Top News:
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Filing: BuzzFeed President Marcela Martin intends to resign on January 12 to pursue other opportunities; the CEO and others plan to absorb her responsibilities — BuzzFeed's (BZFD.O) Marcela Martin has announced her intention to resign as president effective Jan. 12 to pursue other opportunities, the digital media firm said on Friday.
Discussion:
The Information, US Securities … and @zerohedge
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Martin Peers / The Information:
BuzzFeed, the media star of 2016 that now has a ~$36M market cap, needs just above $100M after its sale of Complex Networks to pay down debt due at 2024's end — Let's hope all those wannabe digital media entrepreneurs are paying attention to the slow disintegration of BuzzFeed, the media star of 2016.
The Information:
Sources: BuzzFeed is close to selling most of Complex Networks to livestream shopping startup Ntwrk for a little above $100M, far below Jonah Peretti's target — After months of discussions, BuzzFeed is close to an agreement to sell most of its Complex Networks business to Ntwrk …
Discussion:
@tomaxwell and @theinformation
Margaret Atwood / In the Writing Burrow:
Margaret Atwood argues that Substack violates its own terms of service by permitting Nazis to publish on its platform, and says Substack can't have it both ways — Or, “A cannot be both itself and non-A at the same time,” Logic 101. — ∙ Paid — This instructive cartoon …
Jessica Murray / The Guardian:
John Pilger, an Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker who covered conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Biafra, dies at age 84 — Celebrated Australian journalist and documentary film-maker covered conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Biafra
Discussion:
Associated Press, @johnpilger, Sky News, BBC, Deadline, @ggreenwald, @wallacemick, @wikileaks, @jeremycorbyn, @kennardmatt, @zei_squirrel and National Union of Journalists …
Gursimran Kaur / Reuters:
Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, who co-founded Univision in 1992 and launched DIRECTV Latin America in 1995, dies at 78 — Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, who had expanded Cisneros from a family business into an important conglomerate for the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic market …
Discussion:
New York Post and Bloomberg
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
A look at the rise of AI-generated virtual influencers, with some charging thousands of dollars to promote products, leading to concerns from human influencers — Hyper-realistic ‘virtual influencers’ are being used to promote leading brands — drawing ire from human content creators
Discussion:
@gunblaze1969, @jimharris, @brianroemmele, LinkedIn, @jaroslawmarciuk, @rizstanford and @alexisgoncalves, more at Techmeme »
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount Global and Comcast Xfinity strike a new carriage deal, averting a potential January 1 blackout that would have included CBS, MTV, and other channels — The previous deal was set to expire at the end of the year and would have impacted NFL and college football games.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Variety, The Desk and Sports Business Journal
Alex Griffing / Mediaite:
Fox News was 2023's most watched US network, followed by MSNBC, the only one to grow viewers YoY; MSNBC's average viewer was 70, Fox's was 69, and CNN's was 67 — The cable news industry had an undeniably rough 2023, ending the tumultuous year with fewer eyeballs as cord-cutting continues …
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A.O. Scott / New York Times:
How some authors are embracing ChatGPT and other chatbots as the latest iteration of an ancient literary conceit, a writer's “muse” — What happens to literature when writers embrace A.I. as their muse? — The robots of literature and movies usually present either an existential danger or an erotic frisson.
Discussion:
@stephenmarche, @nytimesbooks and @lalatellsastory@threads.net, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: for months, OpenAI has held talks with major news publishers including Gannett, News Corp, and IAC about the price and terms of licensing their content — Several major publishers have been in talks to license content to the creator of ChatGPT, but agreement on the price and terms has been elusive.
Gary Marcus / Marcus on AI:
OpenAI and others will likely face more copyright lawsuits as systems like DALL-E produce copyright-infringing materials without attribution or informing users — At around the same time as news of the New York Times lawsuit vs OpenAI broke, Reid Southen, the film industry concept artist …
Discussion:
@docrevan.xyz, @artofangles, @artofsoulburn@mastodon.art, @tuxdevices@fosstodon.org, @andrewl@mastodon.me.uk, @baldur@toot.cafe, @ylecun, @burkov, @ceciliazin, @nelkmarge, @venturetwins, @emollick, @bobehayes, @peterhense, @benlandautaylor, @ceciliazin, @yoda, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, Daniel on LinkedIn, @carnage4life@mas.to, Frith Tweedie on LinkedIn, Gary Marcus on LinkedIn and Jon Lam on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »
The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix's stock ended 2023 up 65%, Spotify's was up 129%, and Roku's was up 126%; Lionsgate, Sony, and NBCUniversal owner Comcast were also media sector winners — Renewed sector deal chatter helped boost some stocks late in the year despite questions about the advertising and streaming outlook.
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