Top News:
Emily Smith / The Wrap:
Media experts and former CNN executives say CEO Mark Thompson needs to cut costs as he remakes the network, and some top anchor salaries will likely be pruned — As the cable network suffers ongoing dismal ratings, Thompson needs to cut costs — including $50 million in on-air talent
Discussion:
@durgaraghunath, @mendlovitzmark, @johnnydollar01, Poynter, @jackshafer, Simon Owens on LinkedIn, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman and Poynter
Jack Shafer / Politico:
Q&A with Margot Susca on her new book Hedged, which details how the US chain newspapers including Gannett were purchased and squeezed by PE firms like Alden — A journalism professor blames Wall Street for the newspaper industry's collapse. — The great American newspaper ain't what it used to be.
Samantha Chery / Washington Post:
Polk Awards: The New York Times and ProPublica both win three awards, Vice News wins for Television Reporting, Reuters wins for Business Reporting, and more — Now in its 75th year, the George Polk Awards for journalism honors stories from 2023 about wars in Ukraine and the Middle East …
Discussion:
New York Times, Long Island University, @newyorker, @streetsblognyc, @cabbagetv and @Nonilex@masto.ai
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
Sources: the EU plans to fine Apple around €500M for allegedly breaking EU law over access to music streaming services, following a 2019 complaint by Spotify — Move is culmination of long-running European Commission antitrust probe after a complaint by Spotify
Discussion:
@ugambini, NBC Bay Area, Music Business Worldwide, Fortune, Total Telecom, The Overspill, The Guardian, @moo9000, @ellisitems, @florian4gamers, The Indian Express, Mashable, CMU, @carnage4life, Bloomberg, The Information, Thomas Höppner on LinkedIn, Damien Geradin on LinkedIn, CityAM, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Music Ally, Politico and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Max Tani / Semafor:
A look at efforts by pro-Israel groups such as the 10/7 Project to discredit journalists like WaPo's Louisa Loveluck, who they deem to be biased against Israel — The Scoop — Pro-Israel groups, deeply critical of American news outlets such as the Washington Post over their coverage of the war in Gaza …
Discussion:
@elivalley, @fkamiah17@toot.wales, @emmavigeland, @tobiaschneider, @levinejonathan, @mehdirhasan, @semafor, @elizondogabriel, @heminator, @daveweigel and @onyadon
The Economic Times:
The Misinformation Combat Alliance and Meta plan to launch a dedicated fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp in India so users can flag deepfakes for analysis — The WhatsApp helpline will go live in March this year and will allow people to flag deepfakes by sending them to its chatbot.
Discussion:
CNBC-TV18, Moneycontrol, Hindustan Times, Business Standard, The Hindu, The Hindu BusinessLine, The Quint, Mashable India tech, India TV News, Vishvas News, BNN, Zee Business, Financialexpress, PressWire18, Republic World, English Jagran, Cryptopolitan, ABP Live, News Room Odisha, Republic World, @kritikagoel27, @rajeev_goi, @shivithukral, @rizviuzair, @india_mca, @jencyjac, The Indian Express and Meta, more at Techmeme »
Eduardo Suárez / Reuters Institute:
Q&A with AG Sulzberger on becoming the NYT publisher, what he misses about being a reporter, the NYT's goal of reaching 15M subscribers by 2025, and more — In this exclusive interview, he discusses his role in shaping the paper and preserving its values
Discussion:
The Hill, @rasmus_kleis, @thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io, @jeffjarvis, @nancylevine, @risj_oxford, @eduardosuarez and Politico
Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
AI-generated biographies, often riddled with gross grammatical and factual errors, are appearing for sale online soon after the death of well-known people — Books — often riddled with gross grammatical and factual errors — are appearing for sale online soon after the death of well-known people.
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The UK agrees to add safeguards to the “Snoopers' Charter”, requiring spy agencies to get an independent review before searching for journalistic material — Spy agencies will now need to secure independent review before searching for journalistic material.
Discussion:
National Union of Journalists …
Clay Risen / New York Times:
William Beecher, who as a NYT reporter revealed President Nixon's secret bombing campaign over Cambodia and Pulitzer Prize winner, died on February 9 at age 90 — His New York Times scoop enraged the Nixon White House, which ordered a tap on his phone. He later won a Pulitzer Prize at The Boston Globe.
Laura Oliver / Nieman Lab:
Ukraine's 2402 Foundation blends VR tools with other teaching methods to offer safety training for journalists, and has trained ~500 since the Russian war began — “When you end up in an extreme situation, you can't think properly. In a virtual situation, you realize how you would feel …
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @lauraoliver and 2402 Fund
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Ofcom launches an impartiality investigation into UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's participation on GB News' People's Forum, after receiving ~500 complaints — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's participation on GB News' “People's Forum” last week is the subject of an impartiality investigation by the country's media regulator Ofcom.
Discussion:
Financial Times, The Guardian, @paulbernaluk, @carolvorders, Deadline, @ofcom, Mediaite, @arusbridger, @peterstefanovi2, Bloomberg and Guido Fawkes