Mediagazer: Sesame Workshop writers reach a tentative deal with management, narrowly avoiding a strike; the 35 WGA members will vote to ratify the deal in the coming days (Sharon Knolle/The Wrap)

9:15 PM ET, April 19, 2024

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's 2023 compensation package was worth $49.7M, up 26.5% from the year prior, with $23.1M in stock awards — David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had a 2023 pay package worth $49.7 million, up 26.5% from the year prior …

Ruth La Ferla / New York Times:

Graydon Carter opens a physical store called Air Mail Newsstand in NYC, as an extension of his digital newsletter Air Mail, selling books, magazines, and more — Shoe horns, lampshades and CBD-infused elixirs are among the goods Graydon Carter is selling at a new newsstand-style shop in New York.

Discussion: Showbiz411, Harrison Vail on LinkedIn and @nbj914

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Post.News, the news-focused social platform launched in 2022 that offered micropayments to publishers, is shutting down after failing to grow “fast enough” — Post News, a Twitter alternative that emerged in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, is shutting down.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @josh@josh.tel, @polotek@social.polotek.net, @NevadaWolf@birds.town, @timothyjchambers@threads.net, @SteveThompson@mastodon.social, @hellodavidryan@threads.net, @bluesky, @stop@threads.net and @Hey_Beth@sfba.social, more at Techmeme »

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:

Sesame Workshop writers reach a tentative deal with management, narrowly avoiding a strike; the 35 WGA members will vote to ratify the deal in the coming days — Once ratified, the writers will win protections against artificial intelligence and improvements to new media residuals

Discussion: Variety, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, @wgaeast, Writers Guild of America …, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

At a town hall, GB News CEO announced job cuts affecting 40 roles, its first major round of cuts after its 2021 launch; GB News had 295 staffers in May 2023 — It is the first major redundancy exercise since the broadcaster launched. — GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos …

Discussion: @smartin and The i Paper

Lola Fadulu / New York Times:

Nicholas Welker, leader of a white supremacist group who admitted to posting a death threat against a Brooklyn journalist, is sentenced to 44 months in prison — Nicholas Welker admitted posting the death threat, which was meant to to silence coverage of the extremist group he led, prosecutors said.

Discussion: Brooklyn Eagle, US Department of Justice, @pressfreedom and @egavactip

Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:

Interviews with over a dozen current and former WAMU staffers and contractors show management's contradictory, unclear messaging about its closure of DCist — The star-crossed marriage of Washington's NPR member station and a feisty digital news publication came to an abrupt end in February.

Discussion: @combs@mastodon.art, @srepetsk@dmv.community and @wesleylowery

Nathan Grayson / Aftermath:

The New York Times' thriving games business prompts others to try to replicate its success, such as with Hearst's acquisition of Puzzmo, but games coverage lags — “The ad market is terrible. There's very real news fatigue. There's tons of alternative sources for news that aren't even news agencies."

Discussion: @jason_koebler, @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social, @vahn16, @chaykak, @vahn16, @vahn16, @slhamlet, @vahn16, Digiday and The Daily Beast

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix plans to stop reporting subscriber numbers and Average Revenue per Membership from Q1 2025, as time spent is its “best proxy for customer satisfaction” — Netflix will no longer report subscriber numbers — a key metric for streaming services for years — beginning with the first quarter of 2025.

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue up 15% YoY to $9.37B, vs. $9.28B est., paid memberships up 16% YoY to 269.6M, vs. 264.2M est., and net income up 79% YoY to $2.33B

Discussion: Netflix, @lucas_shaw, @lanceulanoff, @sherman4949, @lucas_shaw, MediaPost, Next TV, Business Insider, IndieWire, The Information, Yahoo Finance, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Inside the turmoil at UK-based nonprofit newsroom Open Democracy, whose leadership team says it could have been insolvent by June without 40% cost cuts — Turmoil at the top of Open Democracy has led to legal letters being sent. — Open Democracy could have gone into liquidation by June …

Discussion: @martinjdocherty, @adamramsay, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @jdowsea

New York Times:

Sources: Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo discussed a joint all-cash offer for Paramount, which is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance — The company and Apollo Global Management are discussing a joint effort, even as Paramount conducts exclusive merger negotiations with Skydance.

