Mediagazer: Sources: the NYT pulled a The Daily episode about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, after an internal debate on the strength of its reporting (The Intercept)

9:50 AM ET, January 29, 2024

Top News:

Channel 4 plans to lay off 18% of its staff, impacting ~200 jobs and closing ~40 unfilled roles, to become a “digital-first public service streamer by 2030” — “Channel 4 was designed to be ahead of the curve and has never stood still,” says CEO Alex Mahon.

Discussion: Mediaite, Variety, Broadband TV News, @scottygb, @scottygb, @joshoewaa and Financial Times

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Memo: Channel 4 plans to merge commissioning departments, including TV drama and film, leave a London premises, and more, part of a five-year Fast Forward plan — Channel 4 is merging several commissioning departments including TV drama and film and leaving its Horseferry Road premises …

Discussion: The Guardian, BBC, @jake_kanter, The Guardian, Broadband TV News and Sky News

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

Sports Illustrated's union files an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging retaliation and union-busting after the mass layoffs this month — The union representing the staff of Sports Illustrated filed an unfair labor practice charge against the magazine's publisher …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review

Wall Street Journal:

How Penguin Random House started actively challenging the removal of books from US school libraries, including through an “Intellectual Freedom” task force — A fiery board meeting inspired Penguin Random House to actively challenge the removal of books from school libraries

Discussion: NPR, @davidmpaige, @michellemanafy@journa.host, Matthew Sekol on LinkedIn, Dan Novack on LinkedIn, Why Evolution Is True and @jbflint

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

In response to the George Carlin estate's lawsuit, Dudesy says its YouTube video and podcast with an “AI” George Carlin were “created by two human beings” — Creators still face “name and likeness” complaints; lawyer says suit will continue.

Discussion: Engadget, @tliterarian, @nina_metz, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, The Register, @pluralistic@mamot.fr, @irenes@mastodon.social, @lauren@mastodon …, Mostly signs, New York Times, Fox News, Reuters and The Verge

Alex Fitzpatrick / Axios:

The New York Times says users played its puzzles and games more than 8B times in 2023, led by Wordle with 4.8B plays, and the NYT Games app had 10M downloads — The New York Times' puzzle and games were played more than 8 billion times last year, the company tells Axios exclusively …

Reuters:

German state broadcaster ARD says Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, citing security concerns that don't make sense — German state broadcaster ARD on Friday said Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza …

The Intercept:

Sources: the NYT pulled a The Daily episode about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, after an internal debate on the strength of its reporting — The New York Times pulled a high-profile episode of its podcast “The Daily” about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 amid …

Discussion: @ggreenwald, @zei_squirrel, @markamesexiled, @evanhill, @maryamsaleh, @drboguslaw, @snarwani and @kenklippenstein

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:

A look at the US Copyright Office, which is in the spotlight as it plans to release three key reports in 2024 revealing its position on copyright law and AI — The office is reviewing how centuries-old laws should apply to artificial intelligence technology, with both content creators and tech giants arguing their cases.

Discussion: @knibbs, @jeffplatsky, @dm_cooper, @toddbigphoto, @tvol, @stevelohr and Publishers Weekly

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

A look at Warner Bros. Discovery's push to expand its gaming division with live services and mobile games, by leveraging its franchises like Game of Thrones — David Zaslav's most critical mission is leading Warner Bros. Discovery through the streaming wars.

Discussion: @benjisales, @captaingalxy, @variety, Screen Rant, @jmaasaronson and @aegies, more at Techmeme »

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Sources detail how a $300M investment from Blackstone, structured as a line of credit, became an albatross for Recurrent Ventures due to rising interest rates — The Blackstone investment was supposed to be a war chest. It became an albatross. — In May 2022, media company Recurrent Ventures announced …

Discussion: Media Voices, @markstenberg3, @rafat and Jared Lake on LinkedIn

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Presentation: Amazon says Prime Video's ad load per hour will be two to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streamers, and expects 195M monthly viewers — Move prompts longtime subscribers to cancel Prime altogether, forgoing free shipping; ‘There is only one way to show them that this is not OK’

Discussion: 9to5Mac, Cord Cutters News and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

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This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:50 AM ET, January 29, 2024.

