Mediagazer: The NYT publisher's 2024 Reuters Memorial Lecture: journalistic independence, the Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, trans issues, being open to criticism, and more (A. G. Sulzberger/Reuters Institute)

1:30 PM ET, March 5, 2024

Top News:

Presenter Dan Wootton says he's left GB News to launch an independent platform after Ofcom ruled misogynistic comments made on his show broke broadcasting rules — Mr Wootton's name no longer features in the channel's list of presenters on its website — Dan Wootton is out at GB News …

Discussion: BBC, Sky News, Byline Times, @danwootton, Ofcom, Variety, Financial Times, Mediaite, HuffPost, The Guardian, Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, Press Gazette and Deadline

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Filing: GB News owner All Perspectives has been forced to provide a further £41M in funding to cover operating costs, and is now owed £83.8M by GB News — Vehicle backed by hedge fund tycoon Paul Marshall steps in as right-leaning broadcaster increases number of staff

Discussion: Broadband TV News and Advanced Television

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

GB News reports year to May 2023 revenue up 80% YoY to £6.7M, losses up 38% YoY to £42.4M, for £76M in losses since 2021, and 295 staff, up from 175 in May 2022 — Losses in the latest accounting period were six times greater than revenue.

Discussion: The Independent, @carolvorders, @otto_english, @rasmus_kleis, Nick Manning on LinkedIn, @seaninsound, @jamesrbuk and Mediaite

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Source: Amazon Prime Video plans to lay off less than 5% of its staff across its European offices, as part of a restructure impacting Europe, MENA, and Africa — EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video is today beginning job consultations with staff in Europe, we hear. — It's understood a figure of less …

Discussion: The Desk

A. G. Sulzberger / Reuters Institute:

The NYT publisher's 2024 Reuters Memorial Lecture: journalistic independence, the Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, trans issues, being open to criticism, and more — It's an honour to be here to deliver this year's memorial lecture. The Reuters Institute has been an invaluable resource …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @mariaramirezny, @risj_oxford, @jongurutz, @risj_oxford, Reuters Institute on YouTube, @rasmus_kleis and @jbenton

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:

Authors Equity, a US book publisher from former Penguin Random House and Macmillan executives, launches with plans to give authors the “lion's share” of profits — Authors Equity is tiny but has big industry names behind it. Its founders hope their profit-sharing approach and experience will entice authors.

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, Publishing Perspectives, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter and The Bookseller

Dan Primack / Axios:

TollBit, a startup whose two-sided marketplace lets publishers make their content available to AI companies for a fee, raised ~$7M in pre-seed and seed funding — Sometimes there's a simple solution to an intractable problem. The sort of thing that feels obvious, but only in retrospect.

Discussion: TollBit

David Pierce / The Verge:

Google rolls out new changes to its Search ranking to help surface good content, downrank content that summarizes others' work, and more, as AI content spreads — Google is rolling out a few new changes to its ranking systems in search, which are designed to help surface good content …

Discussion: TechCrunch and The Keyword, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Vivendi's Canal+ increases its bid for South Africa's MultiChoice by almost a fifth, valuing MultiChoice's shares at $2.9B, and enters exclusive takeover talks — - Vivendi's Canal+ is working with JPMorgan, Bank of America — Vivendi says its committed to JSE listing, transformation

Discussion: Deadline, WORLD SCREEN, TVBEurope and Broadband TV News

Jane Elizabeth / Nieman Lab:

A look at the Chicago Public Media merger with Chicago Sun-Times two years later: newsroom and staff compensation grew, Sun-Times dropped paywall, and more — After a $61 million acquisition by public media, Chicago-Sun Times readers get free content and the newsroom has grown.

