Mediagazer: A look at Newsweek's use of AI, including in video production, an AI-focused Live News desk for breaking stories, and letting the tech write some first drafts (Andrew Deck/Nieman Lab)

4:25 PM ET, April 17, 2024

Top News:

Alicia Montgomery / Slate:

A former NPR editor says Uri Berliner's critique was inaccurate and ignored inconvenient facts, but the outlet has long been an overcautious, centrist mess — Yes, the broadcaster is a mess. But “wokeness” isn't the issue. — NPR, the great bastion of old-school audio journalism, is a mess.

Discussion: NPR, Differ We Must, Mediaite, Fox News, @mikeisaac, Wall Street Journal, @jessbravin, Associated Press, @claireatki, Nicole Carr on LinkedIn, Media Nation, Poynter, @lewispants, Beyond Search, CBS News, JONATHAN TURLEY, @profstevensmith, @merulloboaz, @lewispants, @biblioracle, Newser, @jamesfallows, @stevemullis, @jackjenkins@threads.net, Neil Lewis, Jr on LinkedIn, Jessica Hansen I Voice Work on LinkedIn, Elaine Heinzman on LinkedIn, Mark McDonald on LinkedIn, Brendan Sweeney on LinkedIn, Doug McLennan on LinkedIn, @glyph@mastodon.social, @digiphile@mastodon.social, Twila Dang on LinkedIn, The Desk, @ashtonpittman.ms@threads.net, @tylrfishr@social …, @jayrosen_nyc@threads.net, @acdha@thepit.social, Current, Inside Radio, @JMarkOckerbloom …, @tusk81@mastodon.social, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, MediaPost, New York Times, @dave@social.masto.land, @gretared@sfba.social, The Guardian, Deadline, New York Post, The Hill, CNN, The Wrap and NPR

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Uri Berliner says he is resigning from NPR as he “cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm” NPR's problems — Uri Berliner, a National Public Radio senior editor who wrote a scathing online essay accusing the public radio network …

Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
About 50 NPR staffers sign a letter to NPR leadership calling for a public rebuke of the “factual inaccuracies and elisions” in Uri Berliner's essay

Discussion: New York Post

Sam Tobin / Reuters:

UK court documents: actor Hugh Grant settled a lawsuit against The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers over claims of using private investigators to phone tap — British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun tabloid newspaper over claims journalists used …

Discussion: @hackedoffhugh, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Press Gazette, Mediaite, @hackedoffhugh, Deadline, @hackedoffhugh, The Guardian, Associated Press, @hackedoffhugh, @hackedoffhugh, The Hollywood Reporter and HuffPost

Ellise Shafer / Variety:
Hugh Grant says he settled with News Group to avoid up to £10M in costs and “Murdoch's settlement money has a stink and I refuse to let this be hush money”

Discussion: Reuters, The Guardian and @davidfolkenflik

James Careless / TV Tech:

Parks Associates: US households with internet now consume an average 43.5 hours of video per week across all viewing devices, up from 37.2 hours in 2020 — Those homes are now watching six more hours of video per week than they were in 2020 — U.S. Internet households now consume …

Discussion: Media Play News, NewsLab, The Streamable and WORLD SCREEN

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Snap plans to add watermarks to AI-generated images exported from Snapchat; the watermarks appear as a translucent version of the Snap logo with a sparkle emoji — Social media company Snap said Tuesday that it plans to add watermarks to AI-generated images on its platform.

Discussion: Snapchat, more at Techmeme »

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:

After Forbes found 120+ YouTube videos and 27 Google ads promoting AI deepfake porn tools and “nudifier” Telegram bots, Google took them down — The company removed more than 100 YouTube videos after Forbes found the platform was promoting AI nudifiers used by school bullies and a convicted pedophile.

Discussion: @rashishrivast18, @ttp_updates and @iblametom

Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:

A look at Newsweek's use of AI, including in video production, an AI-focused Live News desk for breaking stories, and letting the tech write some first drafts — The legacy publication is leaning on AI for video production, a new breaking news team, and first drafts of some stories.

