Check out Mini-Mediagazer for simple mobiles or Mediagazer Mobile for modern smartphones.
7:50 AM ET, February 28, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
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 …
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
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
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:50 AM ET, February 28, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
Mediagazer: site main
Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer
Mediagazer Mobile: for phones
Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Mediagazer RSS feed
Mediagazer on X
Mediagazer on Mastodon
 
 
 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:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Apple says Meta has made 15 interoperability requests under the EU's DMA, more than any other company, and that these could affect users' privacy and security

Hayden Field / CNBC:
OpenAI debuts a way to talk to ChatGPT by dialing 1-800-CHATGPT for 15 minutes of free access per month in the US or messaging the number via WhatsApp globally

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub offers Copilot in VS Code for free with 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month; GitHub now has 150M developers, up from 100M in early 2023
 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page