Mediagazer: SAG-AFTRA members ratify new three-year TV animation agreements, which include wage increases and AI protections for voice actors, with 95% voting in favor (Katie Campione/Deadline)

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

NBC News hires former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel as an on-air contributor for NBC and MSNBC; her NBC debut will be on the March 24 edition of Meet the Press — Her new role as a commentator on NBC and MSNBC programs comes shortly after she stepped down as the leader of the Republican National Committee.

Isaac Schorr / Mediaite:

The Daily Wire and right-wing commentator Candace Owens end their relationship after months of controversy over her antisemitic comments — The Daily Wire and controversial right-wing commentator Candace Owens parted ways on Friday, according to CEO Jeremy Boreing.

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Sources describe Google's generative AI tools for publishers, intended to be used for simple write-ups; Google is paying small publishers for feedback — Google wants to help journalists write stories with generative AI. Will it succeed? — ∙ Paid

Discussion: MacRumors, @kantrowitz, Journalism.co.uk and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Katie Campione / Deadline:

SAG-AFTRA members ratify new three-year TV animation agreements, which include wage increases and AI protections for voice actors, with 95% voting in favor — SAG-AFTRA members today ratified the 2023 Television Animation Agreement and the 2023 Basic Cable Animation Agreement with the Alliance …

Discussion: The Wrap and SAG-AFTRA

Bloomberg:

Sources: OpenAI is meeting with Hollywood studios, media executives, and others to form partnerships to encourage filmmakers to integrate Sora into their work — - Startup pitching its new AI video generation tool, Sora — CEO Altman attended LA parties during Oscars weekend

Discussion: Gizmodo, Jackie Szymanski on LinkedIn, Tubefilter, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, The Hill and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:

Some users on Instagram and Threads complain that a new setting to limit political content, which Meta announced in February, is enabled by default — Instagram never directly told users it was limiting political content by default. — Instagram users have started complaining on X …

Discussion: ZDNet, @alex_lee@threads.net, The Daily Beast, @michaelaokla, Mashable, @arstechnica@mastodon.social, @mattnavarra@threads.net and @peterfeld.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Joni Mitchell's music returns to Spotify after she removed it in 2022 in protest of what she called “lies” about vaccines on the platform, following Neil Young — Her music has quietly reappeared on the streaming service, two years after a departure over what she called “lies” about Covid-19 vaccines in podcasts.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, New Statesman, People, Stereogum, The Verge, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Digital Music News, Billboard, Variety, Rolling Stone, Forbes, The Hill and Engadget

Christi Carras / Los Angeles Times:

The Long Beach Post lays off staffers following a switch to nonprofit ownership and amid employees' efforts to unionize; source: staff was cut from 17 to eight — The Long Beach Media Guild announced Friday that at least 60% of the bargaining unit received layoff notices shortly …

Discussion: @jasonruiz_lb, @lbmguild, @lbmguild, @laistunion, Press Telegram, @___abcdennis and @lbmguild

Antenna:

Seven weeks after the AFC Wild Card NFL game, 71% of the 3M people who subscribed to Peacock for the game remained subscribed — The first two months of 2024 brought some big moments for streaming and sports: in January, Peacock's exclusive broadcast of the NFL AFC Wild Card Game and Paramount+'s broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII.

Discussion: @davezatz, Awful Announcing, MediaPost, The Streamable, Sportico and Next TV

Jesusegun Alagbe / Rest of World:

Filmmakers, critics, and users detail why Prime Video failed in Africa; Amazon laid off staff and scaled back operations on the continent in January 2024 — Filmmakers, critics, and users blame the platform's struggle in Africa on poor user experience, a lack of local content, and mediocre publicity.

Discussion: Ato Micah on LinkedIn, Manoj Narender Madnani on LinkedIn, David Adeleke on LinkedIn, @restofworld, Fadi Ismail on LinkedIn and The Information

Dan Primack / Axios:

Donald Trump's Truth Social is going public via a SPAC merger after DWAC shareholders approved the move; TMTG will be listed on the Nasdaq as early as next week — - As Axios reported earlier today, this ends a multiyear saga that's included civil lawsuits, criminal lawsuits, closing extensions and vote postponements.

Brent Lang / Variety:

Imax partners with NBC to air live coverage of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony at US Imax locations on July 26 — The television network, which broadcasts the games, will air its live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony across Imax locations nationwide on Friday, July 26.

Discussion: NBC Sports Pressbox, Alessandra Pavan Bernacchi on LinkedIn, Deadline, Abdul Rehman on LinkedIn, Media Play News, Benjamin Donan on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC and Awful Announcing