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8:05 AM ET, February 28, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Angelique Jackson / Variety:
Study: 77 of the top 100 top-grossing domestic films in the US in 2023 featured more male characters than female characters in speaking roles  —  The latest 'It's a Man's (Celluloid) World' report shows 77% of movies had more male than female characters  —  A new study indicates that the tenets …
Discussion: Screen Rant, IndieWire and Deadline
Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
Internal docs: Tumblr staff compiled users' data in preparation for deals where Automattic would sell the data to OpenAI and Midjourney to train AI tools  —  Join the newsletter to get the latest updates.  —  Success  —  Great!  Check your inbox and click the link.  —  Error
Newshub:
WBD proposes shutting down Newshub, one of New Zealand's major newsrooms, on June 30, as part of which ~200 journalists and other staff could lose their jobs  —  One of the country's major newsrooms could close, thanks to a collapse in TV advertising revenue and changes in viewing habits.
Discussion: The Desk, Associated Press and Reuters
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Filing: OpenAI asks a US federal judge to dismiss parts of NYT's copyright suit, alleging it “paid someone to hack OpenAI's products” and violated OpenAI's TOS  —  OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss parts of the New York Times (NYT.N) copyright lawsuit against it …
Byron Tau / Wired:
A look at some government contractors that are helping US intelligence agencies and others use targeted mobile ads to track down people  —  Meet the guy who taught US intelligence agencies how to make the most of the ad tech ecosystem, “the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.”
Julia Angwin / Proof:
Julia Angwin launches Proof, a nonprofit studio aimed at elevating journalism by using the scientific method as a guiding ethos; Angwin is founder, CEO, and EIC  —  Hello world!  —  Welcome to Proof News.  Proof is meant to be an answer to the existential question that journalists are struggling with right now: What is our purpose?
Antenna:
Among premium SVODs, US subscriber growth fell from 21.6% YoY in 2022 to 10.1% YoY in 2023; 140.5M cancelled their subscriptions in 2023 vs. 104.3M in 2022  —  The headlines suggesting that the boom times are over for streaming video have been unavoidable.
Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
Authentic says it has recouped its ~$90M SI purchase via licensing; sources: SI has 1M print subs, breaks even, and Minute Media is a potential new publisher  —  LAS VEGAS — “This is Sports Illustrated, the party!” the DJ yelled.  “Tonight is going to be legendary.”
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: WBD is no longer pursuing a merger with Paramount, Skydance is doing due diligence, and Comcast is exploring commercial partnerships with Paramount  —  - Warner Bros. Discovery is no longer pursuing a merger with Paramount Global as its shares trade near a 52-week low, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The FT launches a venture arm to invest in media and tech startups, starting with $1M for Charter, a media and insights company focused on the workplace  —  - The company has made several strategic minority investments to date, including one in the Business of Fashion.
Discussion: Media Voices and Talking Biz News
 
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 More News: 
Alexis Ong / The Verge:
A look at the underground floppy disk music scene; Discogs data shows 500+ floppy music releases in the 2020s, more than in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s combined
Jem Aswad / Variety:
TikTok removes all songs published by Universal Music Publishing Group, expanding a licensing spat; at first only songs owned or distributed by UMG were removed
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Docs: Google is paying a handful of independent publishers a five-figure sum for one year to use an unreleased suite of generative AI tools to post stories
Dan Rys / Billboard:
UMG buys a majority stake in Nigeria-based record label Mavin Global in a deal expected to close by Q3; Mavin was reportedly valued at north of $125M in October
 Earlier Picks: 
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
The BBC says it will bolster its procedures for dealing with non-editorial complaints, after finding shortcomings in dealing with a complaint about Huw Edwards
Jon Passantino / CNN:
The New York Times says Donald Trump has paid $392,000 to the paper to cover the legal costs from his failed lawsuit over disclosure of his tax documents
Discussion: The Daily Beast
Emma Vowles / Press Gazette:
An interview with BBC News analysis editor Ros Atkins about his viral explainer videos, use of OSINT by journalists, fake news, and more
 

 
From Techmeme:

Gavin Anderegg / anderegg.ca:
Bluesky is working to become fully decentralized but it could take years amid financial concerns as it makes money only by selling domains for usernames

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: T-Mobile's network was among the systems hacked by the China-linked Salt Typhoon group, and some foreign telecommunications firms were also compromised

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300B as part of a recent buyback offer, one of its highest valuations ever
 
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