Top News:
A.J. Perez / Front Office Sports:
The Arena Group tells Sports Illustrated staff that it will be “laying off staff that work on the SI brand” since Authentic Brands revoked the SI license — Staffers at Sports Illustrated were notified on Friday of massive layoffs—some immediately, others in short time.
Discussion:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: the Arena Group “failed to make a quarterly payment” of ~$3.75M on January 2 to Authentic Brands, the license holder of Sports Illustrated — Sports Illustrated has been hit with mass layoffs — which will potentially eliminate the entire editorial team of the nearly 70-year-old sports media brand.
Joe Lucia / Awful Announcing:
Ex-Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn resigns from the company's board, calling “the destruction of Sports Illustrated's storied brand and newsroom” the final straw — Ross Levinsohn during his time at Yahoo. — Former Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn has resigned his seat on the company's board …
Discussion:
Ross Levinsohn on LinkedIn, @howardbeck, @rohannadkarni, @jerrybeach73, @cujorulesdtown9, @blakeruane and @rj_cfb
Hollywood Reporter:
Authentic Brands says it will ensure that Sports Illustrated and its editorial arm “continues to thrive”; Arena Group says it is still in talks with Authentic — The cuts are arriving after Arena Group Holdings failed to make a licensing payment to Authentic Brands Group, according to a securities filing.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and Awful Announcing
Axios:
Simplify Inventions' deal to buy a ~65% stake in Sports Illustrated owner Arena Group in August 2023 didn't close as expected by the end of 2023 — Sports Illustrated editorial staffers were warned on Friday that layoffs were coming that could affect the entire staff, according …
Discussion:
Sportico, @sarafischer, @sarafischer and Awful Announcing
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
The LA Times Guild calls for a one-day walkout on January 19 to protest planned cuts; sources: layoffs may affect at least 100 people, or ~20% of the newsroom — Los Angeles Times newsroom guild leaders called for a one-day walkout — Friday to protest planned cuts to offset steep financial losses …
Discussion:
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Julia Jacobs / New York Times:
A grand jury in New Mexico indicts Alec Baldwin on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of a cinematographer on the set of “Rust” in 2021 — A grand jury in New Mexico indicted the actor in the shooting death of the cinematographer on the film “Rust,” …
Discussion:
Variety, SlashFilm, The Hill, The Wrap, Mediaite, E! Online, CNN, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, ComingSoon.net, The Messenger, Sky News, ABC News, Fox News, TMZ.com, Associated Press, Rolling Stone, New York Post, The A.V. Club, Hollywood Life, MyStateline.com, @yashar, @ragland1836, @steveweatherman and Hollywood Reporter
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Ampere: the number scripted series in the US dropped 24% YoY to 481 in 2023; subscription streamers released 77 fewer seasons and broadcast TV 55 fewer seasons — Scripted TV output in the U.S. dropped sharply in 2023, thanks to a combination of twin Hollywood strikes and a pullback on content spending …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, Deadline, The A.V. Club, WORLD SCREEN, Media Play News, @american_noona, @televisionaryzw and MediaPost
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:
Google says it is not “boosting” AI-written articles as the 404 reporter sorted news by date rather than relevance, and there is no “free pass” to AI content — In short, Sullivan said that the way they filtered Google News was by date and not relevancy …
Doug Faulkner / BBC:
Prince Harry withdraws his libel lawsuit against Mail on Sunday publisher Associated Newspapers, over a 2022 article about his fight against the UK Home Office — Prince Harry has withdrawn his libel claim against the Mail on Sunday publisher, Associated Newspapers says.
Discussion:
Mediaite, New York Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Press Gazette, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Page Six, Variety, New York Post, The Messenger and The Hill
Dan Ladden-Hall / The Daily Beast:
Author Rie Kudan, this year's winner of Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize, reveals that ~5% of her book “quoted verbatim the sentences generated by” ChatGPT — One of the judges praised her winning book as being “flawless.” — At an award ceremony for one of Japan's …
Discussion:
VICE, Boing Boing, Semafor, The Messenger and New York Post, more at Techmeme »
Elena Khokhlova / 24.kg:
Kyrgyzstan police raided outlets 24.kg and Temirov Live, and detained 11 current and former Temirov Live journalists on January 16 for allegedly inciting unrest — «The United States is deeply concerned by reports of recent actions taken by the government of the Kyrgyz Republic …
Discussion:
eeas.europa.eu, Reuters, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and United States Department …
Marc Hogan / Rolling Stone:
As Condé Nast merges Pitchfork with GQ, a longtime Pitchfork staffer reflects on the publication's evolution and its impact on music journalism and his own life — As the hugely influential music site is being “folded into GQ,” a longtime staffer looks back on what P4K meant and how working there changed his life
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