Top News:
New York Times:
A profile of NBCU News Group Chair Cesar Conde, as he tries to navigate the biggest crisis of his tenure after the rapid hiring and dismissal of Ronna McDaniel — Cesar Conde, a leader with an M.B.A. but a limited journalism background, is facing the toughest scrutiny of his career.
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David Bauder / Associated Press:
NBC News' controversy around Ronna McDaniel sparks debate over political contributors' role in TV news and the challenges in representing diverse viewpoints — One of the nation's most prominent news outlets has found itself in an embarrassing mess over the hiring — and quick firing …
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands sues Arena Group and CEO Manoj Bhargava, says they owe $48.75M in missed payments and damages for infringing on Sports Illustrated's copyright — Authentic Brands Group, which owns Sports Illustrated, is accusing Manoj Bhargava of failing to pay millions of dollars for the rights to publish the magazine.
Discussion:
@benmullin
Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: OpenAI discussed training GPT-5 on public YouTube video transcripts; AI companies struggle to find quality training data as publishers block access — Firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic are working to find enough information to train next-generation artificial-intelligence models
Discussion:
@davidclinchnews, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, @jeffjarvis and @carnage4life, more at Techmeme »
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
An interview with Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer on AI's role in the industry, licensing concerns with TikTok, working with Sony for over two decades, and more — The executive on the streaming boom, the challenge of AI — and taking Harry Styles to see Luton FC
Discussion:
Conrad Withey on LinkedIn, Flora Petersen-Dupré on LinkedIn, @danielthomasldn and @ft
Wall Street Journal:
Ampere: seven movie adaptations of video games were released broadly in 2023; Comscore: movies based on video games grossed $712.2M at the US box office in 2023 — Studios seek the wisdom of die-hard gaming fans. ‘Every design now is vetted within an inch of its life.’ — Sonic's teeth were creepy.
Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: Apple suggests podcasters join its subscription program to be on its Podcast “browse” carousel; 5 of the first 7 podcasts last week were participants — The Scoop — To get their show featured at the top of the Apple Podcasts feed, one of the best placements in the audio world …
Discussion:
Inside Radio, @alexcartaz@threads.net, @florian4gamers, Slate, Podnews, @semafor, @wobburnerburner, @semafor, @ckrewson, @semafor, @semafor and Electrek, more at Techmeme »
Rachyl Jones / Fortune:
A look at Netflix's baby steps into live sports as it produces one-off events and partners with WWE, avoiding overt interest in big leagues like the NBA — In golf lingo, Netflix is putting its way into sports. — After seizing dominance in streaming thanks to a huge library of movies and TV series …
Discussion:
Advanced Television, @lexnfx and Rachyl Jones on LinkedIn
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with war correspondent Jane Ferguson on her biggest stories, the rise of local reporters, the pressure female reporters face concerning their looks, more — Jane Ferguson, a seasoned war and conflict reporter for PBS NewsHour and a visiting professor at Princeton University …
Discussion:
Diya Banerjee on LinkedIn
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Liberty Media agrees to acquire an 86% stake in Madrid-based Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder for MotoGP, in a deal valuing Dorna at €4.2B — The Formula 1 owner, led by chairman John Malone and CEO Greg Maffei, agreed to acquire an 86 percent stake in the Madrid-based commercial rights holder Dorna Sports.
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, The Official Home of MotoGP, @richlightshed, Advanced Television and Reuters
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
MrBeast's “retention editing”, which uses quick cuts and loud sounds, took over social media, but may fade away as the YouTuber shifts to slower, focused videos — The popularity of so-called retention editing made a generation of creators go viral, but when every video looks the same it's harder than ever to stand out
Discussion:
@fgamesnemesis, @alexisohanian and @mrbeast, more at Techmeme »
Josh Hersh / Columbia Journalism Review:
Sports podcasts hosted by athletes offer an insider analysis, but they don't do investigative reporting, which major sports outlets have also turned away from — Todd Frazier is trying to figure out how to mute himself. — It's January, and he's on the set of the digital show he cohosts …
Discussion:
@joshuahersh, @joshuahersh, @mansurshaheen, Joshua Hersh on LinkedIn and Madhu Soman on LinkedIn
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