Liam Scott / Voice of America:

The USAGM names former Washington Post journalist Michael Abramowitz as the director of VOA, overseeing 48 language services reaching ~354M people weekly — The U.S. Agency for Global Media on Friday named Michael Abramowitz as the new permanent director of Voice of America.

Discussion: USAGM, New York Times, Freedom House and @VOANews@mastodon.social

Jay Allred / @jayallred651:

[Thread] The California Journalism Protection Act is good for big media and hedge funds like Alden, but not for indie local outlets like the Richland Source — Can we talk about Google and the California Journalism Protection Act for a minute? 1/

Discussion: @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651, @jayallred651 and @jayallred651

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More News:

Megan Specia / New York Times:
RSF: London has become a “hot spot” of transnational threats against Iranian journalists, including from Iranian government, its proxies, and opposition groups

Discussion: Nikos Panagiotou on LinkedIn, Reporters Without Borders and r/Journalism

Sharon Goldman / Fortune:
A look at LinkedIn's Collaborative Articles, a collection of over 10M work-related Q&A articles, as many users claim the tips are low-quality and AI-generated

Discussion: @alexcristache, @sharongoldman, Feisal Nanji on LinkedIn and Ken Y. on LinkedIn

Wall Street Journal:
UK ICO internal draft: Google's Privacy Sandbox must do more and leaves gaps that can be exploited to undermine the privacy of users who should remain anonymous

Discussion: The Information, @eff@mastodon.social, @jason_kint and @jason_kint

Ben Burgis / Jacobin:
A deep look at the reasons behind the ongoing strike at The Long Beach Post, including layoffs after staffers voted to form a union

Discussion: @lilithsaintcrow …, HuffPost, @jacobin, @lbmguild, @lbmguild and @benburgis

David Ingram / NBC News:
Hyundai says it is pausing ads on X, after one ad appeared next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content; the ad appeared on a user profile that had 55K+ followers

Discussion: NBC News, MediaPost, @markjacob16, @rolandsmartin, @nancylevine, CNN, Reuters, ADOTAT with Pesach Lattin !, @scottbudman@threads.net, @goatburgler@threads.net and The Hill

Earlier Picks:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Essence magazine's parent, Sundial Media Group, agrees to buy Refinery29 from Vice Media and names former Vice COO Cory Haik as CEO of Refinery29

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review and Sundial Media Group

New York Times:
The judge in Trump's NY criminal trial ordered reporters on April 18 to not disclose jurors' job info and warned against sharing jurors' physical descriptions

Daniel Tencer / Music Business Worldwide:
Short-form video app Triller is merging with Hong Kong financial services company AGBA; Triller shareholders will own 80% of the combined company valued at $4B

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Billboard

Sara Fischer / Axios:
CalMatters, a nonprofit focused on CA politics and policy, acquires tech news nonprofit The Markup; CalMatters has ~$12.5M in funding and The Markup has $5M

Discussion: CalMatters, @pressgirlk, @craignewmark, @sarabethberman, @calmatters, @calmatters, @calmatters, Adam Ashton on LinkedIn, Sarabeth Berman on LinkedIn, MediaPost, Jim Friedlich on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News

Neel Dhanesha / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Erica Heilman, host of “Rumble Strip”, an independent podcast she created in 2013 that chronicles how Vermont changed over the years

Discussion: @neel_dhan and @rumblestripvt

From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Apple says Meta has made 15 interoperability requests under the EU's DMA, more than any other company, and that these could affect users' privacy and security

Hayden Field / CNBC:
OpenAI debuts a way to talk to ChatGPT by dialing 1-800-CHATGPT for 15 minutes of free access per month in the US or messaging the number via WhatsApp globally

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub offers Copilot in VS Code for free with 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month; GitHub now has 150M developers, up from 100M in early 2023

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