Mediagazer: A look at the impact of Georgia's filming incentives on tiny Thomasville; the state paid $5.2B+ in incentives between 2015 and 2022, compared to New York's ~$7B (New York Times)

3:05 PM ET, March 30, 2024

Top News:

Retail investors, who hold 40% of Disney stock, may decide the Disney-Peltz proxy fight, which is expected to be one of the most expensive in history — Individuals hold as much as 40 percent of the company's shares, and they may decide a proxy battle that is one of the most expensive in history.

Discussion: @annmlipton, @annmlipton@esq.social, Quartz, Deadline and The Wrap

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:

Tech CEOs looking to “go direct” and avoid traditional media, which they view as unfairly critical, turn to friendly podcasters like Lex Fridman — Tech CEOs have a growing set of ways to sidestep traditional media. But first... Don't press

Discussion: @business, @samidhas, @samidhas, @dannygroner, @martyswant, @technology, @dave@social.masto.land, @nikitabier, @garrytan and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

A look at the impact of Georgia's filming incentives on tiny Thomasville; the state paid $5.2B+ in incentives between 2015 and 2022, compared to New York's ~$7B — When movies are made in Thomasville, Ga., it welcomes celebrities and an infusion of cash. But the financial incentives that attract studios have cost the state billions.

Discussion: @rob_abiera

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Georgia lawmakers kill a plan to cap film and TV tax credits at ~$900M annually; existing incentives let Atlanta compete with California, New York, and others

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Times and Deadline

Frank Landymore / Futurism:

Many of Amazon's Kindles are displaying ads for blatantly AI-generated books on the lock screen, with some appearing to be flagrant copies of existing works — “I've never minded the ads on them... until they became flooded with AI-generated books.” — Amazon has been a huge staging ground …

Discussion: @laurab7, @poet_economist, @i_dont_caroline, @alex_roddie@mastodon.scot, @thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Several legal experts say Section 230 will not protect firms from lawsuits over the outputs of generative AI, echoing SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch's 2023 statement — Legal scholars, lawmakers and at least one Supreme Court justice agree that companies will be liable for the things their AIs say and do …

Discussion: PJ Pereira on LinkedIn, Esther Dyson on LinkedIn, Dr. Jeffrey Funk on LinkedIn, Christopher Mims on LinkedIn and @mimsical@mastodon.social, more at Techmeme »

James Pomfret / Reuters:

US-funded Radio Free Asia closes its Hong Kong bureau, citing concerns over staff safety after a stricter national security law came into effect on March 23 — U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia said on Friday it had closed its Hong Kong bureau citing concerns over staff safety after the enactment …

Discussion: Radio Free Asia, JURIST, Reporters Without Borders, The Guardian, NPR, Semafor, Fox News, Voice of America and New York Times

Jerusalem Post:

Iran International says journalist Pouria Zeraati was hospitalized with multiple knife injuries after he was attacked by a group outside his London home — The Iranian regime has planned multiple attacks against Iran International. — Iran International announced on Friday that one of its journalists …

Discussion: Telegraph, The Independent, The Times of Israel, @shachar_baron, The Guardian, @ksadjadpour, @yashar, Daily Express, Iran International, The Daily Beast and National Union of Journalists …

Podnews:

Survey of Americans aged 12+: 47% of have listened to a podcast in the last month, up 12% YoY, 76% listened to online audio in the past month, and more — The portion of Americans who listen to any kind of online audio, and the portion who listen to podcasts, have both reached new record highs …

Discussion: Inside Radio, RADIO ONLINE and RAIN News

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

Google informs users in the US that Google Podcasts is shutting down April 2 and recommends exporting podcast subscriptions to YouTube Music — U.S. users have just a few more days to make the transition from Google Podcasts as the company moves forward with the process of discontinuing the service globally.

