Mediagazer: Meng Ru Kuok, the CEO and founder of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, acquires Gawker's trademarks and domain, but not archives, from Bustle Digital Group (Todd Spangler/Variety)

7:45 PM ET, November 15, 2023

Top News:

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Pew: 30% of US adults regularly get their news from Facebook; 26%, from YouTube; 16%, Instagram; 14%, TikTok; 12%, X; 8%, Reddit; and 5%, Nextdoor and LinkedIn — Facebook may be ready to divorce the news business, but it's still the No. 1 source of news on social media for Americans.

Discussion: Pew Research Center, Axios, @iedamarcondes.com, Reuters, Deadline and @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, more at Techmeme »

Katerina Eva Matsa / Pew Research Center:

Survey: 14% of US adults regularly get news on TikTok in 2023, up from 3% in 2020: 32% aged 18 to 29, 15% aged 30 to 49, 7% aged 50 to 64, and 3% aged 65+ — A small but growing share of U.S. adults say they regularly get news on TikTok. This is in contrast with many other social media sites …

Discussion: The Information and Washington Post

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

León Krauze, a top anchor for Univision's news division, leaves the network amid reports that the outlet has shifted to a much more favorable coverage of Trump — - Michael Strahan Returns To ‘Good Morning America’ After Time Off Due Personal Family Matters — Update

Discussion: Variety

Washington Post:
Sources: some Univision journalists are alarmed by the network's new Trump approach; executives attended a Trump interview and Univision canceled some Biden ads

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Adweek, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Times, @whstancil, @jayrosen_nyc@threads.net, @introversion@universeodon.com, @Benjaminblackoak@sfba.social, Agustín L. Cruz on LinkedIn, Jesús Nava on LinkedIn, Steven Hassan, PhD on LinkedIn, @ChrisHolladay@mastodon.social and @GottaLaff@mastodon.social

Financial Times:

As Rupert Murdoch cedes control to Lachlan this week, a look at Fox's legal issues: the $2.7B Smartmatic lawsuit, shareholder complaints, Ray Epps, and more — As the new chair completes his takeover, he must contend with unresolved claims hanging over the media company

Discussion: Cord Cutters News and Politico

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
On his last day as News Corp's chair, Rupert Murdoch said he hopes to “continue an active role in the company” and reflected on his “fortunate” life

Discussion: New York Post, @waywardboobs.bsky.social, @brianstelter and NPR

New York Times:

Interviews with 100+ people detail David Zaslav's WBD tenure, including cost cuts and a 50%+ stock drop, during a tumultuous time for the entertainment industry — A merger put him in the driver's seat at Warner Brothers, one of the industry's biggest studios. It has been a wild ride.

Discussion: UPROXX, Los Angeles Times, @benmullin, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, @sidhubaba, @brianstelter, IndieWire, @mileskahn, Deadline, @tsoh_investing, @stcroix2020 and ComingSoon.net

New York Times:
Interviews with 12+ CNN insiders detail how David Zaslav cultivated friendships with some of CNN's biggest names, which did not stop him from later firing them

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @blakerutherford, @omunderdal, @benmullin, @benmullin, @jayrosen_nyu and @jamesstewartnyt

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:

The FCC adopts a rule to prevent limiting broadband access by “income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin”; ISPs and the GOP complain — Industry and GOP say rule goes too far, warn of a chilling effect on broadband investment

Discussion: The Verge, TVNewsCheck, PCMag, The White House, Next TV, Broadband Breakfast, Broadband Communities, Ars Technica, @pogue.omg.lol, Broadband Communities, The Markup, Cord Cutters News, Free Press and FCC, more at Techmeme »

Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:

In 2022, Meta quietly began letting ads say past US elections were “rigged” or “stolen”; sources say executives decided this based on free speech considerations — Company weighed free-speech considerations in changing its policy last year

Discussion: CNN, Mother Jones, Melissa Ryan on LinkedIn, @melissaryan@me.dm, The Guardian, @doniecnn@threads.net, New Republic, @jayrosen_nyu, @zamaan_qureshi, @vanbadham, @benpershing, @Noupside@saturation.social and The Rural Blog, more at Techmeme »

404 Media:

The Guardian takes down a 2002 letter written by Osama Bin Laden criticizing US support of Israel, after the letter went viral on TikTok — “The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared today on social media without its original context. Therefore we have decided to take it down."

Discussion: @seyitaylor, @buccocapital, @yashar, @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler and KTSM-TV

New York Times:

US and European newsrooms face tough choices over which Israel-Hamas war photographs to publish, complicated by disinformation and photojournalist restrictions — Digital disinformation and restrictions on photojournalists have complicated decision-making about the visual chronicle of the Israel-Hamas war.

Reuters:

Members of the The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party ask Tim Cook to explain the abrupt ending of The Problem With Jon Stewart on TV+ — U.S. lawmakers asked Apple Inc to explain the abrupt end of political comedian Jon Stewart's television show on its streaming service …

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, The Verge, CNN, Chris Fenton on LinkedIn, Ars Technica, MediaPost, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Business Insider

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Meng Ru Kuok, the CEO and founder of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, acquires Gawker's trademarks and domain, but not archives, from Bustle Digital Group — Get ready for Gawker 3.0: The twice-shuttered blog site has a new owner, who plans to bring the gossipy pop-culture brand back to life — but not in exactly the same way.

