Mediagazer: The first trial in the death of a cinematographer on the set of Rust begins; weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter (Meg James/Los Angeles Times)

Sara Fischer / Axios:

BuzzFeed sells Complex, which it acquired for $300M in 2021, to livestream shopping platform Ntwrk for $108.6M; BuzzFeed plans to lay off 16% of its workforce — - The Wall Street Journal reported that BuzzFeed is also looking to possibly sell its social media food brand Tasty.

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Newsmax joins the New York Post's editorial board and other right-leaning outlets criticizing a pair of Florida bills making it easier to sue for defamation — The cable channel joins a growing list of right-wing outlets bashing Florida GOP legislation that takes square aim at the news media.

Discussion: New York Post, Fox News, Raw Story and @aaron.rupar@threads.net

Amelia Pollard / Bloomberg:

Filing: a US court gives Audacy, the second-largest radio broadcaster in the US, approval to exit bankruptcy, slashing ~$1.7B of its debt in a restructuring — - Soros Fund Management slated to own largest stake in company — Firm to slash $1.7 billion of debt through restructuring plan

Discussion: The Desk, Inside Radio and Radio & Television …

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Sources: Amazon plans to shut its FAST service Freevee in the coming weeks, as part of a broader effort to focus its ad and product efforts on Prime Video — The service has become redundant following the introduction of ads to Prime Video — Amazon is planning to sunset its free …

Josh Peck / TPR:

Journalists at Hearst's San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com say they intend to unionize, becoming the fourth Texas newsroom to announce a union effort in 2024 — Journalists at the San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com announced their intent to unionize on Wednesday …

Discussion: MediaPost, @susanrinkunas.com, @mediaguildwest, San Antonio Express-News and The NewsGuild

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Press Forward, the philanthropic initiative to invest $500M over five years in local news, says 11 new communities have joined six established chapters — 11 more communities have joined the movement — On Wednesday, Press Forward announced an expansion of its local chapters at the opening of the Knight Media Forum.

Discussion: Press Forward, North Carolina Local …, Sarah Gustavus Lim on LinkedIn, Lizzy Hazeltine on LinkedIn, Nieman Lab and Editor and Publisher

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

The first trial in the death of a cinematographer on the set of Rust begins; weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter — More than two years after Alec Baldwin fired the deadly shot, questions persist about who was responsible for the accidental death …

Discussion: @megjameslat, @megjameslat, UPI, NewsNation, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, Reuters and Deadline

Katie Paul / Reuters:

Israel-based BRIA, a Getty-backed AI image generation startup that licenses 1B+ images from 18 stock providers, raised a $24M Series A from Publicis and others — A “responsible” AI image generation startup backed by stock photo provider Getty Images (GETY.N) has raised $24 million in a Series …

Discussion: Yair Adato on LinkedIn, Jay Eum on LinkedIn, Assa Eldar on LinkedIn, Amit Goldenberg on LinkedIn and AdExchanger

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

ABC report: UK magazines' digital sales rose 15.4% YoY to an average of 2.6M per edition, including 1.2M from “all you can read” sales via Readly and others — UK magazine titles report surge in access to digital editions according to ABC. — Digital sales of UK magazines rose 15.4% year …

Discussion: @pressgazette and Press Gazette

Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:

A profile of ElevenLabs, whose AI voice cloning tech is being used to spoof politicians; five of the startup's 40 employees are dedicated to trust and safety — ElevenLabs' technology is already being used to spoof political candidates and promote scammy products.

Discussion: Margi Murphy on LinkedIn

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Jeff Zucker about RedBird IMI's approach to news investments, backlash from The Telegraph journalists, lessons from The Messenger launch, and more — Two years after his ouster from the network, the mogul explains why his investment firm RedBird IMI is snapping up media properties at a frantic clip.

Discussion: Adweek, @lachcartwright, @jeremymbarr and @pressgazette

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Apple debuts Apple Sports, a free app offering scores and stats for the NBA, NHL, Premier League, and more, in the US, Canada, and the UK, on iOS 17.2 or later — Game on! Apple launched a free standalone app for sports fans, Apple Sports, which is engineered to fire scores and stats to your iPhone as quickly as possible.