.bsky.social, Deadline, The Wrap, @emilystjams.bsky.social, @phillewis.bsky.social, IndieWire, KNSD-TV, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, Soap Opera Digest, Writers' Guild …, ET Canada, making this up as I go, Publishing Perspectives and Press Telegram

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: Gizmodo, The Messenger, @thewrap, Mashable, @waxy@xoxo.zone, The Wrap, 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, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, Music Ally, @michellemanafy@journa.host, @jbflint, Vanity Fair, New York Daily News, TechCrunch, @carnage4life@mas.to, Screen Rant, 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 Dan Wootton over “totally unacceptable” comments made by Fox about a female journalist during Wootton's show — GB News has suspended both Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton over “totally unacceptable” comments made by Fox about a female journalist during Wootton's show on Tuesday.

Discussion: Byline Times, Financial Times, The Mirror, The Guardian, @hardeep_matharu, NME, BBC, @arusbridger, The Independent, @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: Paul Marshall, the co-owner of GB News, along with Citadel founder Ken Griffin, plans a bid for UK's 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 — - Donald Trump Found Liable For Defrauding Banks, New York Judge Rules; Defense Attorney Calls Decision “Miscarriage Of Justice” - Update

Discussion: The Streamable, Variety, CNN, @tomaxwell, @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 »

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

Max Tani / Semafor:

Sources: Fox News is charging ~$200K for a 30-second spot during 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, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, @semaforben, @imyourmoderator and @maxwelltani

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, The Messenger, Jerusalem Post, Reclaim The Net, Insider, @cordeliaj, @chris_skinner, TechCrunch, @ft, @mattvella and @janinegibson, more at Techmeme »

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

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

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

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

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Memo: New York Public Radio President and CEO LaFontaine Oliver plans to cut NYPR staff by ~12% due to a “free fall in the advertising market” — The chief executive of New York Public Radio, which operates WNYC and the classical music station WQXR, said the organization was facing a “free-fall” in advertising.

Discussion: Inside Radio, RADIO ONLINE, Current and @benmullin

Jen Fifield / Votebeat:

Local Labs, tied to Metric Media's network of local websites, is paid by GOP-backed clients for hundreds of public records requests, stymying election officials — Local Labs seeks voter data through extensive requests around the U.S. — and blurs the line between political research and journalism.

Discussion: @votebeatus, @pamelafessler, @jessicahuseman, @jessicahuseman and @jessicahuseman