Mediagazer: The Athletic names Laura Williamson as its editor-in-chief for the UK and Europe, making her the first female EIC of a daily sports publication in the UK (The New York Times Company)

4:40 PM ET, April 30, 2024

Top News:

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden sue OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of using copyrighted articles without permission to train generative AI products — The suit, which accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, adds to the fight over the online data used to power artificial intelligence.

Discussion: Axios, NPR, Associated Press, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, The Information, New York Daily News, @sarafischer, @sarafischer, City A.M., Bloomberg and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

The Athletic has ~2.95M newsletter subscribers, up nearly 20% YoY; Comscore: it had 17.6M unique visitors in the US in March 2024, up from 6.6M a year prior — This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early.

Discussion: Chris Sprow on LinkedIn, Meg Linehan on LinkedIn and Claudio E. Cabrera on LinkedIn

The New York Times Company: The Athletic names Laura Williamson as its editor-in-chief for the UK and Europe, making her the first female EIC of a daily sports publication in the UK

Sahil Patel / The Information:

Sources: Google has agreed to pay News Corp $5M to $6M annually to develop new AI-related content and products, as part of the Google News Initiative — Google has agreed to pay Wall Street Journal owner News Corp between $5 million and $6 million annually to fund the news organization's development …

Discussion: MediaPost, Reuters and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Ken Klippenstein:

The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein resigns, citing the outlet's corporatization and saying its “fear of funders is more important than journalism itself” — ...and starting something new — I resigned from The Intercept today in order to pursue a new kind of journalism here on Substack …

Timothy B. Lee / Asterisk:

Tech journalism is often characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research; publishers hesitate to invest in nuanced reporting without a clear ROI — A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?

Discussion: @brianwilt, @adamkovac, Beyond Search, @adamthierer, @rob_lh, @chastaylor, @robinwauters, Stuart McDonald on LinkedIn, @rao_hacker_one, @calebwatney, @binarybits, @tomaxwell, @kelseytuoc, LinkedIn and Observer, more at Techmeme »

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Amazon reports Q1 net sales up 13% YoY to $143.3B, AWS revenue up 17% to $25B, net income up from $3.2B to $10.4B, operating income up from $4.8B to $15.3B — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco on June 8, 2022.

Discussion: Bloomberg

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:

UAE-backed RedBird IMI withdraws from the Telegraph and Spectator auction, which starts today, and will look to sell on its rights to the UK outlets — After a bruising few months, UAE-backed investor RedBird IMI is withdrawing from its attempt to acquire the Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine …

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters, Telegraph, Al Jazeera, City A.M., Mediaite, Financial Times, The Wrap, The Guardian, @steven_swinford, @pippacrerar and Deadline

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

NYC-based newsletter platform beehiiv raised a $33M Series B led by NEA, taking its total raised to $46.5M, and says the service has ~20K active newsletters — With the number of people using e-mail globally approaching 5 billion, newsletters delivered regularly into people's inboxes continue …

Discussion: @rafat, Faraz Fatemi on LinkedIn, @iamjasonlevin, @beehiiv, @ryansingel@writing.exchange, @simondowens@threads.net, @denk_tweets, Beehiiv and Jacob Wolf on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

The EU opens a DSA investigation into Meta over deceptive Facebook and Instagram ad and political content; sources say the probe is about a pro-Kremlin campaign — - Probe said to target pro-Putin Doppelganger campaign — Meta probe is under the EU's tough new Digital Services Act

Tyler Aquilina / Variety:

Survey: 33% of Peacock users were still using the free tier in Q1 2024, though new sign-ups ended in January 2023; 24% of Peacock Premium users stream it daily — As the ever-shifting SVOD business continues to evolve, one key challenge now confronting streamers is how to handle subscription plans that no longer exist.

Discussion: Streaming Better and Adweek

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Reader's Digest UK Editor-in-Chief Eva Mackevic says the magazine will close in the UK after 86 years, citing the “unforgiving magazine publishing landscape” — The magazine's editor said it has “come to an end” in the UK after 86 years. — Reader's Digest magazine has closed in the UK …

Discussion: MediaPost, The Guardian, The Drum, Steph Bridgeman on LinkedIn and Eva Mackevic on LinkedIn

Sudip Kar-Gupta / Reuters:

Arnaud Lagardère resigns as chair and CEO of French publishing group Lagardère SA, after an indictment accused him of misappropriating company funds — Arnaud Lagardere, the chairman and CEO of French publishing group Lagardere SA (LAGA.PA), has resigned from his executive roles …

Discussion: Fortune, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Le Monde.fr, Dow Jones Newswires and Deadline

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Who's Hiring in Media?

International Economics Reporter, DC — Bloomberg

Director of Audience Development, NY — WIRED

Deputy Editor - Playbook, VA — Politico

Senior Health Reporter/Editor, CA — El Tímpano

Midlands Correspondent, London — The Guardian

China Autos Correspondent, Beijing — Reuters

Outdoors Editor, ME — Bangor Daily News

Moving Writer, Remote US — Yahoo

Reporter, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Public Policy Editor, London — FT

Stock Picks Writer, NY — Barron's

Business Reporter/Editor, Toronto — Canadian Press

Assistant Producer, NY — Marketplace

Executive Editor, CA — Capital & Main

Sr. Reporter, Singapore — Pensions & Investments

Food Reporter, CA — SF Standard

Commercial Real Estate Reporter, NY — Newsday

Senior Science & Health Writer, NY — Salon

Data Journalist, MN — NABJ

DeFi Correspondent, Remote — DL News

Breaking News Ed. - Markets, NY — Sherwood Media

Healthcare Business Reporter, MA — Boston Globe

Senior Consumer Tech Reporter, NY — Gizmodo

Longform Non-Fiction Writer — Switchboard

Editorial Director - Audio & Video, NY — The Verge

Local Editor - Morris County, Remote NJ — Patch

AI Columnist - Weekend, CA/NY — The Information

Washington Correspondent, DC — Texas Tribune

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