Top News:
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.
Discussion:
CNN, Media Nation, Fox News, New York Post, Media Matters for America, Mother Jones, Adweek, Politico, New Republic, Newser, @pirahnabrother1@threads.net, @tonyheyl, @atrupar, @richarddeitsch, @timothypmurphy, @lispower1, @igorbobic, @maxwelltani, @mattmfm, @mattmfm, @asfried, @mmfa.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, The Daily Caller, The Daily Beast, The Hill, @tvaziri@mastodon.social, @kevincollier@mastodon.social, Deadline, Axios, Mediaite, @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social, @ajbl.bsky.social, @thetnholler@threads.net, @karlbode.bsky.social, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
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.
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, The Hill, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
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:
Journalism.co.uk, MacRumors and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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:
Awful Announcing, MediaPost, The Streamable, Sportico and Next TV
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.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Fast Company, CBS News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, The Hill, Financial Times, El País, Quartz, CNN, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, @jlazarus.bsky.social, Wired, Mediaite, @thestalwart, @alex, Associated Press, Reclaim The Net, Gizmodo, Rolling Stone, New York Post, @dylanmatt, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, New Republic, The Verge, The Guardian and WBUR, more at Techmeme »
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.
Lance Whitney / ZDNet:
Meta is rolling out a political content option in the Threads app for iOS and Android, letting users choose between “limit” or “don't limit” — With the 2024 US presidential election coming up, you can expect to see a lot more political posts on social networks, including Meta's Threads.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Daily Beast, Mashable, Music Ally, Gizmodo, Ars Technica and @peterfeld.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
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.
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
The UK government sets a panel to assess the BBC's current licensing model, examine alternate funding options, and find ways to grow commercial income — Former ITV and Channel 5 bosses will examine the future funding model of the BBC. — The UK government has just set out the panel …
Discussion:
Advanced Television
The Associated Press:
The AP and Texas Tribune enter a content sharing agreement; AP will distribute Tribune reporting on Texas and Tribune will get access to AP immigration coverage — The Associated Press and The Texas Tribune today announced a content sharing agreement, in which both organizations will benefit from each other's journalism.
Discussion:
@fbajak and Julie Pace on LinkedIn
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Martin Sorrell's ad company S4 rejected merger offers from Stagwell, including one worth $700M in fall 2023; S4's stock price fell 75% in the last year — Madison Avenue titan Martin Sorrell has rebuffed merger offers for S4 Capital, the firm he founded after exiting WPP
Discussion:
David Armano on LinkedIn and @davidorr_31