Discussion: The Wrap, @bmorrissey, @jackshafer and @michaelroston

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Memos: BuzzFeed Publisher Dao Nguyen steps down, replaced by Jessica Probus as the company moves from emphasizing its aggregated network to growing its brands — Veteran executive Jessica Probus will step up as its new publisher — Culture and entertainment publisher BuzzFeed Inc. unveiled …

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @maxwellstrachan and Jess Probus on LinkedIn

Thomas Wilde / GeekWire:

Amazon plans to merge its Comixology app with Kindle on December 4, and automatically integrate all comics that Comixology users own into their Kindle libraries — Amazon will merge its digital comics storefront Comixology with Kindle on Dec. 4, which will also involve the official end of service for the standalone Comixology app.

Discussion: The Beat, Comic Book, IGN, BetaNews, The Verge, Nerdvana, EconoTimes, @comixology, Bleeding Cool News, ICv2, AIPT, 9to5Google, Good e-Reader and Stevivor, more at Techmeme »

Ben Smith / @semaforben:

Internal memo: opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo is leaving The New York Times — Farhad Manjoo @fmanjoo leaving the New York Times, per an internal note from opinion editor.

Discussion: @howardkushlan, @fmanjoo, @rachelmetz, @jasonabbruzzese, @gadyepstein, @fmanjoo, @followtheh, @gamoid and @samuelaadams

Music Business Worldwide:

Stability AI VP of Audio Ed Newton-Rex resigns, saying he disagrees with the company's view that training generative AI models on copyrighted works is fair use — Ed Newton-Rex has quit his role at Stability AI. In an exclusive op-ed, he shares why.

Discussion: @future_of_music, @paulmarks12, @ednewtonrex, Laurie Jakobsen on LinkedIn, @carnage4life@mas.to and @neilturkewitz, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:45 PM ET, November 15, 2023.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Commissioning Editor - Practical Law — Reuters

Energy Markets Reporter, London — WSJ

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

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

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

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

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:

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
A look at Jazmine Hughes' resignation, as sources say The New York Times' guild objected to the handling of the New York Times Magazine staff writer's exit

Discussion: @charlottetklein

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube adds enhanced bitrate 1080p video support, first available on iOS, to Android, the web, and smart TVs, and debuts achievement badges for users 18 and up

Discussion: 9to5Google and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Lili Bayer / The Guardian:
Slovakian journalists and watchdogs express alarm after Slovakia's new prime minister described some media outlets as hostile and threatened to restrict access

Discussion: The Kyiv Independent and @glynmoody@mastodon.social

Anna Wiener / New Yorker:
A profile of Holly Herndon, an artist and musician who uses AI in her work and who co-founded Spawning, a company building a “consent layer for AI” for artists

Discussion: @kcesq, @totalvibration, @newyorker, @joelvmills, @hollyherndon and @annawiener

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph forbids staff from using AI-generated text, except in limited circumstances, but hopes to have a “permissive” AI approach for “back office” tasks

Discussion: @pressgazette

Steve McClellan / MediaPost:
GroupM partners with Google to assess the impact of Privacy Sandbox APIs on advertising; Google plans to complete Chrome's deprecation of cookies in H2 2024

Discussion: Digiday, Ad Age and AdExchanger

Earlier Picks:

K.J. Yossman / Variety:
The BBC apologizes after a news anchor misquoted a Reuters report and falsely claimed the IDF targeted “medical teams and Arab speakers” in Gaza's main hospital

Discussion: The Times of Israel, @michaeldickson, Hollywood Reporter, @bbcnewspr, @jakewsimons, Deadline and The Times

Jake Kanter / Deadline:
UK Parliament submission: Amazon warns the UK that the country should not take for granted its status as a Hollywood production rival, seeking better incentives

Discussion: Reuters

Rebecca Jennings / Vox:
The “deinfluencer” trend among creators, which urges people to buy less or differently, fades as the consumerism-driven content creator industry keeps growing

Discussion: The Verge, Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, MediaPost, Association …, The Information, @taylorlorenz@threads.net and Ad Age

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Two SAG-AFTRA board members say they voted against the new contract due to its lack of enough protections against AI, though they also had other reservations

Discussion: SAG-AFTRA, Collider, @ladykatebond, @ladykatebond, @ladykatebond, Wired, @alexwinter.com and KNSD-TV

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
Former The Recount EIC Slade Sohmer has been charged with possession and dissemination of child porn; The Recount says he left after an October restructuring

Discussion: The Boston Globe, New York Post, Mediaite, @matthewkeyslive, @levinejonathan, @_cingraham, @childrenneedus_, The Berkshire Eagle, The Desk, @joshsternberg.bsky.social and New York Post

Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
YouTube plans to require users to disclose when they have uploaded realistic-looking manipulated or synthetic content, including using AI tools, in 2024

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users

Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 employees at 2023's end

Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI plans to launch a new AI agent codenamed Operator, which can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf, in January

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