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8:55 PM ET, April 12, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:
Robert MacNeil, who anchored evening newscasts for over two decades on PBS and delivered evenhanded, non-flashy news with Jim Lehrer, dies at 93  —  With his longtime co-host Jim Lehrer, he delivered thoughtful reports that stood in stark contrast to the commercial networks' ever more sensational newscasts.
Jaffer Zaidi / The Keyword:
Google tests removing links to CA news sites to measure the impact of the California Journalism Preservation Act and pauses investments in the CA news ecosystem  —  A pending bill in the California state legislature, the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), would create a “link tax” …
Katherine Maher / NPR:
Memo: NPR's Katherine Maher says questioning whether NPR is living up to its mission is fair, but questioning staff integrity based on identity is disrespectful  —  The message below was sent by NPR's President and CEO to all staff:  —  Dear all,  —  This has been a long week.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Uri Berliner's essay about NPR reignited criticism of the outlet on social media, especially by conservatives, and spurred vehement pushback from some staffers
Jack Brewster / Wall Street Journal:
A case study of the creation of an AI-powered local “news” website, directed to produce partisan stories on a US Senate race; a Fiverr developer made it for $80  —  I paid a website developer to create a fully automated, AI-generated ‘pink-slime’ news site, programmed to create false political stories.
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at faux podcast video ads, where brands pay for clips that look like podcast recordings and that are cheaper than a regular ad spot on an actual podcast  —  Brands like the validating veneer of the podcast look without having to pay premium prices for actual spots on shows  —  Welcome back to Soundbite.
Discussion: The Ankler, RAIN News and On Substack
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
A look at the NYT's upheaval over sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war and management's push to emphasize neutrality, including via a probe of staff leaks  —  After internal upheaval over coverage of sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war, management renews emphasis on independence and neutrality
Paul McLane / Radio World:
Audacy announces it is partnering with ElevenLabs, which uses AI to create and edit synthetic voices, to build a library of voices for listeners and ad clients  —  It announced a partnership with AI company ElevenLabs  —  One of the largest radio groups in the U.S. is escalating its use of synthetic voices.
Reuters:
SAG-AFTRA reaches a tentative deal with major record labels, including WMG and Sony Music Entertainment, that includes protections over the use of AI  —  Hollywood performers and media professionals have reached a tentative deal with major record labels such as Warner Music Group (WMG.O) …
Discussion: SAG-AFTRA and The Drum
CNN:
Several journalists were injured Friday in an Israeli attack in central Gaza, including Sami Shehada, who lost a leg; he works for Turkish broadcaster TRT  —  Israeli forces surrounded and attacked the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, wounding several journalists and at least one other person.
 
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 More News: 
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Netflix acquires the rights to “Rather”, a documentary about journalist Dan Rather, which will premiere April 24
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Roku says hackers accessed ~576K accounts using credential stuffing, and made purchases in ~400 cases, after a similar breach affecting ~15K accounts in March
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Appfigures: short drama apps, like ReelShort, collectively made $146M in Q1 2024, up from $1.8M in Q1 2023; Reelshort made $52M in Q1 and DramaBox made $35M
Discussion: Appfigures
 Earlier Picks: 
Brian Hiatt / Rolling Stone:
A look at Udio, which was founded by four former DeepMind employees in December 2023 and launched a product on April 11 that generates songs from text prompts
Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
“Made for advertising” sites, despite their poor UX and dubious results for advertisers, attract ~15% of automated ad spend, or $10B/year, ANA estimated in 2023
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount is shutting down Showtime's streaming service on April 30, after it integrated Showtime's programming into the top-tier Paramount+ plan in June 2023