Discussion: @killedbygoogle, @carnage4life@mas.to, @jmwilt21, @killedbygoogle, @andrewmccalip, Google Help Center, TechCrunch and @BleepingComputer …, more at Techmeme »

Jackie Snow / Quartz:

How newsrooms like Semafor and Skift are using generative AI for internal editing, story summaries, paywalled chatbots trained on their archives, and more — Beyond high-profile wins and faceplants, understated but impactful applications of generative AI are transforming newsrooms

Discussion: @thinkverum, @ismaelnafria, @rafat and @semaforcomms

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

How MowPod, which sells podcast advertising tools, uses mobile game ads to incentivize gamers to follow shows on Apple Podcasts in order to earn in-game tokens — At least nine of the current top 50 shows on Apple Podcasts have been promoted in mobile games — Welcome back to Soundbite.

Discussion: @jasonhitchcock, @mattzeitlin, @ashleyrcarman, @ashleyrcarman, @michaelkuz, @film_girl, @seyitaylor, @blythebrum, @nkulw, John McDermott on LinkedIn and @kantrowitz

NPR:

How Richmond Standard, a newspaper funded by the California town's biggest employer Chevron, puts its own spin on events as the town's primary news source — NPR's David Folkenflik reported this story with Miranda Green of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.

Discussion: John BV Kelly on LinkedIn and Columbia Journalism Review

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 3:05 PM ET, March 30, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

Add your company here

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:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
New York-based The Brandtech Group, which provides generative AI-based tools for advertising and marketing campaigns, raised a $115M Series C at a $4B valuation

Discussion: The Brandtech Group

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
The proposed Living Wage for Musicians Act would add $4-$10/month to streaming fees, distributed based on usage and also capped to limit funds to top artists

Discussion: @pkafka, @pkafka, The Guardian and UMAW

Reuters:
Blackwells, which is in a proxy fight with Disney, sues Disney over possible disclosure violations in dealings with ValueAct; Disney calls the claims “baseless”

Discussion: The Wrap, Yahoo Finance and Deadline

Washington Post:
Scammers are using sample videos of influencers with modest social media presence to create AI deepfake ads that often push offensive products and ideas

Discussion: @AnnaAnthro@mastodon.social, @pranshuverma_, @robleathern, @nitashatiku, @nitashatiku, @gentrifiedrose@mastodon … and Nigel Caplan on LinkedIn

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
BDG's SVP of marketing details changes amid referral traffic declines, including prioritizing quality, focusing on Instagram and TikTok, and staging events

Earlier Picks:

Advanced Television:
European Audiovisual Observatory: Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ took 85% of VOD viewing time in nine EU countries from September 2022 to September 2023

Discussion: European Audiovisual …, European Audiovisual Observatory and Broadband TV News

Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Phoebe Connelly, The Washington Post's first-ever senior editor for AI strategy and innovation, on prompt training, anxiety about job loss, and more

Discussion: Shashidhar Nanjundaiah on LinkedIn, @niemanlab and Phoebe Connelly on LinkedIn

Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Actor Sara Poyzer says BBC is using AI instead of her voice in a documentary; the BBC says it is to recreate the voice of a dying person at a family's behest

Discussion: NME, The Guardian, @sarapoyzer, Fox News, Inside Radio, Mediaite, @matthewg_yoga, @nathanwyburnart, Observer, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, The Drum and The Hollywood Reporter

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
The Atlantic is profitable, has 1M subscribers, and revenue grew 10% in 2023 thanks to a 50% price hike, a harder paywall, and a shift to in-depth reporting

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
BuzzFeed signs an agreement to license the UK and Ireland operations of HuffPost, Tasty, Seasoned, and BuzzFeed to the Independent, which ~30 staff will join

Discussion: The Guardian, @buccocapital, BuzzFeed, Inc., The Wrap, Reuters, The Independent and Press Gazette

From Techmeme:

Gleb Bryanski / Reuters:
Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments to counter Western sanctions

Qwen:
Alibaba's Qwen unveils QvQ-72B-Preview, an experimental research model focused on “enhancing visual reasoning capabilities”, built upon Qwen2-VL-72B

Bloomberg:
Taiwan's FTC blocks Uber's $950M acquisition of Delivery Hero's Foodpanda, arguing it would decrease competition as their combined market share would be 90%+

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