Discussion: @decka227

Hadas Gold / CNN:

The News/Media Alliance asks the DOJ, the FTC, and California's AG for a probe into whether Google broke any laws when removing some links to CA news sites — An organization that represents more than 2,000 news publishers sent letters on Tuesday to federal agencies, urging them to launch …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, @newsalliance, @newsalliance, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, News/Media Alliance, MediaPost and News/Media Alliance

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Dozens of Alden-owned newspapers ran editorials over the weekend arguing that Google's threat to cut off news in California “is a bully tactic”

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, Media Voices and @sarafischer

Financial Times:

An interview with CNN CEO Mark Thompson on having “plenty of things” to fix, how shifting to digital is an “existential question”, subscriptions, and more — Veteran media executive wants 24-hour cable news network to embark on digital overhaul

Discussion: New York Post, @danielthomasldn, @astronomer_mark, @ft and @danielthomasldn

Steven Kurutz / New York Times:

A profile of Rusty Foster, whose Today in Tabs daily media industry newsletter has 36,000 subscribers, of which ~10% pay $6 per month or $50 per year — Rusty Foster in his element at his home in Peaks Island, Maine.Greta Rybus for The New York Times — In a time when the headlines …

Discussion: @waxy@xoxo.zone

Bloomberg:

A profile of Uday Shankar, a former journalist who worked with the Murdoch family and is set to lead Viacom18, which is poised to dominate India's media market — - Uday Shankar will be vice chair of sports, entertainment giant — The $8.5 billion deal unites Disney's business with Reliance

Discussion: Sohee Kim on LinkedIn

Megan Specia / New York Times:

The US assures the UK that Julian Assange could seek US First Amendment protections and wouldn't face the death penalty or be persecuted for his nationality — American officials sought to reassure the U.K. about Julian Assange's treatment should the former WikiLeaks founder, who has been indicted by the U.S., be sent there.

Discussion: Reclaim The Net, Gizmodo, Mediaite, Fox News, The Guardian, The Independent, Sky News, Reuters and Bloomberg

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Swedish streaming service Viaplay, which shut down its US app in February, launches a $5.99 per month subscription channel on Prime Video Channels — Viaplay shut its direct-to-consumer service in February, but the Scandi streamer is still active in the U.S.

Discussion: Variety and Media Play News

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More News:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The European Data Protection Board says large online platforms like Meta should give users an option to use their services for free without targeted advertising

Discussion: TechCrunch and edpb.europa.eu, more at Techmeme »

Mike Allen / Axios:
The Daily Beast seeks a reporter to cover Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez, part of plans to become a “smart tabloid” and cover tech execs and their ecosystem

Discussion: @katenocera, @ashleevance, @teddyschleifer, @almostmedia, @nathanjrobinson, @bencjacobs, @mediaevan, @dondisappoints, @joannacoles, @katienotopoulos, New York Post and Page Six

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
PEN America: 4,349 books were removed from US schools across 23 states from July 2023 to December 2023, up from 3,362 books in the entire previous academic year

Discussion: Plain Dealer, Boing Boing, CNN, The Daily Beast, PEN America, The Hill and Publishers Weekly

Hana Yoo / AdExchanger:
IAB and PwC report on US digital ad sales in 2023: total revenue grew 7.3% YoY to $225B, digital video grew 10.6% to $52.1B, and digital audio grew 18.9% to $7B

Discussion: Radio Ink, IAB, Tv Technology, RAIN News, MarTech, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Adweek, Inside Radio and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Internal email: Participant Media, which backed films like Green Book and Spotlight, is shutting down; sources: almost all of its 100 employees will be let go

Discussion: The Ankler, Susan McPherson on LinkedIn, New York Times, The Wrap, @mattdonnelly, @monstris, WORLD SCREEN, Fanshen Cox on LinkedIn, Diana Williams on LinkedIn, @brianstorms@mastodon.social, Hilary Sparrow on LinkedIn, Lizzie Gillett on LinkedIn, Allison Begalman on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Spotify says 25% of paid users in the US, UK, and Australia have started an audiobook as part of their subscriptions; 57% are between 18 and 34 years old

Discussion: Music Ally, @ashleyrcarman, The Bookseller, @taylorbuley and Digital Music News

CNN:
Smartmatic and OANN say they have settled a defamation suit filed by the voting tech company, filed in 2021

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, American Press Institute, Axios, @jeremymbarr, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, @katestarbird.bsky.social, @katestarbird.bsky.social, Reuters, New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Mediaite and Deadline

The Intercept:
Memo: The New York Times told journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war to restrict the use of “genocide”, “ethnic cleansing”, and “occupied territory”

From Techmeme:

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Sources: Google laid off at least 200 employees from its “Core” teams, including its Python developer team, and plans to move some roles to Mexico and India

Leah Nylen / Bloomberg:
US v. Google: Google paid Apple $20B in 2022 to be the default search engine in Safari; in 2020, Google's payments constituted 17.5% of Apple's operating income

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty testifies that the Change Healthcare hack impacted “maybe a third” of Americans and notifying victims will take “several months”

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