Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Letterboxd's founders sell a majority stake to Victoria-based Tiny; a source says the deal values the film-focused social network with ~10M users at $50M+ — Two designers from New Zealand built a wildly popular social network for movie buffs. Now, they're cashing in (and sticking around for the sequel).
Discussion:
Letterboxd, Variety, Engadget, @benmullin, @chronotope, @smuiux, @awilkinson, @letterboxd, @joelevard, @alexkehr, @notbigracks, @thefilmdrunk, @bkwelles, @labuzamovies, @scottemovienerd, Netflix Tudum, The Verge, Business Wire, The Wrap, Gizmodo, Deadline, @qburns@mas.to, @_sparling_, The Hollywood Reporter and @simli.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
The Information:
Sources: Jasper, which offers an AI writing tool for marketers, cut its $140M ARR projections for 2023 by 30%+ and its internal valuation by 20% from $1.5B — Jasper AI, an early darling of the generative artificial intelligence boom, has cut the internal value of its common shares 20% …
Discussion:
@asanwal, more at Techmeme »
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
A history of Vine's failure to build relationships with its top creators, who Vine leadership resented for gaming the app's ranking algorithm and their humor — The wildly popular video app's contentious relationship with its own power users offers a cautionary tale for social platforms
Discussion:
@iamasarch, @katienotopoulos, @nitashatiku, @willoremus and Tubefilter
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Ed Fancher, one of the founders of The Village Voice and its publisher for 19 years, is dead at 100 — A psychologist, he started the alternative weekly with Dan Wolf and Norman Mailer in 1955. “We were crazy enough to think it would succeed,” he said. — Ed Fancher, a psychologist …
Discussion:
@tromano, @joeconason and @johnk77t
Todd Spangler / Variety:
FilmRise acquires worldwide digital media rights to a library of content from BuzzFeed Studios, with 1,200+ hours of content including past episodes of Hot Ones — Older episodes of Sean Evans' “Hot Ones,” the hit YouTube series in which celebs try to ingest increasingly spicy buffalo wings, has a new home.
Discussion:
The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
The Marshall Project:
The Marshall Project launches its second local news operation in Jackson, Mississippi, with two reporters starting October 2 — Two journalists will produce enterprise and investigative journalism for audiences across Mississippi, including those affected by its criminal justice system.
Discussion:
New York Amsterdam News
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Podcast company Pushkin Industries is laying off 17 of its 54 employees, its second round of cuts in 2023, and making changes to its leadership team — ‘The Tipping Point’ author will step into editorial director role as part of executive shakeup — Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell's company …
Discussion:
New York Post, @leffjakin.bsky.social and @brianstorms@mastodon.social
Amanda Zamora / The 19th:
Amanda Zamora says she will step down as publisher of The 19th at the end of 2023 and continue working on The 19th News Network as an advisory director — After more than four and a half years with The 19th, Amanda Zamora will step down as publisher at the end of this year. — Co-founder and Publisher
Discussion:
@eramshaw, @niketa, @errinhaines, @cande313, @mathewi, @ramsammy, @mitrakalita, @soljourno, @amzam, @amzam, @amzam and @amzam
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
X CEO Linda Yaccarino says that the company has paid out nearly $20M to creators; Elon Musk said in July 2023 that the first payments totaled $5M — The company formerly known as Twitter has paid out nearly $20 million to creators, according to a post from X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
Discussion:
MediaPost, Fortune, @lindayax, @lhamadopagode, @rakeshlobster, @jboorstin and The Verge on YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Washington Post:
The Supreme Court agrees to hear two cases concerning whether Florida and Texas can restrict social media companies from removing political posts or accounts — The justices announced Friday which cases they will add to their calendar for the term that begins Monday
Discussion:
Engadget, New York Times, UPI, SCOTUSblog, Reuters, Associated Press, Gizmodo, @thefireorg, Bloomberg, SCOTUSblog, The Nation, Los Angeles Times, @mjs_dc and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
Bob Sillick / Editor and Publisher:
A look at Agenda Watch, built by Stanford's Big Local News and which scrapes public agencies' documents to help city hall, police, and school beat reporters — A journalist's job can be exciting: uncovering a critical lead for a new story or elbowing aside a gaggle of other media pros to question a government official.
Naomi Clarke / The Independent:
GB News presenter Calvin Robinson says the broadcaster suspended him for defending Dan Wootton online, making him the channel's third suspended presenter — Robinson hosts a religious current affairs programme on the channel. … GB News presenter Calvin Robinson has said the broadcaster …
Discussion:
The Guardian, @calvinrobinson, @calvinrobinson, Sky News, @calvinrobinson and The Sun
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