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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

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More News:

Patrick Frater / Variety:
CNN Philippines plans to close on January 31, impacting up to 300 jobs; the outlet launched in 2015 under a brand licensing deal and, a source says, lost $89M+

Discussion: @cnnphilippines and Deadline

Reuters:
Report: Zee Media founder Subhash Chandra says his family plans to eventually raise its stake in Zee from 4% to 26% after a merger with Sony India collapsed

Discussion: Livemint

The Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: former MGM executive Jonathan Glickman is in talks to join Miramax as its CEO, following Bill Block's departure last year

Discussion: Deadline and @borys_kit

Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu:
[Thread] A look at the factors behind the news industry downturn: advertisers have other avenues to target users, lack of a direct connection with readers, more

Bloomberg:
Sources: Reddit is targeting a valuation “in the mid-single-digit billions” for its planned IPO in March 2024, after raising funds at a $10B valuation in 2021

Discussion: Ad Age, The Information and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »

Pete Croatto / Poynter:
A look at the 2003 film Shattered Glass on serial fabulist Stephen Glass, the people involved in his rise and fall, and its enduring appeal in journalism school

Discussion: Nick Hirshon on LinkedIn, @sonnybunch, @jonathanchait, @petecroatto, @williams_paige, @billyray5229, @petecroatto, @benmullin, @om and On my Om

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
X plans to build a new “Trust and Safety center of excellence” in Austin, Texas, and hire 100 full-time moderators to fight child sexual exploitation material

Discussion: MIT Technology Review, The Verge, Reuters, The Information, @seesyous, @kurtwagner8, The Messenger, @alexanotherone.bsky.social and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Tim Harford / Financial Times:
With high-stakes elections in 2024, some experts are worried that a piece of disinformation potentially involving a deepfake might soon have a calamitous impact

Discussion: @prachisrivas@masto.ai, @glentarman, @alanhickslondon, @mrbrownsir, @johngapper, @timharford, @lukolejnik, Kelvin Low on LinkedIn, @bakerluke, @zemedeneh, @nikiblasina, @ftweekend and CBS News

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Jon Franklin, a pioneer of literary journalism who won two Pulitzer Prizes for stories published in The Baltimore Evening Sun, died on January 21 at age 82

Discussion: @merrillcollege, @matthewkassel, @melissaeweiss, @laobserved, @thedeadhandbook, @billlombardi6, @jack_elhai, @mollyhf, @mike.hixenbaugh@threads.net, @luomich@threads.net, Philip Merrill College …, Fior Reports and Washington Post

Gretel Kahn / Reuters Institute:
Emerging journalists from Europe, North America, and Latin America discuss the challenges they face entering the news industry, like high tuition and low pay

Discussion: Mitali Mukherjee on LinkedIn, Gary Knight on LinkedIn, Katherine Dunn on LinkedIn and Saba Hamedy on LinkedIn

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Q&A with Washington Post CEO Will Lewis about his plans for the newspaper, including making its footprint bigger, lack of a Trump Bump, media layoffs, more

Discussion: @jessicalessin, Politico, @shonaghosh, @semaforben, @sarthakgh, @ivanlevingston, @jayrosen_nyu, @lizrhoffman, @scottnover, The Daily Beast and @hermanywong@threads.net

New York Times:
Sources: LAT owner Patrick Soon-Shiong clashed with editor Kevin Merida over an published article about a wealthy doctor and his dog, before Merida stepped down

Discussion: @rmac18, @seungminkim, @rmac18, @helaineolen, @benmullin, The Hollywood Reporter, @clarajeffery@threads.net, Adam Najberg on LinkedIn, @mbrauchli@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, @sokane1@threads.net, @benjaminmullin@threads.net, @josemurilo@mato.social and The Wrap

The Wrap:
SAG-AFTRA calls for laws making the development and distribution of false AI images illegal, following the release of sexually explicit AI fakes of Taylor Swift

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Internal email: WWE President Nick Khan says Vince McMahon resigned as TKO Executive Chairman and from the TKO board, and no longer has a role with TKO or WWE

From Techmeme:

New York Times:
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner says China-linked Salt Typhoon group listened to phone calls and read texts by hacking US telecom networks

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who has known Elon Musk for several years, has sought Musk's counsel in recent weeks on the incoming Trump administration

Financial Times:
Similarweb: Bluesky app usage in the US and UK grew ~300% to 3.5M DAUs after Nov. 5; Threads now has 1.5x Bluesky's DAUs in the US, down from 5x before Nov. 5

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