Mediagazer: Wall Street and music industry analysts see Spotify's move into audiobooks as an opportunity for the company to increase its profit margins and value for users (Georg Szalai/The Hollywood Reporter)

5:25 PM ET, October 4, 2023

Top News:

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Memo: Amazon is shutting down Amp, its live audio streaming app launched in March 2022 that let users act like DJs by playing music and talking alongside songs — The service launched in March 2022 following a frenzy around live-audio services during the pandemic.

Discussion: @ashleyrcarman, @bradydale and NBC 7 San Diego, more at Techmeme »

Anna Nemtsova / The Daily Beast:

The family of award-winning Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna says she has been missing since August 3, when she returned to Russian-occupied territory — Victoria Roshchyna has been missing since Aug. 3. Her father told The Daily Beast that her family is desperate to find out where she is.

Discussion: Byline Times, New York Post, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, @stommedia, @milxind and @pierrecrom

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Wall Street and music industry analysts see Spotify's move into audiobooks as an opportunity for the company to increase its profit margins and value for users — An Evercore ISI analyst expects the effort to be a higher margin business than its music offerings, while a Morgan Stanley expert highlighted …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Yahoo plans to spin off Vespa, its open-source big data serving tool that powers the company's search, recommendations, and ad tech, into an independent venture — Yahoo, otherwise known as the company that pays my salary (full disclosure: Yahoo owns TC), today announced that it's spinning off Vespa …

Discussion: @thisguyoftheai, MediaPost, Business Wire and Beet.TV, more at Techmeme »

Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:

Cable news networks continue to hire politicians' relatives and former White House flacks as news anchors, breaking the most basic rules of ethical journalism — It's kind of impressive how long cable news has been openly corrupt. — When you work in the parts of the media where I have spent …

Discussion: @hamiltonnolan, @hamiltonnolan, @finagle-a-hegel.bsky.social, @hamiltonnolan and @annamerlan.bsky.social

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Fortune CEO and former EIC Alan Murray plans to step down at the end of April 2024; he became CEO in December 2018, after Chatchaval Jiaravanon acquired Fortune — Alan Murray, the chief executive officer of Fortune and its former editor in chief, is stepping down in six months.

Discussion: New York Times, @davidclinchnews and Fortune

Ian Youngs / BBC:

GB News fires hosts Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson after concluding its internal investigations, and says its “investigation into Dan Wootton continues” — Laurence Fox has been sacked by GB News after an outcry about comments he made on air about a female journalist.

Discussion: The Guardian, @gbnews, Reclaim The Net, Daily Mail, The Independent, Daily Express, Spectator, London Evening Standard, @david_challen, @arusbridger, @forakin, @calvinrobinson, The Sun, Deadline, Press Association and Variety

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

The Messenger hires AI company Seekr to flag clickbait, bias, and more; reporters can get a score reflecting their political lean that is visible to readers — What counts as clickbait? Merriam-Webster's definition is “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click …

Discussion: Seekr Technologies, Adweek, HuffPost, @jbenton, @jaspjackson, @katienotopoulos, @jmhaigh, @ismailtweets, @_cingraham, @jbenton, @maxwelltani, @_cingraham, @katienotopoulos, @jbenton, @katienotopoulos, @maxwelltani and @semaforben

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Meta rolls out generative AI features for advertisers, including to create backgrounds, expand images, and write versions of ad text based on the original copy — Meta announced today it's rolling out its first generative AI features for advertisers, allowing them to use AI to create backgrounds …

Discussion: Facebook, @kvnbbg, Search Engine Land, @blyons151, @thisguyoftheai, Bloomberg, AdExchanger and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Samanth Subramanian / The Guardian:

A profile of Michael Lewis, as he talks about his new book, Going Infinite, why he considers SBF to be essentially genuine, The Blind Side controversy, and more — As author of The Big Short and Moneyball, Michael Lewis is perhaps the most celebrated journalist of his generation.