Discussion: American Press Institute, Holly Edgell on LinkedIn and @philmeyer@newsie.social

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Reach reports FY 2023 revenue down 5% YoY to £568.6M, pre-tax profit down 45% YoY to £36.7M, and digital page views down 24% YoY due to Meta's 2023 news rules — UK publisher's profits dive after decline in digital readership, but deal reached over pension commitments

Discussion: Press Gazette and Reach plc

PA Media:

TalkTV plans to close down its linear TV channel in early summer 2024 and go online only, weeks after Piers Morgan left his daily show on the channel — Move announced by News UK venture comes weeks after Piers Morgan left his daily show on channel — TalkTV will be taken off air …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Desk, Press Gazette, Bloomberg, The Media Leader, The Daily Beast, Financial Times, Deadline, The i Paper, Telegraph, @mediaguido, Guido Fawkes, @scottygb, @mediaguido, TVBEurope and Advanced Television

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More News:

Clara Aberneithie / Press Gazette:
An interview with ITN CEO Rachel Corp, who says the news cycle has become “absolutely relentless”, taking a toll on the mental health of journalists

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Warner Bros. Discovery plans to start cracking down on Max password sharing later this year with a wider rollout in 2025, joining rivals Netflix and Disney+

Discussion: Wired, Cord Cutters News, @culturecrave, @thestreamable, @iamadequate_, NewscastStudio, Media Play News, @lucas_shaw, Next TV, Yahoo Finance, Appleosophy, Fox Business, The Streamable, BGR, 9to5Mac and Bloomberg

Financial Times:
Microsoft files a motion to dismiss the NYT's copyright lawsuit, accusing the NYT of “doomsday futurology” for predicting ChatGPT could ruin the news business

Discussion: @asilbwrites, @carnage4life@mas.to, New York Times, @crumbler@threads.net, CPO Magazine, CoinGeek and US Southern District of New York, more at Techmeme »

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
Report for America, the nonprofit that placed 600+ reporters in newsrooms since its 2017 launch, is “phasing out” partnerships with hedge fund-owned outlets

Discussion: Washington Post, journal-isms.com and @ernie.tedium.co

Marty Swant / Digiday:
NewsGuard adds AI-assisted tools for early detection of election-related misinformation, with exclusion lists for advertisers that want to avoid such misinfo

Discussion: Washington Post, @martyswant, NewsGuard and Journalism.co.uk

Earlier Picks:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch says the Fox, Disney, and WBD sports streaming joint venture is anticipating signing up 5M customers in the first five years

Discussion: The Streamable, Poynter, Deadline, Sports Media Watch, @jbflint, @sherman4949, @jbflint, Business Insider, New York Post, Sportico, Reuters, The Desk, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Media Play News and Bloomberg

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
An interview with Mehdi Hasan about his new media company Zeteo, which he says has gained “thousands more” paid subscribers than expected in its first week

Discussion: @matt_walsh and @ernie.tedium.co

K.J. Yossman / Variety:
Internal memo: incoming BBC Chair Samir Shah says safeguarding the BBC's independence and the corporation's finances are his top priorities

Discussion: @raypride, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Advanced Television

Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
The NewsGuild of New York accuses the NYT of targeting staff with Middle Eastern or North African backgrounds in a investigation into October 7 coverage leaks

Discussion: @maxwelltani, @jeremymbarr, @willsommer, @john_hudson, @nickatnews, @yehyabrown, American Crisis, Semafor, Media Nation, HuffPost, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @estelle@techhub.social and Vanity Fair

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
The EU Commission fines Apple €1.8B for stifling competition from rival music streaming services, the EU's third-largest antitrust fine; Apple plans to appeal

From Techmeme:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta adds Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security adviser to Trump in his first term, and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison to its board

Financial Times:
Sources: Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence raised $2B led by Greenoaks at a $32B valuation; SSI last raised $1B at a $5B valuation in September 2024

Ellen O'Regan / Politico:
Ireland's DPC opens an investigation into how personal data in public X posts was used to train xAI's Grok, which could stoke tensions between the EU and the US

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