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12:05 PM ET, February 1, 2024

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 Top News: 
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Email: The Messenger shuts down, effective immediately, citing economic headwinds; Jimmy Finkelstein launched the outlet in May 2023 and hired about 300 people  —  By closing less than a year after it launched, The Messenger is now one of the biggest busts in the annals of online news.
Discussion: Axios, Talking Points Memo, @jimlaporta, Politico, New York Magazine, @walsh_eli, @jayrosen_nyu, Media Nation, The Daily Beast, The Hollywood Reporter, @jhoffman, Boing Boing, @dylanbyers, @maxwelltani, @madelineanele, Semafor, @mekosoff, Dawn Kopecki on LinkedIn, Digiday, @theinsneider, @benmullin, @weareyourfek, @iansherr, Puck, @benjaminopowers, @dylanbyers, @samleecole, @jimlaporta, @jason_koebler, @ike_saul, @digiphile, @jeongpark52, @byalexazzi, @carrasquillo, @chronotope, @jhoffman, @kantrowitz, @coryschouten, @rafat, @alexsteigrad, @sherman4949, @lmorello_dc, @walsh_eli, @knibbs, @walsh_eli, @davidmackau, @scottnover, @joshuaogundu, @scottnover, @sarafischer, @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler, @chronotope, @jason_paladino, @klasfeldreports, @bcmerchant, @dewalt, @maxwelltani, @rafat, @stephen_neukam, @clarajeffery, @jeffjarvis, @brucebartlett, @clarajeffery, @asilbwrites, @mediaevan, @jhoffman, @mediaevan, @benmullin, @dsamuelsohn, @benmullin, @hanaatameez, @justinbaragona, @bgrueskin, @josephfcox, @cameronwilson, @macwbishop, @cameronwilson, @film_girl, @willsommer, @willsommer, @dylanbyers, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @corbinbolies, @jessicalessin, @jamesrbuk, @jamesrbuk, @mikeisaac, @adambassofmass, @alex, @mattyglesias, @aidnmclaughlin, @thestalwart, @hbottemiller, @jimvandehei, @mediaevan, @lainnafader, @sarafischer, @taylorbuley, @tim_bays, @sherman4949, @willsommer, @tim_bays, @katie_robertson, @sherman4949, @tim_bays, @brianstelter, The Wrap, @dansinker@threads.net, @ericmgarcia14@threads.net, @dkiesow@threads.net, Awful Announcing, Mediaite, Shishira Sreenivas on LinkedIn, Saundra Latham on LinkedIn, TechCrunch, Columbia Journalism Review, @malloriesullivan@threads.net, @makenakellyx@threads.net, Politico, Talking Biz News, @sbhamedy@threads.net, @fredericl@threads.net, Boston Herald, Variety, Washington Post, @sorayamcdonald@threads.net, @stuartathompsonnyt …, @noahshachtman@threads.net, New York Post, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Information, The Hill, @sokane1@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, @geisler_jill@threads.net, @hermanywong@threads.net, @tomgara@threads.net, @semaforben@threads.net, Hollywood Reporter, @mattbrown.bsky.social, Talking Biz News, NBC News, The Wrap and Deadline
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney has reached a preliminary agreement to sell 60% of its Indian media business to Reliance-backed Viacom18 at a $3.9B valuation  —  Viacom18's purchase of 60% of Disney's India business reunites the company with two executives who built it  —  Disney has reached a preliminary agreement …
Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
Companies representing 300 TV stations, including CBS and Gray Television, plan to launch Zeam, a free local news streaming service, an evolution of VUit  —  Gray Television is teaming up with other TV stations to launch a free, local-news streamer, and running Super Bowl ads starring John Stamos to get the word out.
Discussion: TVNewsCheck and Cord Cutters News
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
UMG begins pulling its artists' music from TikTok after negotiations failed; videos featuring UMG-owned songs will be muted, and users can pick a new soundtrack  —  - Publisher behind Drake and Taylor Swift pushes for better pay  — Videos featuring Universal Music-owned songs will be muted
The NewsGuild:
More than 200 unionized Tribune journalists, designers, and production workers across seven newsrooms are staging a 24-hour strike today  —  - DO NOT click on stories from the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Virginian-Pilot, Morning Call, Suburban Chicago Tribune, Design and Production Studios, Tribune Content Agency
Nqobile Dludla / Reuters:
NBCU and South African pay TV company MultiChoice plan to invest $177M in Showmax, MultiChoice's streamer built on Peacock; NBCU gets a 30% stake in Showmax  —  South African pay TV company MultiChoice Group (MCGJ.J) and U.S. media conglomerate Comcast's (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal Media will invest …
Discussion: Deadline
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Politico redesigns its Europe, German, and French websites to have simpler homepages than the UK and US versions, to improve readability for AI web crawlers  —  Politico has given its Europe, German and French websites a redesign which improves readability for the web crawlers that feed into generative AI large language models (LLMs).
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
SiriusXM reports a Q4 net drop of 94K subscribers and 109K Pandora subs, net income down 4% YoY to $352M, revenue of $2.29B, and eyes “cost efficiencies”  —  The audio entertainment giant, the home of Howard Stern, is led by CEO Jennifer Witz whose team sees opportunities …
Reuters:
A Russian court extends the pre-trial detention of Russian-American RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, in custody since October 18, to April 5  —  A Russian court on Thursday extended the pre-trial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who is accused of violating a law on “foreign agents”.
Christina Couch / Nieman Lab:
How some small media outlets are trying to prevent reporter burnout by adopting work models that reduce workloads and prioritize time outside the office  —  Keeping reporters healthy over the long term often requires both systemic and behavioral changes, and getting buy-in often isn't easy.
 
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 More News: 
Jordan Moreau / Variety:
VFX workers at a Disney subsidiary vote to unionize with the IATSE, becoming the first group of “vendor-side” artists to unionize via an official NLRB vote
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Email to subscribers: Hulu changed its agreement to ban sharing accounts outside of the user's household “unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier”
 Earlier Picks: 
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
A US judge dismisses Disney's suit against Gov. Ron DeSantis claiming retaliation after Disney criticized Florida's “Don't Say Gay” bill; Disney plans to appeal
Committee to Protect Journalists:
A Minsk court sentences photojournalist Aliaksandr Ziankou to three years on extremism charges; Belarus was the world's third-worst jailer of reporters in 2023
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January
 
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