Discussion: CBS News, @moorehn, Washington Post, Fox News, @60minutes, @macrocephalopod, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, The Overspill, @juleshyman, The Messenger, @jbarro, @parikpatelcfa, @noahpinion, @zekefaux, @buccocapital, @samanth_s, @followtheh, @alexnazaryan, @molly0xfff, @samanth_s, @joshkraushaar, @matthewstoller, Deadspin, @juliedicaro, @alderlaneeggs, @jack_raines, @sokane1, @buccocapital, @julie_bush, @coffeebreak_yt, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, @ugarles, @rdnarang, @samanth_s, @molly0xfff, @juliedicaro, @glynmoody, @jenszalai, @davidedgarwolf, @samanth_s, @mrianleslie, @petercontibrown, @gdnlongread, @michaeldavsmith, @smtuffy, @ben_a_goldfarb, @gdnlongread, Insider, New York Post, Molly White, New York Times, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Fast Company, CNBC, New York Magazine and The Block

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

News UK and DMG Media propose a joint venture to combine their printing operations for a more sustainable business model, which the UK CMA would need to clear — The companies believe the plan could help ensure a “long-term sustainable future” for the UK newspaper ecosystem.

Discussion: MediaPost, @newsuk, The Guardian, News UK and AOL

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Canva unveils AI tools to automate labor-intensive tasks, and plans to pay out $200M over three years to designers who let their work be used to train AI models — As part of its 10th birthday celebrations, web-based design platform Canva is releasing Magic Studio — a new suite …

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, CNET, Bloomberg and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:25 PM ET, October 4, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Mia Sato / The Verge:
Patreon rolls out new features for creators and fans, like a new visual brand identity, a revamped mobile app, an updated home feed, and free membership tiers

Discussion: TechCrunch, MediaPost, Engadget, Patreon, @mattnavarra, @patreon, @patreon and @ismaelnafria, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD hikes the monthly price of Discovery+ without ads in the US from $6.99 to $8.99 and in Canada from CA$6.99 to CA$8.99; the US ad tier remains at $4.99/month

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, MediaPost, The Desk, Deadline, The A.V. Club, Forbes, CNET, TVLine, Engadget, The Wrap, The Streamable, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, Media Play News and Cord Cutters News

Nicholas Casey / New York Times:
A look at Monitor Michoacán, a Mexican news outlet that closed after two of its journalists reporting on drug violence and government corruption were murdered

Discussion: @cpalbi, @farnazfassihi, @rebelryan77, @nytimes, @alfonslopeztena, @caseysjournal, @drixander and @brianmannadk

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Taylor Lorenz on her new book, Extremely Online, women's role in building the internet, new media's effect on journalism, Twitter, Threads, and more

Discussion: Mediaite, Wired, Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter, Platformer, @caseynewton@mastodon.social and The Information

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
The RIAA: Latin recorded music revenue in the US grew 14.8% to $627M in H1 2023, compared to overall US revenue growth of 9.3%; Latin streaming revenue grew 16%

Discussion: Billboard, RIAA, Billboard and Variety

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
Q&A with former Washington Post editor Marty Baron on his book, pressure from Trump, not sharing the Steele Dossier, journalists' free speech rights, and more

Discussion: Fox News, @raineytime, @raineytime, Vanity Fair and Politico

Earlier Picks:

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A US judge rules that Disney must face an antitrust lawsuit accusing the company of inflating the cost of streaming live TV using its ownership of Hulu and ESPN

Discussion: Cord Cutters News, PYMNTS.com and Deadline

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount is considering scrapping its plans to launch Paramount+ in India in 2023 in favor of selling more programming to its partner JioCinema

Amy Hawkins / The Guardian:
A profile of Jimmy Lai, the owner of now closed Apple Daily and one of Hong Kong's most outspoken pro-democracy activists, as he marks 1,000 days in prison

Discussion: New York Times

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Code in the latest build of the Spotify app suggests the company is working on AI-generated playlists based on users' prompts, likely available in English only

Discussion: @alex193a, @thomas_thomas_thomas …, @chris@threads.net, @chris@threads.net and Music Ally

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix plans to raise the price of its ad-free service a few months after the SAG-AFTRA strike ends, likely starting with the US and Canada

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page